Lesson 7: Balancing: Broad VS Strong Story

Balancing a Broad Story and a Strong Story

You should already understand the importance of storytelling both in the context of our world and within marketing. Stories are powerful instruments that help spread messages with impact and effectiveness. As you embark on the journey of building a high impact brand, it is essential that you understand the importance of balancing a broad story as well as a strong story.

• A broad story is as simple as its name suggests. It’s a story with a more inclusive vision that accounts for the big, overarching, systemic issues and problems that encompass the purpose and mission of your start-up. The broad story paints a picture of the universe in which your narrative exists without narrowing down on the specific problems that your start-up focuses on targeting or getting into the weeds with examples.

• A strong story hones in on the most fundamental aspects of the universe within which your narrative exists, without losing sight of the broader picture. Moreover, it captivates the audience with a worthy problem or goal and provides a compelling quest to follow.

As a start-up, you want to focus on creating a brand that tells a strong story as opposed to a broad story. Sure, you can use the broad story to talk about the big picture, but the problem with this approach is that it can be too general, and therefore not specific enough to include where you come into play. Remember that the goal of sharing your story is to persuade your audience to take your desired action. In your case, this is most likely influencing their decision to buy your product or service.

You may be wondering how to create your story in the first place. And that’s understandable because storytelling is hard work. A great story is usually simple for an audience to understand because of the careful effort and thought that went into crafting it. Even though the process of coming up with a story, especially a strong one, is far from simple, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to create a compelling story that engages your intended audience. We’re showing you how!

1. The first step is to understand the desired outcome from sharing a strong story. In the case of a start-up, the desired outcome is often to win new business, make a sale, or drive awareness for your brand. Moreover, in telling your story you are trying to build an emotional connection with your audience because you want them to feel your purpose and mission. You want the emotions and ideas that your story evokes to translate into action for your business.

2. The second step is to identify your target audience. How can you tell a strong story if you don’t even know who should listen? This may seem like an obvious concept, but you would be amazed by how many entrepreneurs tell ineffective stories that are too broad, convoluted, or watered down. In most instances, these stories do not have a clear reader in mind. If you don’t know your reader you will not be able to share a story that seduces them into saying yes to your product or service. You may be thinking that the universe for your specific offering is vast and undefinable, or speaking to a specific target is too granular an approach. That may be true if you’re building the next Uber, or something so vast and broad that anyone might be a customer, like candy or gasoline. However, it is likely that your business has a specific customer in mind, and that is who you should think about when crafting your story.

Let’s go back to the Uber example. If your business is trying to take a slice of the ride-sharing market by focusing on a specific segment, your story should be tailored to that particular audience (e.g. elderly church attendees without vehicles, school-age children whose parents won’t allow them to take the bus, or groups of commuters in a specific neighbourhood). Identify your audience now!

3. The third step is to choose the plot for your story. Every strong story has a compelling plot that accomplishes the desired outcome. As a start-up that is building a brand, you want to make sure that your story is relevant and appropriate. Some impactful plot ideas that you can use to tell your story include sharing why you started the company, how the business relates to something meaningful in your life, or even why you chose the company name or its logo in the first place. Assuming that you put thought into the conception of your company, there is a story waiting to be told behind its origin.

If you’re struggling to come up with a story, simply put yourself in the shoes of your desired audience. What do you think your ideal customer thinks and feels about the problem you are tackling? How might your story engage enough to affect the desired outcome? These are all important questions to consider, but one crucial thing to keep in mind is to always remain authentic in your voice and content. People will know when your story is insincere or lacking in originality.

4. The fourth step is to create the narrative of your story. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Similarly, your story should follow this structure so that it feels believable, persuasive, and consistent. If you don’t know where to start, simply make a quick outline of your story before you fill in the details.

5. The fifth step is to integrate your story into your company brand and marketing strategy. For this to work you may need to tailor the story to different lengths and formats that can be used across different mediums, including a paragraph, a full-length article, or even something as short as a one-liner or a tagline. Remember that your story must consistently reflect the WHY, purpose, values, and mission of your brand.

If you still feel at a loss for how to come up with a strong story for your brand, you may consider applying the Hero’s Journey within the context of your marketing narrative. This is a basic narrative approach that follows the quest/path of a character becoming a hero. This method was developed by Joseph Campbell, but its principles are evident in any good story across time.

The Hero’s Journey is built for fiction, but as a deconstruction of stories in general it can apply to any story you want to tell. The call to adventure is the gap that your value proposition fills. It is when you had the idea for your start-up. Supernatural aid is strictly optional, sometimes inspiration can fall out of nowhere. The threshold guardian is your earliest naysayers. These include those who think your idea isn’t worthwhile, or those who think you should not leave your nice, safe, secure job to chase your dream. Helpers and mentors speak for themselves, even fictional heroes need mentors.

As you can see from the exercise above The Hero’s Journey can be made to apply to your company’s story. We’ve applied about 1/4th of the circle here. See if you can’t complete the cycle for yourself. If you like, draw a circle, put the headings, and start filling in your story.