This is the fourth part of our series: Strategic storytelling, how to combine all businesses.
Giuseppe Caltabiano
May 26, 21 | 6 min read
Strategic storytelling
Reading time: 6 minutes
It’s time to present a framework to simplify the creation of your company’s strategic storytelling and learn how to combine all the models. Of course, you can use one of the models presented above. However, we found it effective to combine and integrate the most significant elements of the models we have seen so far.
Before continuing, you can watch previous episodes if you want.
The first episode (Intro to Storytelling) is here .
The second episode (Campbell, Vogler and the classic Hero’s Journey) is here .
The third episode (Strategic Storytelling – the meeting point of business and stories) is here .
The principles and elements you’ll see come from Miller’s “hero’s journey” model (Storynomics), and have been heavily influenced by Andy Raskin’s work. The framework includes three stages, which must be completed to build the full narrative.
strategic storytelling The Strategic Storytelling Model
Stage 1 – Strategic storytelling objectives
Defining your storytelling objective is the first step in our framework. You will need to define:
The target audience . This is your audience. Although it would be ideal to have a storytelling for each audience, you can target several, as we will see in the next episode.
The needs of the public . It is the problem and the pain of the buyer. It is the hidden problem that cries out for a solution.
Audience actions (goals) – This is the end mongolia email list 100000 contact leads result. The action you want your audience to take. If you’re telling a story to a B2B audience, you might want the buyer to contact you, request a demo, attend a new meeting, or sign a contract. If you’re telling a story to a B2C audience, you might want the buyer to purchase an over-the-counter item or shop at your online store.
Stage 2 – Story Elements
Preparing the story topic requires taking three major steps:
discover core values;
define the hero and the mentor;
define the change vs. the problem.
Discovering the core values
Core values are linked to the target audience needs outlined in Stage 1. The story should be in line with the brand’s core values. Story scenarios may not be related to the product being sold, as long as the core value aligns with the brand promise. For example, Redbull’s value is to energize sports lovers (which is Redbull’s brand promise); extreme sports stories share the same brand value.
Change vs. the problem You shouldn’t start your storytelling
with “the problem.” When you state that your potential customers have a problem, you often run the risk of putting them on the defensive. Plus, your audience may not know the how to improve your seo positioning experts say problem or may feel uncomfortable admitting that they have it.
Instead, opt for change . When you highlight a change, you get potential customers to open up about how that change affects them, how it scares them, and where they see opportunities. Most importantly, you grab their attention.
The hero and the mentor
Your company is not the protagonist of the story. The customer is. The hero is the potential customer. So, never start any kind of storytelling, sales email or presentation, by talking about your brand, your product, your headquarters location, your investors, your customers or anything about yourself. You are the mentor, and your job is to guide the hero to the final reward.
Stage 3 – Designing the story
Strategic storytelling
Strategic storytelling – Story design
The story design is a simplified summary of the different frameworks presented in the previous episode, although this model was especially inspired by Andy Raskin’s work. We be numbers considered the following means of presenting the story: