Even in the event you’re not knowledgeable storyteller, you should use storytelling frameworks to share extra partaking narratives in your content material advertising and marketing copy. You’ll not solely have the ability to inform your organization’s story extra successfully to stakeholders, however you’ll have the ability to write more practical, readable materials that converts customers into loyal clients.
Whether or not you’re writing on your web site, weblog, social media profiles, displays, or on-line affords, the framework mentioned beneath will make it easier to achieve confidence in storytelling and begin telling higher tales in enterprise and in life. Let’s get began.
Why use a storytelling framework?
As content material strategists, we must always spend numerous time desirous about the significance of storytelling in advertising and marketing, however we don’t — primarily as a result of it’s so intimidating. The pressure-filled course of of making a framework and telling a narrative can preserve lots of people from even attempting. When the topic comes up, we understandably get nervous.
The factor is: storytelling is a part of what makes us human. We don’t should be Ernest Hemingway to be good at it. We will use a storytelling framework to information us within the writing course of.
Storytelling frameworks make our copy and content material really feel acquainted to readers, whereas offering us with a simple “components” to observe. The excellent news is that your content material won’t ever really feel formulaic, as a result of you may (and will) diversify the way you write particular person pages or posts. Nonetheless, the naked bones keep the identical.
Storytelling Template: The Hero’s Journey
The Hero’s Journey is a storytelling template from writer Joseph Campbell, and it’s all over the place. It’s one of the vital relatable storylines as a result of it mainly mirrors the journeys of our personal lives. Understanding The Hero’s Journey can provide you perception into the way to body your individual tales, whether or not it’s the true story about your organization or a fictional story that stirs your creativeness.
The next diagram breaks down this Hero’s Journey template, step-by-step.
Sometimes damaged down into three acts, the Hero’s Journey goes as follows:
Act 1:
- Peculiar World: A personality (both you or your buyer) resides an everyday life.
- Name to Journey: The character turns into conscious of an issue or a process that should be accomplished.
- Refusal (of name): The character initially reveals refusal — consider a buyer who refuses to modify from their present supplier regardless of their ache factors.
- Assembly with the Mentor: The character meets an individual who’ll information them within the technique of finishing the duty — consider a gross sales particular person guiding a lead towards conversion.
Act 2:
- Crossing the Threshold (into new life/experiences): The character formally begins their journey of fixing the duty, like a buyer who’s simply made a brand new buy.
- Exams, Allies, Enemies: The character faces totally different trials within the technique of finishing the duty.
- Method to Innermost Cave: The character approaches the ultimate battle — consider knowledgeable who should now get their complete staff to undertake an answer.
- Ordeal: The character goes by means of a battle or showdown — like in-team disagreements or discussions with stakeholders.
- Reward: The character emerges triumphant.
Act 3:
- The Highway Again: Sometimes, the problem isn’t over, and the character should cope with “blowback” from their earlier battle.
- Resurrection: The character emerges with a brand new energy, inner lesson, or exterior change.
- Return with Elixir: The character returns house or strikes ahead into a brand new journey.
That is the Hero’s Journey, which—modified in varied methods—we see repeated in tales all through historical past. We’ve an extraordinary particular person (what’s), and now we have journey that lies forward (what may very well be). The transference from one to the opposite is the journey.
One other nice story template comes from comedy writing. It begins equally: A personality is in a zone of consolation. However they need one thing, so that they enter into an unfamiliar state of affairs. They adapt, and finally get what they’re searching for, however find yourself paying a heavy worth for it. In the long run, they return to their outdated state of affairs, having modified.
The Hero’s Journey: Fiction Instance
The best story ever informed…
Sure, we’re speaking about Star Wars. Let’s step by means of a crude synopsis to see how effectively it matches Campbell’s sample:
- Peculiar World: Within the first Star Wars movie, we start with the relatively extraordinary Luke Skywalker. He lives on a farm on a desert planet.
- Name to Journey: Someday, he meets some robots who need assistance. They should discover a native hermit named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke takes the robots to Obi-Wan, who mainly says, “Luke, you could exit and assist save the universe.”
- Refusal of Name, Assembly with Mentor, & Crossing the Threshold: Luke initially says, “No, I’ve all these items occurring,” however Kenobi, who turns into Luke’s mentor, convinces Luke that he ought to go. Kenobi trains him the way to use a lightsaber, and Luke goes on an epic area journey.
