4 Essential Elements For A Great Story

By John Livesay On Oct 18, 2019

Marketers today need to tell their story across many platforms and find a way to break through the noise. If your Marketing message confuses someone, they tune out. If your Marketing message is boring, they ignore it. If your Marketing message is delivered in a way that is clumsy, people will avoid it. Imagine there was a way for marketers to make their message, clear, concise and compelling every time. Well, you don’t have to imagine it because if you use these four essential elements in your Marketing stories, you will nail it every time.

Exposition

Paint the picture so people know the who, what, where and when your story is set. The goal is to get people to see themselves in your Marketing story so the more details and vivid you make your message the better. When you market your brand to get new clients, one key element is your story of origin. This is when it is crucial to give the details on topic such as when the company started, what was the original vision, is it still true today and who are the people who made it all happen.

In the case of an architecture firm presenting to win the renovation of an airport, they opened their case study of renovating another airport by saying exactly how many years ago it was, where it was located and what caused that client to want to renovate.

Problem

All marketers know that people don’t change their buying behavior unless you are solving a problem. The better you have a story that shows you understand their problem better than anyone else, the more the new prospective client thinks you have their solution. The key to describing a problem in your Marketing message is to make sure you show empathy for the people in the story. The more empathy you show the more they like you.

For the architecture firm pitching for the airport renovation, they explained the problem of having to rip up all the tiles outside the retail stores and get it all done in 12 hours during the night so the stores could open on time. They explained how they had vendors on call all night to anticipate any problems. Sure enough at 2 am they needed to unexpectedly replace some electrical wiring and were able to get it done minutes before the stores had to open. Instead of just saying that they use critical thinking when confronting a problem, they told a story showing it.

Solution

This is where you show how great life is for other clients you have helped now that their problem is solved using your product or service. Be sure to play up the impact it has on the bottom line, but also on the people’s emotions. For example, you can play up clients have less stress and more productivity. With your solution, the connection among co-workers has soared which results in employees enjoying work without hassles.

The architecture firm explained in their case study how they were able to come on time and under budget by one team member telling a personal story of learning discipline and focus from being in the Israeli Army before joining the firm.

Resolution

This is the time to future pace people in your Marketing messages. What is life like a week, month or a year from working with you? Remember don’t give an ending of “they lived happily ever after.” Instead, use words how happy the client is that the future has arrived early with unexpected and new ways to grow revenues faster than ever before.

The architecture firm used resolution in their case study to show how the airport they worked on went on to get great press as well as how Sales in the retail stores went up 15% because people were spending more time shopping in the newly designed space. This resulted in them winning a new project worth over 1 Billion Dollars. Whoever tells the best story gets the sale.

The next time your team has to go present against other firms to win new business, make sure they are turning case studies into stories. A case study that just shows pictures and information without a story will not be memorable. A case study that has all 4 essential elements of a good story is magnetic and can make your offer irresistible.

For more Marketing tips, watch this short video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah_ttT16TFA