Have you ever read a marketing email and connected on a deeper level with the creator? They likely used a personal story or anecdote to connect with you. Listen in as Zafira Rajan joins us to share how you can use sensory storytelling in your copy and marketing, plus what it actually means to incorporate the senses.
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Here are the highlights…
[2:03] Get to Know Zafira
[5:24] Sensory Storytelling
[8:25] Using Senses in Storytelling
[12:25] Connecting with Your Email Audience
[21:35] Communicating with Warm & Cold Audiences
[26:36] Making Your Email the Freebie
[29:37] Emails on an Audible Level
[32:40] Collecting Moments for Storytelling
Mentioned in this Episode
Laura Belgray’s Email Landing Page
Connect with Zafira
Website: zafirarajan.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/zafira.rajan
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the business first creatives podcast today.
I have a special treat for you. I am going to be interviewing Zafira Rajan and she is going to be telling us. All about sensory storytelling. And if you’re like, Colie, I have no idea what that is. It’s okay, because Zafira is going to explain. Zafira, good afternoon and welcome to the podcast.
Zafira: Hi Colie, thanks so much for having me, I’m so excited for this convo.
Colie: I’m so excited. I mean, I was excited before we were in the green room, but after, you know, those first few minutes of chat with you before we hit record, I am even more excited. So the funny thing is I love copywriters. I think that in a different life, I could have been a copywriter, but I don’t write well enough.
So as much as I possibly can, I love inviting copywriters into my world, onto my podcast, because I love what you guys do with words. So for my first question, why don’t you just tell me how you got into copywriting? Cause I feel like everybody’s origin story is different and it kind of frames the conversation of what you do for your business.
Zafira: Totally. Well, I’ll be one of those people that says, ever since I was a child, I used to love writing stories. But honestly, it’s true, I used to like, write creative stories as a kid on my own, and I was always a huge bookworm. And when I went into college, I had to really Struggle to convince my dad I wanted to do an English literature degree over economics.
Which was a challenging conversation. but you’ve got brown parents, but, you know, after that, I really went down that path. I started a magazine on campus. I was writing for a newspaper. I actually always thought I was going to end up a journalist. And for the years afterwards, I ended up working in marketing and communications and higher education, but I was also blogging for news outlets on the side.
I started to pick up a client here and there, and eventually I was like, okay, I need to make a clean break if I’m going to do this as my own business. So I took a contract at the university for, a 60 percent capacity contract. So I had two days a week to work on my own thing. It was just for a year.
And I told myself at the end of that year, we’re pressing launch on our business. And I did, and I believe this was way back in 2016. And over the course of those years, I did everything from corporate communications, campaigns, even billboards. I also was a graphic designer at the time, and eventually I came up for air and I’m like, what am I doing?
I’m just like a digital communication strategist, and I think I had really lost sight of my voice along the way. And just around that time, I saw Laura Belgrave post about. Retreat, and I just booked it. It was like the most spontaneous thing I’d done. And that was a really great break for me to take and really find my own voice.
Again, I connected with lots of online entrepreneurs, which was a new world for me at the time. And I was like, wow, working with these folks. So much more fun. And so for the last five, six years, I’ve primarily been working with coaches, course creators, people who are very personality forward and are the faces and voices of their brand.
And I’ve mainly done that through launch copy, web copy, now sensory copy. And along the way, I’ve also launched my own programs and creative writing membership. And here we are, many, many years later. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Colie: Well, I mean, I just find that so fascinating because, you know, you were doing the thing that you loved, the actual writing, but you still weren’t doing it in a way that was sparking your creativity. And so I just, I love that number one, Laura Belgrate and her program in Italy was like that spark for you to bring you over to the online entrepreneurs so that you could write amazing copy for us.
And it is like really different to hear you talk about what you did before that. And then, because I’ve only known you since you’ve worked with online entrepreneurs, and I know that every time you speak, like I feel things in my bones, which is why you are here today. So can you give us an idea of what sensory storytelling is?
