Stories are the DNA of human understanding. They take information and package it up in ways that other people can easily comprehend and remember. Here’s a tried-and-true framework for building a story that engages your audience.
Situation
You need a landscape. You need conditions. To set the stage, as they say. What’s the situation we’re in? Put us there. Regulations are changing. Cheese sales are down. Fatalities are on the rise. We have a situation that needs to be addressed.
Stakes
What happens if we don’t do anything about this problem? What do we stand to lose, and what do we stand to gain? Will we continue to lose marketshare if we fail to act? Could we become an industry leader if we step forward? These are the stakes.
Solution
Next, you propose a solution. Typically this comes in the form of a “guide” or “mentor” in Hollywood parlance. In the case of B2B writing, that mentor is typically your company, product or idea. The solution is here to help bring about the good stakes and avoid the bad stakes.
Substantiation
You need to provide reasons to believe. What are the special powers your solution is bringing to the table? Is it 30 years of experience? A breakthrough innovation? An uncommon dedication to service? These reasons don’t need to be unique, but they do need to be true and proveable.
Sale
Finally, there’s the call to action. The person reading or hearing your story has a chance now to make a decision. They can follow the solution that’s being presented to them, or they can not. That’s up to them. But your job is to call them to action. If you succeed, you’ve closed the sale.
Ultimately, this framework is the Hero’s Journey. If you’d like help understanding how you can apply this framework to your marketing to increase results, get in touch.