- Take a look at, Allies, Enemies: On the journey, Luke meets the villain, Darth Vader. He battles evil stormtroopers. He makes pals: Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia.
- Method to the Innermost Cave: Luke then has to assist defeat the super-weapon, the Demise Star.
- Ordeal: Almost all the things goes mistaken, however in the long run, Luke succeeds in blowing up the Demise Star.
- Reward: The final scene of the film is of Luke getting a steel put over his neck by the princess, who kisses him on the cheek.
- The Highway Again, Resurrection, & Elixir: Now he’s in his new house, a modified man, emboldened by the nice energy of the Power, which he can use on future adventures.
The Hero’s Journey: Enterprise Instance
In enterprise, the Hero’s Journey can most apply to case research. (Most of them are rather less entertaining tales than Star Wars, sadly.)
A case examine is the story of the place a buyer was, the place they wished to be, and the way they overcame that hole.
In case you hearken to podcasts, you’ll hear this story informed in nearly each advert. You’ll additionally see it in “About us” pages. For instance, take a look at Harry’s:
“Our founders, Jeff and Andy, created Harry’s as a result of they have been bored with overpaying for overdesigned razors. As a substitute, they wished easy, high-quality merchandise that felt good to make use of, all at a good worth. After they requested round, they realized plenty of guys have been upset in regards to the state of affairs too, so that they determined to do one thing about it.”
The issue with most manufacturers’ tales is that they don’t stroll us by means of sufficient of the steps of the Hero’s Journey to seize our consideration.
That’s why these frameworks are so helpful. They’re a very easy means to make sure that we’re extra artistic after we’re arising with tales or attempting to convey info. This framework helps you focus your creativity.
Want extra? Try The Storytelling Edge: Learn how to Remodel Your Enterprise, Cease Screaming into the Void, and Make Individuals Love You for extra element on utilizing the Hero’s Journey in your corporation writing.
Learn how to Bolster Your Storytelling Framework with the Benjamin Franklin Methodology
As you proceed utilizing storytelling templates, you should use Benjamin Franklin’s writing methodology to strengthen your abilities and create higher enterprise tales.
What’s Benjamin Franklin’s methodology, you ask?
Benjamin Franklin devised a system for mastering writing. He collected problems with a publication that contained a few of the greatest writing of his day, and reverse engineered the prose. He took notes at a sentence stage, sat on them for some time, and tried to recreate the sentences from his personal head, with out wanting on the originals.
Upon comparability, Benjamin discovered that his vocabulary was missing, and his prose was mild on selection. Regardless of that, he did it again and again. Not like the extra passive methodology most writers use to enhance their work (studying loads), this train pressured Franklin to concentrate to the tiny particulars that made the distinction between respectable writing and nice writing.
Right here’s how you should use this methodology to bolster your storytelling template.
Step 1: Reverse engineer your rivals’ copy.
Take a chunk of copy that you just significantly admire out of your competitor’s web site. It may be a webpage, a case examine, a white paper, or an article. Learn it whereas noting what’s significantly efficient about it, then set it apart and rewrite it in one of the best ways you know the way. Remember to use your notes to information your rewrite, and attempt to establish the storytelling template your competitor is utilizing.
Word: Don’t publish this materials, as it may be flagged as plagiarism! However you’re welcome to maintain it in a personal doc.
Step 2: Examine your reworked model to the unique.
Set the 2 variations facet by facet. How does yours examine? What’s it lacking? What did your competitor do effectively? How did you do effectively? Word your findings in a separate doc. Do that time and again together with your rivals and even your individual copy. After getting sufficient perception and expertise, you may start making use of your findings to your new copy and even use it to rewrite your outdated copy.
A Storytelling Framework is Important for Nice Copy
Through the use of storytelling frameworks, you’ll study to put in writing stronger enterprise tales very quickly. The Hero’s Journey is a best-in-class instance for writing case research, commercials, articles, and even tutorials. Keep in mind: Individuals don’t bear in mind manufacturers. They bear in mind tales. Use this to your benefit.
Word: This publish accommodates excerpts from The Storytelling Edge: Learn how to Remodel Your Enterprise, Cease Screaming Into the Void, and Make Individuals Love You by Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow.
Editor’s word: This publish was initially revealed in January 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