I mean, I think that it’s clear from the label, but maybe not.
Zafira: Well, I think you kind of just described it really succinctly, which is, you know, feeling it in your bones. That’s a really good example of what sensory stories can do. I think, you know, good storytelling helps you feel something, right? Like you feel empathy, you feel joy, you feel sadness, and you feel connected to someone in that moment.
Sensory stories really transport you completely and they allow your reader to be fully present with you in a moment. And so that’s why sensory stories are the types where you’re like someone’s describing what they’re eating and you start feeling hungry. Someone’s talking about a concert and you’re like, yeah, i’m bopping to that beat in my head, right?
They give you goosebumps when they just Really make you feel like they’ve sucked you all the way in and it feels like you’re witnessing something that should be really private and personal, but you are right there with that person in the moment and their words and anytime someone replies to an email or something like, oh, wow, I felt like I was.
Right there with you where I really felt all those things. You’ve probably accidentally shared a sensory story without realizing it. And just like when we touch something, you know, that sends a signal through our skin, through our body, our brain interprets that and When we hide in sensory details, the exact same thing happens in our head.
We’re feeling haptic experiences, emotions, we’re triggering memories for people. So it’s really a rich way of looking at how you tell stories. And. To be fully transparent. I didn’t realize this is what I had been doing for a long time or that was kind of like my signature way of storytelling till, you know, I went on maternity leave and I took a step back and I was looking at how I was doing things and what made me different.
And I was like, Oh, I guess I do do this thing. I think more people would really enjoy telling stories if they knew these were just kind of the elements to look out for. So. You know, a snippet of what sensory storytelling really is, how it should make you feel, and really how it came about for me.
Colie: Yeah, I mean, and it’s interesting that you said identifying those elements. So. I think that one of the things that we come across with email marketing is everyone talks about like the CTAs and everyone talks about how to outline your offer, how to speak about your offer. But that’s not what keeps people engaged in your emails.
And of course, everyone is not constantly just sending, selling emails. Like if you do that, that’s probably the quickest way to get people to unsubscribe. And so you do need to like weave some storytelling into your emails so that you can keep your audience engaged in between your launches or.
If that’s how you’re actually launching your products, but bringing it back to like the senses. So what are some of the senses that we should be paying attention to in order to weave them into the storytelling that we’re doing? I guess not just in our emails, but also on our website, in our sales copy, et cetera.
Zafira: Totally. I think the way I look at senses is so much more than just sight, sound, you know, taste, etc. I really look at, What plays a vital role in the telling of a story and to really connect someone to it. So two of my favorite senses to use that I’ll share with you is, dialogue and texture.
So dialogue, as you know, is obviously just. Literally putting quotation marks around a conversation that’s unfolding, but I think where people don’t realize it can be especially useful is to really talk about what’s happening in your own head, because you know, when you’re not talking to people, you are talking to yourself all day long.
And there is a lot of internal processing happening. So I use it quite a lot in my emails, like I’ve written emails about how. You know, I’ve sat down at a hair salon and I’m thinking, Oh, dang, like, I really hope she doesn’t mess this up. Or, she told me that it’s gonna do this thing, it’s gonna be another thing, okay, I’m just gonna trust her.
But, you know, those are all things where if I was to describe them like, Oh, I didn’t know if I could trust this hairdresser to not mess up my hair, that sounds really different than me just saying exactly what was happening in my head. So I think that’s a really powerful tool you can use. in your storytelling, it kind of puts an emphasis on really important moments.
I also think that when you’re writing things like emails, those are often big blocks of text. So I think visually, it also allows to have some breathing room if you just have a few lines of dialogue or you’re illustrating a conversation between you and someone else. But I also think it kind of lets your reader feel like they’re eavesdropping on a moment so they lean in a little bit closer and it kind of puts them at ease right away because the tone shifts to be really conversational.
