Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business

Identifiable Characters
Where most would-be value stories run off the rails is right here. With the
identifiable character. And I get it. It’s easy to get confused. To think that, if
you’re trying to get people to understand the value of a product, the product
should be the star of the story. The product can do this! 
and
that! 
and
, oh, did
you see how this product is better than that product because of this, this, and . . .
wait for it . . . 
this?!
The important thing to remember is that when it comes to great storytelling,
and as the research indicates, having an actual character for the audience to
connect with and relate to is key.
Having an identifiable character is a critical point of distinction between a
strong story and a weak one. The greatest mistake of marketing is to put what
you offer at the center of everything instead of the person you offer it 
to
. It’s
focusing on the software, the burger, the makeup, the car, the widget instead of
the person who will use the software, eat the burger, wear the makeup, drive the
car, or benefit from the widget. Unless you work at Pixar, cars aren’t characters.
People are characters. Products don’t win the girl, overcome the odds, or slay the
dragon. People do those things. The knight in shining armor is the character, the
sword is the product, the dragon is the problem. Sure, the knight uses the sword.
But it’s the knight who slays the dragon, not the sword. The sword is just a tool
to solve a problem. Take away the knight, and you don’t have a story. You just
have a piece of metal stuck in a rock.
When you go to craft your value story, make sure it includes a character: a
person or, in the case of Budweiser, a lovable animal. Include a few details about
the character. It could be something as simple as an age, a personality trait, a
physical characteristic, a profession, or a specific thing they wear. One or two
small details help build out the image of the character in the minds of the
audience, and the more clearly they can imagine the character, the more they
will connect with the content.
In the Apple ad, it was easy to understand a distracted teenager.
In the Workiva story, people related to an overworked man with hopes
beyond a fluorescent-lit boardroom.
I’ll say it again—for a value story to work, it must include a character. Not
simply your product. Not your factory, office, technology, code, or widget. Not
your logo, brand, pitch, or plan. A value story is nothing without a character to

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care about.
As for the product? The beautiful part of the value story, like for Chelsea and
Unbounce, is that you don’t even need to talk about the product. We don’t need
to really see it or totally understand it. All we need to understand is that the
product changed the course of the identifiable character’s life and, subsequently,
how it could change our own.
Authentic Emotion
I heard a sales guru say that in order to fully connect with the needs of your
potential customers, you had to get into bed with them.
Yes. I thought it was creepy too. Which, looking back, I think is exactly what
he wanted—to sound a little controversial. That being said, the point he
eventually went on to make was, in order to figure out what your customers
really care about, imagine them at the end of the day. They finish dinner with
their family or maybe they don’t get to see their families because they’re
working too late. Maybe they pay a few bills, wrap up a few emails, watch some
late-night television, and then, in those few minutes when the lights are off and
they’re about ready to fall asleep . . .
What keeps them awake?
What problem are they staring at the ceiling and trying to solve but can’t?
What issue is worrying them, concerning them, stressing them out? Once you
know that, then the next step is how do 
you
fix that feeling?
And while I much prefer my bed to anyone else’s, this is where the emotions
of the value story start. It might be tempting to share 
your
feelings about the
product or the opportunity, but the only emotions that matter in the value story
are those of your potential customer and, as such, the identifiable character.
This is where your data, personas, and everything else you know about the
people you’ve identified as your key customers become worth their weight in
emotional gold. Take your painstaking analytics and insights and 
do
something
with them. Home in on the thing, the one thing your customers care most about,
the thing that keeps them up at night, and tell a story that includes and taps into
that emotion.
Additionally, don’t underestimate the power of actually talking to your
customers and prospects. Beyond online surveys and poll data, real
conversations will reveal emotional nuances you might otherwise miss. Not only
will you get a more intimate understanding, these conversations will give you
insights as to what to include for the final two story components.

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A Moment
One of the many strengths of telling a value story is that it demonstrates and,
when done right, often simulates the problem you and your product solve by
putting it into a specific context. While including a character and emotion will
help to draw the audience into the scene, the best value stories include a specific
moment in time the audience can see vividly and specifically.
The moment component can be included a variety of ways and can depend
on the medium through which you are sharing the message. In the Builder.co
example we used in our research, we stated a specific day and time to give the
audience a sense of when exactly this occurred. This is particularly useful when
the message is one-dimensional (the participants were reading the message
versus watching and hearing it). In the Apple commercial, the moment was when
the boy turned on the television; there was a noticeable shift and silence in that
moment, signifying that something had changed.
The last thing to remember about the moment in value stories is that it’s
often connected to the explosion. Things had been going along as normal, and
then suddenly, in this moment, things changed. It’s the moment the solution is
discovered, the moment the real value of the product or service is realized.
Specific Details
I was speaking at a conference for Jack Henry and Associates, a large,
publicly traded tech company. They provide technology products and services to
banks and credit unions that make everything we know about our relationship
with our financial institution possible. Look at your statement online? Jack
Henry. Make your deposits via a mobile device? Jack Henry. In July 2018, they
were celebrating their biggest year yet, and as someone who works with a lot of
companies, it was easy to see why. They’re connected despite being dispersed.
They’re excited while being focused. And at the center of it all, they know that
what really matters is knowing the customer. Not only does this matter once the
sale is made, it matters in order to make the sale in the first place.
At the event, Steve Tomson, the general manager of sales and marketing,
told his team, nearly five hundred people strong, that success depends on how
well you know your customer before you even walk into the first meeting. You
needed to know what they need, what they’re struggling with, and how Jack
Henry can help.
Customer knowledge is critical to sales, storytelling, and the value story in