Sometimes we ask the story to do too much.

We get overly ambitious, trying to address a broad swath of potential prospects in numerous stages of the buying process. Worse yet is feeling pressured by a client to include every possible scenario for every type of client.

This is how stories become weak, watered-down, and ineffective.

It takes discipline to narrow your focus. But if you maintain that discipline, your stories will get stronger. Here are three tips to build that discipline.

1. Know who you want to talk with.

Segment your audiences. Create a persona for each. This will help you create a clearer picture of who you are addressing. Your story will become more compelling and meaningful if it's written with a specific audience in mind.

2. Understand where they are in they're buying process.

Are they just starting to think about the general category of what you have to offer or are they all the way to comparing your offering to a competitor's? Or are they somewhere in between? Understanding where they are will allow you to get specific with your story.

3. Identify what you can offer that will help them at this point.

If you know where they are in the buying process, you can more readily identify what help you can offer them that will aid them in their decision. You notice I didn't say, "how you can sell them" or worse, "how you can manipulate them". In today's world, "help" is the most valuable thing you can offer. And storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to deliver it.