So dialogue is a super useful tool. I feel like if you’re ever struggling to communicate, a story about a particular moment or an interaction with someone else. Just literally spell it out word for word what exactly happened in the conversation, and you’ll be able to pop that right into an email or something else.
And then the second sense that I had mentioned to you is texture. So I love all things texture, just even in my day to day life. If anyone’s watching this video, as you can see my background behind me, I’ve got glass test tubes filled with dried flowers. And this is kind of like my Lockdown project with another like visual installation artist because it’s like I want my office to feel like a sensory space I want it to feel tactile and beautiful.
So that’s just how I am in my real life as well. And I just I like to provide a tactile experience in writing as well because I feel like it can really help to trigger more emotions and create greater intimacy, greater vibrancy in your copy. So, what is a good example of sharing this? I think before is an after is always a useful way to illustrate why this is super important.
So maybe instead of talking about, you know, like I thought outside. And, like, drink a cup of tea, I would say something like, I filled my favorite clay mug with chamomile tea and wiggled my toes in the dry grass. Like, those are examples of texture, and it just becomes a lot more clear to your reader what is happening.
It also, I feel like a lot of people think that their storytelling is too vague, or it’s like, you know, it doesn’t have enough details. If you lean into texture, it automatically just You know, offers your reader a different experience, a deeper experience, and something to connect to. So, I think those are two really powerful sensory storytelling tools, and it’s one of those things where, you know, when you can’t unsee something, then you just, you start seeing or noticing it everywhere, and I’ve noticed when I share these particular senses with other people, they’re like, ah, okay.
Now I get it. I can do that.
Colie: And that’s what I was thinking of. Now, I want to be a critic if I can for a second, because I think that what people struggle with is they’re like, okay, but like, I don’t want people to tune my emails out. And so how do I make sure that I’m telling my reader good stories that are also related to either myself?
or my offer or my business, because people aren’t just, you know, opting into my emails to hear about my personal life, like they opted in for a reason. And so I want to make sure that I’m not wasting their time. How, what is a good exercise for us to figure out a way to take these stories that we all have and figure out a way to write emails that are engaging, but also get it.
Like the point across, if you will. If the point is to mention that you know, your new offer is opening, like how do you do it in a way to where people don’t tune out because you are overloading them with details that are maybe not related to the offer?
Zafira: Okay, my answer to this is twofold. So the first thing I will say is that saying things like, how do I know they will tune it out? Or how do I know if I’m overloading them with details? Those are difficult Conceptions you have of your audience. It might not necessarily be how they feel for some folks, especially neuro diverse folks in our audiences.
They really appreciate the extra detail. They appreciate, having. You know, concrete things to anchor copy so that they understand and can follow along much more clearly what is happening. And a lot of the reasons people open our emails sometimes aren’t even further offers. They’re looking for something else, right?
They’re looking for connection. They’re looking to be entertained. They’re looking to laugh or they genuinely like I just discovered before our conversation, you’ve been following me much longer than I expected. And like, they’ve just been in our orbit for a while and they like hearing what we’re up to, or they just like knowing what’s going on.
So I think that what you just shared are actually two tough fears I’ve heard. Prevent people from even going down this route, but along the way, you know, that might just be holding you back from actually telling better stories. And I don’t ever share these things to be like, everyone’s got to be a sensory writer.
I just share these things so that if there’s any part of you that feels like your writing is missing something or that, you know, it could be. Rooted, um, in more detail or it could be richer, like taking a sensory approach might just help you get there. But it also might not be your style. That’s why it’s important to try things out.
Colie: try things.
Zafira: Yeah, just try things and see how they feel. See if it makes a difference, right, with your audience or how they connect with you. Now, the second part of my answer, which is to answer your original question, which is like, how do I know, like, how do I connect the dots? And like, how do I bring it back to make business?
