Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a little boy called Jack, who came across some magical beans. Jack lived in a small cottage with his mother. They were very poor. One day Jack’s mother said to him… Jack, your website is terrible.
Folks, sorry I hijacked Jack’s story to make a point, which is neither about Jack’s Magic beans nor about his terrible website. The point I am about to make is a different one. It is about you.
You have made it all this way to the third paragraph and I have your full attention. Ask yourself, “Why am I still reading when I could be doing one of the million other things that I ought to be doing ? “
As much as I would like to take credit and claim my place in the writer’s hall of fame, I know I had little to do with it. You clicked on this blog, probably because it reminded you of all the ‘Once upon a time stories’ you grew up with.
Stories are powerful, we are drawn to them, we remember them and recite them to others. It is deeply ingrained in our culture. Stories entertain, they teach moral values and they are the conduit through which knowledge is passed down from one generation to the next.
Contrast this with the content we B2B marketers generate.
“Product X is a world leader in cloud based blah blah.. It uses the latest analytics frameworks and offers the following advantages: Capex & Opex savings, Customer satisfaction.. snip snip ”.
Most B2B marketers would agree, when I claim, that the content we generate is pompous, repetitive and full of jargon. It lulls people to sleep. It tends to be predominantly about, ‘Us, Our company, Our product’, it brags on endlessly and proclaims that we are the best in the world. Compare this with the simple story of Jack and the magic beans.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am not for a moment suggesting that you begin with ‘Once upon a time’. However, I do believe that incorporating story telling principles will make B2B content more engaging and exciting.
Story telling techniques
Story telling techniques are perhaps as old as our civilisation. It is a fascinating subject that can be studied in great depth. However, for the purposes of B2B Marketing, we will focus on 4 key tenets of story telling.
1. Protagonist is the hero in the story. But who is the hero in B2B stories? Often, we tend to portray our products and services as the hero. This is very wrong. The real hero in B2B stories ought to be the customer or the buyer.
2. Antagonist is the villain in the story. Any one or any thing that gets in the way of the hero’s quest. In the B2B context it is any problem that prevents our hero ( the customer ) from reaching his or her goals.
3. Goal is the hero’s quest in the story. What are your customers goals ? Buying your product or service is surely not their goal, that is yours. Your customers (hero’s) goal could be business ones like reducing operational expenses, getting new customers, increasing revenue or it could be personal ones like securing a promotion, being appreciated, peer recognition, personal branding etc.
4. Ally: Every story has one. Ally is the one who supports the hero and nudges him at the appropriate time to realise his flaws and achieve his goals. In B2B marketing, that is you and your company.
Your company or product is not the hero in the story, the customer is. Buying your product is not the customers goal. It is your goal. Your product is not the hero, it is an Ally.
A framework for B2B story telling
Stories are engaging, they are memorable. It not surprising that an increasing number of companies are incorporating story telling techniques in their content generation process. Despite its appeal, story telling, is neither easy nor natural for B2B content writers. Breaking down a narative into Act 1, Act 2 and 3 works for authors and screen play writers but not for B2B content marketers.
Situation Complication Resolution (SCR) Framework
SCR maps the classic three Act story telling principle to business presentations. Act-1 ( Situation ) establishes the appropriate background, Act-2 ( Complication) shines the light on the challenges in order to build up tension in the story. Finally Act-3 (Resolution) relieves the tension by offering an appropriate solution. It can also be summarised as, What, So What and Now What framework.
Start your B2B story by capturing the current situation, then introduce the challenge faced by the company, make the consequences of not facing the challenge clear. This increases the tension in the the story. Finally propose your product or service as the solution.
This is the ideal framework to persuade a business audience. The tension in such a narration is a negative one since the focus is on the complication. However, the negative focus tends to bring out strong emotions and is best used when your audience is unaware of the problem at hand.
Situation , Opportunity resolution (SOR) framework
SOR is another variation of the 3 act structure, it is used to galvanise decision makers to take action and grab the opportunity. While the previous framework had a negative connotation, the SOR framework has a positive one, since it focusses on the opportunity rather than on the challenge. This creates a positive tension. It forces the audience to ask the question, “How do I exploit this opportunity?” .The positive tension is relieved when your product proposes the solution or a way to address the opportunity.
Pilot, results, Scale (PRS) framework
PRS is yet another variation of the first framework (SCR). The pilot is the situation, the results of the pilot is the complication and the recommendation to scale up is the resolution.
Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR), Situation-Opportunity-Resolution (SOR) & Pilot-Results-Scale (PRS)
Are three story telling frameworks that B2B Marketers can use to guide their content generation efforts.
These frameworks provide a simple structure to incorporate story telling techniques in your B2B content generation efforts. Remember B2B content needn’t be dry and boring.
Bring them to life, make them memorable by telling a story. It is not easy but these frameworks will certainly help. I hope your next blog , PoV or any other material you write tells the story of your hero, the customer.
