Storytelling is getting a lot of attention lately. Jennifer Stillman (@entrylevelrebel) has written a handful of articles around brand storytelling in Inc., and there are even podcasts dedicated to it. And yet, very few companies pro-actively take the time to write & share their story with their own employees and beyond. Why is that?
Usually companies don’t develop their story because the idea of writing a story takes them back to another story. You remember, the one where on the first day of 3rd or 4th grade you had to write a story about what you did during summer holidays. The one where you said I did this, then I did that, then I did these other things. My favorite thing of the summer was X . Boring. Where’s the conflict? Where’s the adventure? The protagonist wasn’t even all that interested.
But here’s the revelation. The story — the one that matters — was the one that took you to your own memory of the 4th grade story. As you thought back to that story we all had to write, you put yourself into that story. You remembered and you related, because your neurobiology told you to.
Stories are powerful, and the human brain responds to them because they are fundamental to the way we understand the world and to our very survival.
Even if you haven’t heard of Joseph Campbell, you’ve likely been exposed to the framework that he built that describes the universal Hero’s Journey. You find the framework in Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings, and countless other movies we’ve all seen. But for our purposes, we’re going to distill it to 3 steps.
All you need are 3 core elements to tell your brand story
And once you’ve got this 3 act structure, you’ll find telling your story — and having your employees, customers and prospects tell your story too — is easy.
- Context — what’s the universal truth at the heart of why your business exists? For example, at Motive3 the reason we exist is because companies need customers to survive. That’s our context. It’s our persona’s (our clients’) truth. The reason you start with a universal truth is because it’s something everyone can agree on. You want to start in a place where your persona (i.e. your customer, client or user) is saying ‘yes.’
- Complication — this is your customer’s problem. We can all agree that companies need customers to survive, but attracting, closing and keeping them isn’t easy. It requires vision, a deep understanding of customer needs, customer growth and retention systems . . . and the ability to execute on those systems consistently and on-brand. That’s the complication.
- Special Magic — what’s your secret sauce? What’s the magic you have that you can bestow on your customers to resolve their complication? Obi-Wan taught Luke Skywalker about the Force. Frodo had Gandalf as a guide. What does your customer need to conquer their challenge? For us, it’s the guidance we give and the systems we implement. We help customers become customer magnets with results driven, evidence-based marketing strategies and systems that get, keep, and grow customers — and our body of work proves it.
I can say that in less than 30 seconds. Here it is as a little story:
Companies need customers to survive. But attracting, closing, and keeping them isn’t easy. It requires vision, a deep understanding of customer needs, customer growth and retention systems, and the ability to execute on those systems consistently, and on brand. At Motive3, we help companies become customer magnets with results-driven, evidence-based marketing strategies and systems that get, keep and grow customers — and our body of work proves it.
And there you have it. Use this simple 3-step structure to put together a 30-second (or less) story that your customers, clients or users will relate to. This is your new elevator speech. It contains your market, the problem, and the solution in a story structure that people will remember. And that’s important, because your brand isn’t the sum of its list of benefits, it’s what your customers remember to think about you when they have a need, and what they remember to say about you once you’ve filled it.
Now go test your story.
Test it with your customers. Test it with your partners (they likely tell your story better than you do). Test it with your mom, or your grandma, or your 4th-grader. Anyone should be able to ‘get it’. If they don’t, simplify.
Armed with this story, you have what you need to guide you, and your customers. Go build your story. Then bring it to life with your messaging, your website, your overall customer experience.