Um, which is also a bit of a two part answer. So, the first thing is, I think that, um, especially in our online world, the concept of telling vulnerable stories, the concept of telling personal stories has. It’s been really commodified in recent years. We’ve seen it with people doing things like trauma bonding.
We’ve seen people do it by being extremely vulnerable and, you know, a lot of that can be really helpful and seeing how brave and courageous people can be to come out and share their things. But at the end of the day, also, you know, your audience has to be prepared to receive certain things and your audience.
It still needs to be honored and respected for why they’re in your space to begin with. Right. So I think that’s really important to come back to is like, am I going to share something highly personal or share something highly intimate just because I want to share something with them or is this actually relevant
to my
Colie: gonna get something
Zafira: Are they going to get something out of this? Or not even if they’re going to get something out of this, but like, Is this the right platform for me to share this right? Or is this going to the right people? So I like to ask myself three questions when I’m sharing something personal in particular. So why is it important for my audience to know this?
Is it connected to how I show up in my work?
Colie: Mm-Hmm.
Zafira: Should I save it for a group chat with my besties or my family’s instead? Or, you know, alternatively, a different platform. For example, like I started a sub stack this year because I’ve, I’m really leaning into creative expression as a writer, just not a. You know, not just a copywriter and their stories.
I want to tell just because they’re beautiful stories. I don’t want to feel pressured into having to connect them to my business. Like I just, I am wanting to go back to Littles if you’re writing stories just for myself. So I’m now doing that on a different platform and that feels good and safe for me.
So just also knowing your platform, knowing your space and respecting your audience along the way. Now, the second part, this answer is I think mastering the art of. A segue in an email or in a social post is something that takes a lot of time, but there are a couple of easy ways you can do it. So you just need things like what I call, bridge sentences, stuff that can be like, And that’s why I thought about you today, Colie, right?
And, or even just calling out the elephant in the room. You may be wondering why I’m sharing this story with you today. Right? Or, like, I would, like, connect the dots between Like, let’s say I was writing about my pet or something, like, you know, like you might also have frustrating days where your pet is like, you know, woke you up in the middle of the night.
I’m sure you can relate, blah, blah, blah, and then like segue into something else. So I think it’s just remembering your readers in the room, right? And like how you would naturally call attention back to them because at the end of the day. I like to remember that readers are inherently selfish, right? Like, we’re reading your story because we’re interested, but at the back of our minds, we’re like, okay, but what about me?
What about me?
What about me?
Right? Like, because they can be toddlers in some ways like that, right? Like, pay attention to me. So just remember to pay attention to them. at a natural point. Something that I do really often inside my creative writing membership, the type pool, is I encourage people to read their work out loud.
And that is often a really good way for you to tell like, oh, this is going on too long, or oh, like, This segue didn’t actually feel as natural as I thought it did, because now I’ve shifted it into a completely different voice. That’s what I notice happening a lot. Like, you’ll tell the really personal part, and then when you switch into making the offer or connecting it to your business, that voice sounds completely different.
So, reading your work out loud is also a really good way for you to see, does the whole piece feel natural, or does it need some fine tuning? Okay, now I’m done.
Colie: It’s okay. That’s fascinating because I actually do the audio port in reverse. Like instead of sitting down and trying to write a story and then reading it out loud to see how I sound, I actually voice the email or the story or the podcast and then I write from that. I have found for my brain that works much better.
It makes sure that the story sounds authentic before I’m actually putting Pen to paper, because I’m that writer that is really worried about my grammar and wants to make sure that I’ve, you know,
Zafira: Mm hmm.
Colie: and those tend to take away from the actual storytelling. Like, I have a really good story, but if I write it and I’m trying to make it sound grammatically correct, it’s taking something away from it.
And the second thing that you mentioned that I, I just want to highlight is relevance to your reader. Because it is very important to know which ones of your stories are relevant. To your audience for your business and which ones are not. I don’t need to tell my audience about the fight that I had with my husband last night, if it’s just me wanting to vent.
