Mankind has used storytelling to make sense of the world for centuries. Our brains are hardwired to think in terms of a narrative or cause-and-effect. So, for that reason, storytelling is the most compelling way to share ideas, to persuade and to inspire.
Co-founder of Buffer, Leo Widrich noted in his blog on www.bufferapp.com how stories engage more parts of the listener’s brain than a lecture or speech. As a person hears a story unfold, all the details that engage our five senses activate neural activity in the sensory cortex of the listener’s brain. Without the context of a story, only the language processing part of the brain is used to decode words into meaning.
I played in the beginner school band when I was in fourth grade. My teacher worked with me patiently, as I progressed through learning each note of the treble clef on a trumpet. At first, all I played were tones associated with the specific notes on the sheet music. Eventually, I caught on that this was more than mere notes; I was playing a song. Within the context of the song, each note became more significant to me, and I grew to play the notes more melodically. As my musical understanding grew, so did the quality of my performance and my ability to entertain an audience through music.
Just as notes sound better when played as a song, words and concepts become more powerful when woven into a story.
Jeffery Hirschberg is a playwright and author. In his blog, The 11 Laws of Storytelling on www.writersstore.com, Hirschberg outlines three major elements of a good story:
“Know what your hero wants (the goal), what happens if he doesn’t get what he wants (the stakes), and who/what is preventing him from getting what he wants (the villain).”
The tension that exists when heroes meet villains, or when heroic effort is required to solve a problem, is what adds intrigue to the plot. Our stories must have villains, else they’d not be stories worth telling.
“We love watching our heroes struggle,” says Hirschberg. “What would Raiders of the Lost Ark be if Indiana Jones immediately stumbled upon the Ark of the Covenant and brought it back to America? … Boring!”
As Entrepreneurs observe Do-It-Yourself Marketing Month this June, we must be on a mission to seek and destroy villains. Not our villains; our customers’ villains.
The true test of viability for any product or service is this: Does it solve a real problem for a sizeable population? After you identify your target audience, avatar, ideal customer, or any other term you use to describe the person who buys your stuff, you must next identify their villain/problem.
Believe me; your customer hears from their villain daily. Whether it’s a harsh reality that exists in the physical world, or a nagging inner voice that repeats doom and gloom, your customer innately knows their problem is real…even if they won’t outwardly acknowledge it.
When you begin to talk to your customer about their villain, their goal, and what’s at stake, you are leaps and bounds ahead of other brands who are still selling features and benefits.
Want to know a secret? Benefits don’t sell…at least not as well as problems do.
Picture a little donkey, harnessed to a cart, with a carrot dangling in front of him. Then add a cart driver with a stick, ready to whip the donkey every time he balks. Sometimes hunger will compel the donkey to go after the carrot, but he will always run from the stick.
Consumers behave the same way. We might be enticed with benefits, but we will always take action to avoid pain. That’s what makes villains/problems such potent motivators when it comes to marketing and persuasion.
Want another reason to include villains/problems in your marketing?
Imagine it’s a rainy Thursday night, and your spouse has gone to an evening work-related event. An hour or two have passed beyond the time you expected them to be home. Your calls and texts go unanswered. How many villains can your mind invent?
In the absence of facts, our minds make up our own stories in an effort to make sense of the circumstances. Rarely do we imagine a scenario where all is well. We seem to default to monsters, boogeymen, and calamity.
Our brains crave villains, so that we may exult when the villain is defeated.
Your challenge as a marketer is to demonstrate how your brand solves your customers’ problems and slays their villains. Paint a picture of success with one hand (the carrot), and remind them of the stakes with the other (the stick).
Then, watch them choose.
