Applying Storytelling Principles to Marketing Messages
3 comments Feb 28, 2013 | Posted by Lisa in Business, Entrepreneurship, independent filmmaking, Marketing, Resources, the business of film
Recently I wrote this guest post for the blog Flip Tips. While JourneyCraft’s audience may not be primarily composed of agency-paid marketers, all of us are indeed marketers—of ourselves and our stories.
Writers, in today’s market no one is going to develop your personal brand for you. I’ve added special features to this article, just for you, to help you make stronger correlations between brand marketing and your own personal pitch.
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We live in a culture saturated with stories. From commercials lasting a few seconds, to TV shows lasting a few seasons, we are inundated with more tales every day than any other generation in history.
We can’t seem to get enough stories. We can’t seem to tell enough.
And brands are no exception.
Many brands want to have their stories told. Yet ironically, they (and their marketing teams) often aren’t quite sure what a story is. Marketing wisdom may extol the virtues of storytelling as a technique for engaging audience emotion, but much less is said about what elements make up a story. Or even more crucial, how marketers can use those elements to craft a compelling brand story.
Which is why I’m writing this post.
The following definition of story is time-tested; it expresses the essence of what makes a story work. While the concepts aren’t new, I’ve made this definition my own and used it to guide my storytelling for client brands, for personal fiction and film projects, and general professional communication.
A story is a chronicle of human transformation. It features somebody (hero) who wants something (goal) and has trouble (obstacles) getting it.
This definition identifies three core elements that comprise a story. Used properly, they grab audiences by the heartstrings and pull them—right into brand engagement.
1. Hero
Your story needs someone for the audience to follow. It doesn’t have to be a person. It could be a hamster. It could be The Yeti. Heck, it could be a box of your client brand’s soap. But whoever—or whatever—your hero is, make sure your audience has someone to follow. Someone whose strivings they can root for, whose success (or failure) they can care about.
I recommend the book Legendary Brands for a more in-depth discussion of storytelling for marketers.
Marketing Takeaway
When it comes to brand stories, there are two basic options for a hero: the brand or the brand’s ideal customer.
If the former, the story follows the brand in pursuit of its product or performance goal. If the latter, the brand’s customer pursues his or her personal goal, with the brand acting as a mentor who offers necessary “powers” to reach it.
Writers: You are the hero of your own career. As you craft your story for agents, audiences, and/or potential business partners, remember to present yourself as a hero with a goal. When you became a storyteller, you embarked on a journey as epic as any penned by Homer! Let it show.
2. Goal
Until you know exactly where you want to be, you can’t get there. This is a simple principle of life; it’s an even simpler principle of storytelling.
Establish a goal for your hero, and establish it early. It can be as grand as saving the universe or as simple as crossing the street. Often it is actually two-fold: a physical (external) goal and a moral (internal) goal.
Marketing Takeaway
In a brand message, the customer hero wants to achieve the positive outcome the brand is designed to give—and then uses the brand as a “magic sword” to overcome obstacles in between. If the hero is the brand, then it will identify some kind of problem it wants to solve for its ideal customer, pursuing that solution over the course of the story.
Writers: You have a goal, whether for a particular project or for your creative career at large. So why aren’t you communicating that goal as part of your self-marketing? The more specific, the better. Inspire your audience with that “macguffin” you’re chasing down your writer’s journey. Invite them to join you in that pursuit.
3. Obstacle(s)
People can have goals, but without obstacles to achievement, they experience no transformation.
Think about it: every time you set out to achieve something that seems inaccessible, don’t you appreciate your success more when you finally conquer? Aren’t you a different, even a better, person because of the struggle? Allow your story heroes (and your audience) that same satisfaction.
Marketing Takeaway
In brand storytelling, the size of the hero’s obstacles should be directly proportional to the length of the story. In a 30-second TV spot, the hero will have one problem to solve. In a short film s/he will tackle one major problem and one minor one. A feature film will present multiple smaller conflicts around a central problem.
Writers: Ever notice that many famous writers have a “rags to riches” story? (JK Rowling, for example.) I believe part of such appeal stems from the fact that these writers overcame powerful obstacles to achieve their goals. You may not feel your obstacles are that dramatic, but you never know how they might encourage someone else! Communicate your challenges as transparently as your successes. People gain great hope from others who refuse to be held back.
So there you have it. The next time someone asks you what a story is, you can tell them:
A story is a chronicle of human transformation. It features somebody (hero) who wants something (goal) and has trouble (obstacles) getting it.
Storytellers are in the business of demonstrating change. As our characters face and overcome obstacles, they grow as people (or monsters or bestselling soap). This pattern of struggle and growth connects emotionally with audiences everywhere and can be used by brands (both corporate and personal!) as a powerful call to action.
Even if they’ve only got a few seconds to do it.
Excellent post, Lisa. I think all brand marketers need to understand these points.
I’ve come across an even shorter way to define a story: “a person in a place with a problem.” In this case, the person can be the brand; the place can be the market space, sector, era or location; and the problem is the obstacle the brand overcomes.
Another characteristic of a satisfying story: a defined beginning, middle, and end. At the start, the hero and obstacle are introduced and the action starts; in the middle, the hero struggles valiantly to overcome the obstacle; and in the end, the struggle is resolved.
Some say there are two types of stories: those that end happily (comedies) and those that don’t (tragedies). In a comedy, the hero overcomes the obstacle; in a tragedy, the hero fails.
I suspect there are a few other types of stories, such as “ironies” where the hero gets what he’s after but decides it wasn’t a worthwhile goal after all, or “dark comedies” etc. But this discussion may be going too far for a brand story.
Or maybe not? In a problem/solution white paper, the sponsor may want to label all previous attempts to solve the problem as failures, i.e. tragedies. And of course the sponsor’s new improved solution (i.e. the faster, stronger, smarter “hero”) becomes the first to truly triumph (i.e. a comedy). So these fundamental ideas do underlie a surprising number of documents used in content marketing.
Hi Gordon,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and kind praise on this post! It’s always encouraging to know readers enjoyed and/or benefited from it.
I see where you are coming from with these further definitions of story — but actually, I have to respectfully disagree that they are complete and stand alone as alternative definitions of story. They describe two ASPECTS of Story, but do not describe Story at its core. Here’s why:
First, a “person in a place with a problem” is a scenario; it is not a story. This definition does not inherently suggest forward movement toward resolution, which is essential for a story to actually exist. You’d be surprised how many writers I meet are stuck with a character in a place, who has a problem … and who never moves forward to solve it (or at least try to solve it).
Second, “beginnings, middles, and ends” are characteristics of satisfying stories, indeed. But they do not define a story. (In fact, too many writers use these three terms as part of a story definition–I hear it all the time in my classes!–to their detriment. Beginning, middle and end may help a person structure a story in Western three-act form. But adhering to this convention does not necessarily help writers actually build a journey of transformation for the character. Plenty of stories with “beginnings, middles, and ends” go nowhere, the same as the further definition above.
This is why I chose a longer and more nuanced definition that includes CHANGE and MOVEMENT. From my experience, I felt it necessary to move past some of the more common definitions for one that actually expresses the core of Story.
As for the types of stories, yes, I agree there are only two types. Irony, however, is not a third possible type. It is a subset of tragedy. In irony, the hero did not get what he wanted at the end. He got what he THOUGHT he wanted. But because he failed to know his own true need, he failed to get what he actually wanted, deep down. And that is, in the classical sense, a kind of tragedy.
Thanks again for your input. I hope you’ll return and keep up the dialogue on future posts!
Best,
Lisa