My emails and my sales page is not a place for me to vent about my personal life unless it’s related to like something about business, but if it’s just personal again, that’s probably best for the group chat with your besties. I absolutely love that. You said that’s fair.
Zafira: I’m glad you resonated. And I love that you shared that you process and write in a different way because that shows that you really understand your most natural form of expression and I think that’s something really important. I encourage people to experiment with that and I love that you do that.
Colie: I just I find that I and it might just be like leftover from my college days. I struggle to write like I’m one of those people. I it’s not even that I have blank page syndrome. That’s not my problem. My problem is that I’m so worried about how it looks once it’s written that that in effect stops me from putting the ideas down.
That’s why I mean, transcription is my new best friend. I will get on, you know, Riverside and just talk and then get it dictated. And then I’m looking at that for the key ideas to actually sit down and write the email or get the headlines for my sales page or do things like that. Sorry, that was a tangent.
We are going to bring it back around to sensory storytelling guys.
Zafira: No, no. It’s not a tangent at all.
Colie: I’ve got a question for you. I have been thinking a lot about warm and cold audiences lately. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed. I think it’s because people keep telling me that, you know, you need to grow your audience. You need to bring in cold leads, but then we really have to think about the content that we’re producing, whether it’s emails, the sales page that we’re going to let them land on the way that I talk on this podcast.
I mean, I think that what I say is going to be interpreted differently.
So I’m wondering if any of that comes into play when you’re trying to tell stories in a more sensory form, like, can you be a little bit more sensory with your warm audience than your cold audience or is that again, just me putting something out there that I’m just putting as like a barrier to getting more sensory storytelling out there?
Zafira: I think that’s a really good question and honestly, it’s something I never considered before. I think it feels a bit binary, right? Like in that our warm and cool audiences can be so different because I can tell you I’ve had people on my email list for years who never purchased anything but love still hearing, you know, like they’re on my list to be on my list.
They love reading my emails and I’ve had cold folks sign up and like what they’re seeing and instantly buy something. So I think, you know, they can totally vary. I think actually what’s really important is. Staying consistent across the board because cold people will become warm people eventually, and you don’t want to sound completely different, but I think what I can share is I feel like when You know, someone who’s newer to you or colder and hears, something sensory or maybe something that goes a little bit deeper, they might be like, Oh, that’s different.
And, you know, if they’re your type of people and if that’s the kind of way you enjoy writing or are inclined to write, that is a good thing because, you know, it has pulled them in. And like I mentioned, sensory storytelling really allows your reader to get present with you in the moment. And I think that’s.
You know, doing that is a really key strategy and a really great way to make someone stay with you. And I feel like they are more likely to remember you or to feel more connected to the micro details that you share. I used to call this the ping pong effect, sometimes where you just, you know, incorporating things like the senses and other things are like lots of micro details and the hope that something sticks, right?
Like you’re just you’re throwing out All these things just in the hope that they’ll be like, oh, yeah, and like a latch onto one of them. So, let’s do like a before and after right again. I might be telling a story and like an ad or something where I’m like, I was walking down the street.
I’m like, suddenly started raining or I could say something like I was strolling down the street of my favorite leather jacket from Zara and I was I had a matcha latte in my hand and the latest episode of NPR podcast was in my ears. Suddenly I heard thunder and I was like, crap, I gotta protect the blood and I moved under a metal awning, right?
So right away, like you’ve got a visual picture in your head and whether someone listens to NPR, they love Zara They’ve got a leather jacket they drink a matcha latte like you’re just serving up so many more opportunities for them to feel connected to you and That I think works either way whether they’re warm or cold, but I think if they’re cold, they’re just More likely to think about you and remember you anytime one of those elements might show up in their life, right?
