The Secret to Engaging Presentations: Storytelling Frameworks

Happy Friday folks,

It’s one of those weeks where I feel like I have gotten more value than I have given out, so I’ll try to balance the equation with today’s missive.

WARNING: THIS EMAIL MIGHT BE A BIT LENGTHY

By the way, did you notice I had changed the name of my newsletter?

It’s now called “Much Ado About Content Marketing”.

Thoughts?

This Week I Learnt

Storytelling frameworks!

While “brand storytelling” seems to be overhyped these days, there is no denying it’s importance - especially when writing presentations.

My definition of presentations - any strategic narrative aiming to convince the reader, viewer, or listener to take action. It could be a pitch deck, a landing page, or even a short video.

Proponents of the above approach always forget one crucial element: humans make decisions primarily with emotions, and then use logic to justify them later. When you use proven storytelling frameworks to create consumer messaging, you achieve the following:

• Your narrative is more memorable.

• It is also emotionally provocative.

Do you ever wonder why some of your most memorable teachers and preachers always used stories to make a point or pass across a message?

There’s a reason for that: imbued with lessons or sermons, stories command greater attention, are easier to digest, and are innately better at “sticking in your brain”.

So, frameworks…

Storytelling frameworks are your hack to creating story-led narratives for your presentations.

Using a framework ensures your narratives are organised and in-tune with your consumer’s passion points, without reinventing the wheel every time.

Here are my three favorite storytelling frameworks:

Story Brand (SB7) Framework by Donald Miller

In his book - Building A Storybrand: Clarify Your Message So That Clients Will Listen - Donald rejigged Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero Journey” framework made popular by Hollywood directors into a marketing tool.

His SB7 Framework consists of seven principles:

Storybrand principle 1: The Customer is the Hero, not your brand.

According to Donald, this is the common mistake of most companies. They focus on themselves and not the customer.

It’s not about you, it’s about them.

Storybrand principle 2: Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but customers buy solutions to internal problems.

• There are 3 kinds of problems your customer encounters.

  • External problems — what they need.

  • Internal problem s — why they need a solution

  • Philosophical problems —what the world sees

Storybrand principle 3: Customers aren’t looking for another hero; they’re looking for a guide.

Just like Harry Potter had Dumbledore, your role as the brand is to guide your hero (customer) along the journey.

Storybrand principle 4: Customers trust a guide who has a plan.

Being the guide, this is where you present your solution to the problem.

Storybrand principle 5: Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.

Tell your customer what to do. Provide them with a step by step guide to whatever call to action you want them to do.

Storybrand principle 6: Every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending.

What’s the stake if they don’t do your call to action? Will their lives remain the same or will it become worse?

Storybrand principle 7: Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.

You create, in the customer’s mind, the transformation your product or service would bring in their lives.

TLDR: The hero (your customer) meets a guide (your brand) and is on a journey to find a solution to their problem. Your story acts as a guide that shows them how to solve their problem and what happens to them if they don’t solve the problem.

Steve Job’s Framework; This is my favorite!

It’s pretty self-explanatory!

Lastly, the C-A-R (Context, Action, Results) Framework

C-A-R makes for a great, easy-to-remember structure that can work for any narrative.

As an aside, it is a great model for structuring your narrative at a work interview.

Context

The context, or beginning, of your storyboard, should highlight the hero (customer). Focus on your customer and get as specific as possible. You can use your prior persona research and buyer journeys to inform this step.

Second, what transformation does the hero go through? What is the desired change? Consider where they come from and where they are going.

Thirdly, what does the hero want? What explicit or known, wants, and desires do they have? Again, refer back to your persona research. For all of these elements, aim to keep it as simple and clear as possible.

Action

Here, the first thing is you need to go more in-depth into your customer’s problem. You need to dig out the specifics of any difficulty that exists for your hero, or the identity of the villain causing the problem.

Secondly, who or what is a guide in solving the problem? Of course, it's your product or service! But be careful – focus on the customer and what you've learned about them based on your persona work. Empathize with your customer. Use your brand narrative to answer the “why you” question. That way, it can be stated in a way that resonates with the customer.

Thirdly, what plan can you provide your customer with that, if followed, will help them achieve the transformation they desire? Maybe there are specific steps that they need to take – spell those steps out. How does your customer navigate their way to success and avoid the pitfalls of failure?

Results

The three parts of the results section sum up what happens to your persona once they decide they need to take action.

First up is a call to action. Give them something tangible they can do to take the next step on the journey with you. It might be as simple as clicking to buy your product, or it might be a more complicated purchase that requires them to do something else that will move them forward on the journey.

Look to your persona journey for the right information to include at this point.

Secondly, you must reinforce why all of this is so important to them. Every story is about transformation, so what happens if they don't transform?

And of course what happens if they do – what success can they achieve and what failure can they avoid?

The third thing here is the conclusion; the summary.

It's time to wrap it all up by positioning their transformation in a way that also articulates how you helped.

Capisce?

My biggest lesson this week

Contemplate Frequently: 

• What did I do wrong?

• What did I forget?

• What good did I Accomplish?

• What could I have done differently?

• What Actions do I need to take to improve next time?

Active Reflection > Reading.

What am I thinking about?

"Popularity is only partially about individual attractiveness. It's much more about alliances. To become more popular, you need to be constantly doing things that bring you close to other popular people, and nothing brings people closer than a common enemy. Like a politician who wants to distract voters from bad times at home, you can create an enemy if there isn't a real one."

— Why Nerds Are Unpopular

“The price of leisure can be high, and since life familiarizes us with its contents, we tend to want more of what we already have. If leisure is the way we express our freedom, we would be willing to do all kinds of tedious work to fund that form of expression.”

— Money Is the Megaphone of Identity

That’s all for today folks, have a restful weekend.

Best,

Dozie.

P.S: What did you think? Let me know how I am doing by using the reply button. Although I might be unable to respond to all the emails I receive, I am grateful to you for sending them to me.