BackAccording to the god of storytelling, Professor Robert Mckee, ‘Whilst fiction told stories hook, build and reward with insight, the purpose-told stories which hook interest for both head and heart, express a need or problem, build interest and involvement, show a path to fulfilment, reward, and motivate action ‘
Advertising has had its day. Forced interruptions through TV advertising and print media belongs in the past. Marketeers have to be more innovative if they are to navigate a declining reach across an explosion of multiple channels to the public. We have to cut through the noise of waves of content flooding the internet. Marketeers complain that they are battling against the public’s increasing attention deficit disorder (ADD) to retain eyeballs on their 30 second brand videos. We tell our clients that the problem is the ADD being fuelled by a social media generation and digital journeys rewiring the brain. The counter-narrative is brutal, the public are binge watching tv series at 2-3 hours at a time yet they are bouncing off websites and digital assets within seconds. Can the truth be poor marketing content and in turn, sub-standard storytelling?
Storytelling and marketing
My fellow PR Peter Bowles of Dynamo PR nudged me towards the legendary Robert Mckee’s seminar on storynomics. Fusing his expertise on storytelling with marketing.
As marketers, we know that a brand must differentiate, hook attention, hold attention and inspire action. We have learnt from the great masters from Aristotle to Edward Bernays that we need both emotion and rational communication. But what exactly is story? Is it the fusion of reason and emotion? Can it be used for marketing? Can story be used across branding, demand-gen and sales?
Storytelling is an ancient form of communication and having the ability to storify brand and communications that resonates with the audience can serve our profession well. We are familiar with the strength of storytelling driving word of mouth. We know it works but we often use the term narrative. Narrative is sequential information whereas story is information that follows a story arc which typically involves a protagonist, an inciting incident, obstacles and action to overcome them, and an object of desire. Can the consumer be the protagonist and our brand be their object of desire? Can we turn the consumer into the hero of their own purchasing journey?
Mastering your protagonist
The protagonist is the core character with whom your audience can emphasise. The inciting incident will be the event which throws your protagonist’s life out of balance and create empathy with your audience. The object of desire fuels the protagonist on their buying journey. The forces of antagonism prevents the protagonist from reaching their object of desire, but with sustained action the protagonist can overcome the obstacles and the object of desire of course being the purchase of the product/service.
Storytelling can be tricky if there is no protagonist, but usually it is the target buyer. Not all marketing stories will have the pillars of engaging story such as drama, emotion, surprise suspense and jeopardy. But being aware of the principles of storytelling will enable us to incorporate them in our marketing if the opportunity arises.
Content marketing continuum
Content marketing has opened the doors to the potential of storytelling. There exists a range of content online from yawn inducing to superlative. A content marketing continuum exists according to Mckee:
- Bystander- creating product content only
- Novice- creating campaign-driven content
- Expert- shifting marketing to sustainable content creation
- Leader- storiefied marketing
- Visionary- storified organisational culture
The reason why storytelling is powerful is because we are all on a human journey called life. We are the hero in our own journey and face obstacles on our path to achieving the object of our desire.
Life is a lonely path and when we hear stories, we transport ourselves momentarily and empathise with the protagonist of the story and live life through them to understand their journey and lessons so we can in turn apply them to our own life. We listen to stories about others as we seek to connect with ourselves and make sense of our life.