I think they bring your readers in closer And then obviously the more consistently you show up like that The more your warm readers even look forward to hearing from you in this way So that’s my two cents. I can’t say for sure, but that’s that’s what my gut is telling me
Colie: That’s okay. I mean, sometimes I like to throw questions out there and I have absolutely no idea how my guest is going to react or respond. These are just things that, you know, just come to me off the top of my head, but what you said about being consistent. It’s funny when you mentioned the ping pong effect.
I was thinking to myself and what I actually got from you saying that like just the words was, oh, my gosh. So I have to make sure that I’m not going not to not to overuse this word, but hot to cold. Like, I don’t want to give them 1 email that’s overloaded with the sensory, you know, constant storytelling.
And then I give them like a very brisk and to the point email like a couple in a row that have absolutely no personality and none of that sensory storytelling, they might start to feel like, okay, but which one is authentic and, you know, it might give them confusion about you and your business just because they can’t quite get the storytelling that you’re doing inside of your, inside of your emails or on your sales page.
I mean, I’m all for consistency, but, yeah. I just realized that is something that I do need to be more cognizant of in my own writing to make sure that I’m being consistent in the emails, even if the purpose is different. And there’s one more thing. Yeah. There’s one more thing that you mentioned, Zafira, that I was like, Oh my gosh, that.
You mentioned, I’ve had a lot of people on my email list for a long time that have never bought anything for me and it’s just because they like reading my emails. And I do think that we shouldn’t overlook the fact that some people are joining our email list because they do enjoy hearing about you and they like connecting with you and the stories that you’re telling.
And so, I have a question. I swear, I was going to bring this back around when it comes to the idea of freebies. I have been listening to a few people recently that are like, you don’t need to create a freebie in order to grow your email list. The email is the freebie and I just, you guys can’t see her, but her eyes lit up so wide with that.
And Zafira, the funny thing is, until I heard you say this, I think I was never convinced that that was true. But hearing you talk about the sensory storytelling that can occur inside of your emails in order to make connections with your audience. I think this is the first time that I’ve ever believed you can actually just make the emails themselves the opt in.
Because if you’re writing emails that are that good, you will actually have people that hang around just because they love hearing from you.
Zafira: I can’t tell you how many people who, I do extensive tagging and things like my launches and stuff, and sometimes I’ll just be the same people clicking all the time, never buying anything. And then they get a, you know, a tailored email being like, Oh, you know, I’ve noticed you checking this out, like why have you bought it?
And I’m like, Zafira, I’m so sorry. I just, I have to tell you, I don’t want to opt out of your launch because I just want to see how you How you do your whole launch sequence or how you deliver it. So I’m just lurking over here. Don’t mind me. You know, and I get, I get that kind of feedback a lot where it’s just like, yeah, I joined the wait list to see like, what would happen?
And like, how are you going to do this? So people are watching and meeting. I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, but Laura Belgrave making a second appearance. She is like one of the only people I’ve seen who’s got a dedicated landing page where she talks about how good her emails are and why you should be on her email list.
I will send you the link after, but it is so good because she’s got screenshots of people being like, this email is gold and blah, blah, blah, but she’s, she made the email of the main event and it really makes you want to listen and hear from her. Uh, so I definitely, I definitely agree with you. Like, freebies definitely have a place, but if you have earned a rep as someone who writes good emails, like, you should be talking that up too.
And I’m sure you’ve got lots of proof to back it up because. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense why you love bringing copywriters on here and why you really connect with them. I bet you’re like, you creep so many people’s emails that are on so many of their lists for that same reason. You just want to see what they’re going to do next, right?
Colie: do. And I think, I mean, eventually it’s funny. I have a podcast, but again, I think me trying to like, like go between the words and my audio. I sometimes struggle with it. But one of the most inventive things that I think I’ve seen in a while is Tarzan Kay reading her emails.
Zafira: Mm hmm.
Colie: love reading her emails, but then listening to her read them, it, again, we’re talking about sensory storytelling.
