Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

The Power of Stories in Marketing: Four Inspiring Examples from Successful Businesses

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Photo of Computer
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash

Back in 2021, I teamed up with two of my brothers, John and Michael, to launch our own marketing agency.

It all started with John’s fantastic idea that the three of us could join our talents. He had honed his skills at top-tier agencies but craved the freedom and creativity of entrepreneurship. Michael, a whiz at Google and Facebook ads, brought his tech-savvy expertise to the table, while I contributed my freelance background in web design, copywriting, and SEO.

It’s been quite an adventure as our agency has grown and more people have joined our team. I love when I get the chance to share here on my blog some of the marketing strategies that we’ve implemented, helping a wide array of businesses and influencers grow their brands online (from brick-and-mortar stores to national companies to personal brands to authors and more!). 

One strategy, however, has consistently stood out as the most powerful: storytelling. As a fiction writer, I love showing clients how they can captivate their audience with a well-told story.

In today’s post, I’m sharing four ways we’ve harnessed the power of storytelling to elevate our clients’ marketing efforts. Whether you’re a small business owner, a freelancer promoting your services, or an author eager to market your book, I hope these will give you ideas and inspire you.

(And if you’re struggling with your marketing and interested in my agency’s help, you can learn more here.)

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8 Strategies That Will Help You Improve Your Writing Skills

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Black journal and yellow pencil on wooden table. | 8 Strategies That Will Help You Improve Your Writing Skills
Photo by Aaron Burden

Ernest Hemingway once observed of writers,

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

No matter where you are in your writing journey (maybe you’re just starting out or maybe you’re already a published author), there is always more to learn in order to improve your skills and inspire more people with your words.

In today’s post, I’m sharing eight ways you can become a better writer in the New Year.

Let’s dive in. [Read more…]

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: How to Write a Powerfully Persuasive Essay, Article, or Speech (Video)

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I hope all of your writing projects are going well this June. It’s been a few months since I last published a post here, and I’m happy to finally be back.

While I was away, I was making a new video, and I just uploaded it to YouTube:

You can click on the CC button for subtitles. In this video, I look at a persuasive speech outline called the Motivated Sequence created by psychologist Alan H. Monroe.

I first learned this structure when I was competing in a speech and debate league back in high school. It was extremely effective at grabbing the attention of the audience and inspiring them to action. 

Since then, I’ve continued to use it for articles and essays and have taught it to many writing students who were working on persuasive essays and speeches. And I’ve been wanting to share it here on the blog for quite a while! I hope you find it helpful.

If you enjoy the video, be sure to give it a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the channel. This lets me know that you found the video helpful and also encourages YouTube to share it with more people on the platform. Thank you!

**RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO**:

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F. Scott Fitzgerald on How to Write Vivid Character Descriptions (Video)

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If you’re celebrating Christmas next week, I hope you have a lovely, joy-filled holiday. If you don’t celebrate or if this is a difficult time for you, I wish you peace and happiness this December.

And I have a writing gift for you — I’ve just uploaded a new YouTube video:

In this video, I look at how F. Scott Fitzgerald writes vivid physical character descriptions in The Great Gatsby. I share four strategies that will help you describe people in both fiction and nonfiction so they come alive for readers.

I hope you enjoy this last writing resource of 2021! Be sure to give it a like, leave a comment (comments are awesome), and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one in the new year.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

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5 Essential Marketing Strategies From Legendary Copywriter Claude C. Hopkins

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Photo by Aaron Burden

When you think of the word “copywriter”, you might picture advertising executives like those from the show Mad Men. Copy generally refers to the text in an advertisement: those words that persuade the customer to buy a product or service.

But in today’s Internet age we’re all writing copy even if we’re not selling a product for a company. We might be trying to persuade someone to click a link to read an article or leave a comment on a social media post or sign up to our email list or buy our book and write a review.

No matter whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you can learn invaluable marketing and writing strategies from copywriting books. These strategies will help you write more persuasively and market more effectively so you get your message out to the world.

One of the copywriting classics is a book called My Life in Advertising (Amazon affiliate link) by legendary copywriter Claude C. Hopkins. It was published way back in 1927 but still contains many copywriting lessons that we can learn from in 2021. 

In today’s post, I’ve written up my top five takeaways. Let’s dive in.

(Please note that links to books are affiliate links which means I’ll earn a small commission if you buy through the link with no extra cost to you. Thank you!)

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