Not only am I getting like the crux of what she was trying to tell in the email, she is inflecting in her voice at certain points, like that just brings an entire new level. And so eventually I would like to get to the point. To where I am writing emails that I feel would be good enough for me to give the audio version and recently someone said because me saying the emails out loud is new.
I haven’t actually done it that long. So I, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s a new process, but someone said, I know you wrote that email by saying it out loud. You should just share that. And I was like, well, no, I mean, it’s, you know, there’s parts in there that no, it wasn’t a put together. I haven’t gotten to the point to where when I say the things out loud.
That it’s. Yeah. Purposed enough to share. I’m listening to it or I’m saying it out loud. I’m getting the transcript. I’m pulling the things. I’m writing the email. And I think maybe then I haven’t done it yet, but maybe I should take a crack at like reading one of those emails again to see if I feel differently about sharing that audio.
But I am someone who really enjoys audio. Hence this podcast. But I do feel like when I read certain people’s emails. Like you and Laura Belgrave that I enjoy the emails just because they’re your emails and not necessarily, the offers and things that you guys have tied to them because I mean, I have a few of your offers.
I have several of Laura Belgrave offers, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s why I enjoy reading your emails. I mean, there are plenty of people where I, they don’t have a product. That, you know, I’m ready to invest in, or that is right for my business. But I mean, I do like them as a person. I do love reading their emails and like those kinds of things.
So that’s why I tune in to read their emails every week.
Zafira: Oh, I love that. You know, I always say I think it’s a privilege to take up space in someone’s inbox. So for me, I’m like, you better make it count, right? And whether
that’s like, inciting one kind of reaction or feeling like that’s honestly good enough, but I will say I noticed you said, I haven’t, I don’t think I have anything good enough to, to, to turn into an audio.
And again, I’m just going to remind you, like, if it’s good enough to present, it’s good enough to read out loud. So, Yeah. I think you should do it.
Colie: this is by the time this airs, maybe there will be a Colie reads her emails to you, private podcast that you can, that you can subscribe to.
Zafira: There we go. I can’t wait.
Colie: So, Zafira, the thing that I want to end this with is, and it’s something that you mentioned when I saw you on Make Your Mark Live, is we all have tiny things that are happening to us every day that would make great stories inside of our emails.
And so, How do you suggest that people begin collecting these moments to perhaps use in future storytelling, whether it’s in your emails, on your sales page, on a podcast, however it is that you like to share with your audience?
Zafira: Yeah, I think I will offer a strategy that I did share and make remarks that I know worked because a lot of people have sent me messages since saying they’ve done this and it felt really easy. I talked about keeping a sensory journal, which you might remember and It’s nothing fancy for me. They’re literally a note on my phone.
And if you’re someone who carries a little notebook around with you, you can use that too. But. Something that I found, especially after I’ve had a kid and a ton of brain fog is I know when I’m trying to write about a certain story or a certain moment, I’m like, Oh, I can’t remember what’s happening or like what happened in that moment.
And it would feel so frustrating to me. So now what I try to do just as a general practice is. If I am doing something, or if I’m in a new environment, or just like daily out on a walk, I will just jot down little details about what’s happening around me, you know, in a sensory way, so maybe like how the weather feels like, or what I was eating, what I was drinking, the crunch of something under my foot, like what I’m looking at, what I’m wearing, who I’m with, and, you know, examples of that can be like orange leaves that fell from a My tree in the garden, or like the waves are crashing really loudly on the rocks, or, I noticed I needed a new winter jacket because there was a hole in my pocket, like really tiny little things, and then that way that just gives me something to get started with.
And I sit down to write and I’m just like, okay, like, how can I leverage this? Or how can I use this? Or maybe I want to write about. Something that happened that day in particular, if I’m having a hard time painting the picture or sharing the details, just looking back at my sensory journal can be really supportive, especially I find for me, like, when I’m traveling and I want to recap that experience or I felt really inspired to write something new.
Oh my God, it has come in clutch so many times and the way you capture it in that moment is unlike any other time that you’re going to capture it, which is why, even though it might feel seemingly random and useless in that moment, when it comes down to it, and you’ll use it maybe one month later, two months later, it’ll make for much more richer and vivid picture for your audience.
And the other thing I will also share, especially when you’re launching, , You know, I really like to write my emails in the moment when I’m launching. I like to be really present during a launch and, you know, obviously mine are very story driven. Otherwise I’m not walking my walk or talking my talk or selling what I sell, which is, you know, supporting people with storytelling.
But what I always have is really like, um, a bare bones outline of things that are important for my audience to know or communicate with them. So maybe it might be something like, Oh, okay. I need to share with my audience why. You know, even if they think they’re boring, like we’re talking about, there’s tons of interesting things happening around them every day, or, if they’re better at speaking than writing, like, you know, make sure you talk about that distinction.
And then, if I have, like, my antenna up for those kinds of, like, high level points or things that I know is important for me to talk about, but I just can’t find, like, the story for it, as I’m going about my day, as things are unfolding, If something happens, like it, I didn’t mean for me to immediately trigger that connection.
I’m like, oh, okay, that’s a good metaphor for this. Or like, I can see how that story is going to connect with what I want to share. So being really intentional, I think, even about your goals or like, what’s important to communicate to your audience. Like, notice how I didn’t say, ah, it’s important for me to sell like 10 spots for this, right?
Like, that’s the goal of this launch. Like, no, it’s important for me to educate and inform my audience. Equip them with, like, knowledge and things that help them feel like a confident writer. That’s my goal, you know, in that sequence, particularly, so, I think paying attention to the details around you and making it a consistent practice to actually write them down in some way that feels accessible to you.
And then also. At a high level, being really clear about how you want to communicate with your audience, how you want them to feel at the end of reading an email or end of reading something is more important to me than them taking an action to buy something like I want my audience to always feel good, or I want them to feel inspired or.
Creative. And I think that yields much more organic storytelling along the way, too.
Colie: I mean, and that brings us back around to, I think, one of the very first things that I said in this episode about CTAs. The CTA doesn’t always have to be related to buy my thing. It can be if you’re feeling inspired, why don’t you take a 10 minute opportunity to sit down and write down some of the things that you’re currently feeling.
Some of the details around you, like, I think that not that I’m telling you what to do for your CTAs girl, but like, I feel like that is a perfect example of like a CTA that you would give us. That isn’t really like a buy my thing or read my email or those kinds of things. It can also just be as simple as inviting someone to tell you about a similar experience that you’ve had, because that opens the conversation for dialogue.
Now, whether it ends up down the line, being that they. You know, become your client. That’s not really the point you’re, you know, engaging with your audience, you’re building connections, and that is like a reward in itself. So I just wanted to put that out there because that was what I was thinking as you were talking.
Zafira: There you go. I’m so glad we’re having this conversation. Totally on the same page.
Colie: So, Zafira, if people are interested in learning more about sensory storytelling or any of the amazing offers that you have, because guys, I really did write quite a few of my sales pages after going through one of her offers, tell them where they can find you on the internet.
Zafira: Totally. Well, you can find me at ZafiraRajan. com on my website or at Zafira. Rajan on Instagram. We talked about freebies, not having freebies. I’ve got quite a few on my home page. So please take a look if you just want to. Step into this world a little bit and receive what I hope will be beautiful sensory emails along the way.
Colie: Yeah. Guys, if you are feeling motivated to add a little bit more sensory into your emails, I would love to hear about it. So please come over to Instagram. I’m at Colie James and just, you know, invite me to join your email list because I love reading a good email. And if you are weaving in some of the sensory storytelling, I would definitely like to read your emails.
All right. That’s it for this episode. See you next time.
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