Last week, we talked about basic story structure: goal, conflict, and nevertheless, victory. I shared a few examples from fiction. But what about when you want to tell a non-made-up story where you pitch your business, your idea, or yourself?
Good news: the same structure applies.
Bad news? Real life rarely plays out in three perfect acts. But that’s okay. Because we can cheat and talk about it like it does.
Storytelling is all about sculpting away the extraneous bits to get to the core of what you want to say. This means taking disparate events, details, and feelings and molding them into a logical narrative.
Here’s one example of how to do it, featuring a made-up baker who needs some help with their messaging.
Anyone who’s selling a product or service (or pitching themselves to funders or voters) needs to explain what sets them apart from their competitors.
This imaginary baker, for example, might include content on their website that reads something like this:
The best bread you’ve ever tasted!
Sourdough made from a starter that’s been in my family 30 years.
Buy three rolls, get one free!
Where I come in as a communications consultant is when this marketing copy isn’t quite doing its job. In this case, maybe the baker would reach out for help because this messaging isn’t leading people to choose their bakery over a competitor a few blocks away. Or maybe because the baker is getting lots of hits on their website, but too few of those visitors are actually putting bread in their little virtual cart and clicking BUY.
This is when storytelling can help. It’s a great strategy for making an audience feel something. And when that audience connects emotionally with your brand, they’re going to want to put their money where their “awww” or “wow” or “that’s fascinating!” is.
The Making of a Story
Step one would be to interview the baker and get a sense of their goals, the path they’ve taken thus far, and what makes them and their business special. A selection from the interview notes might look something like this.
Imaginary Bakery, LLC
Parents wanted her to study medicine
Used to bake sourdough with grandma
Liked to leave bread rising while studying for pre-med; smell when she put it in the oven reminded her of childhood
Dropped out of college, felt like she had no direction
Got a job at a bakery
Finally opened her own storefront last year; grandma works at the counter sometimes
This is where you might be saying, uh, Erin, “dropped out of college and felt like she had no direction” seems a little heavy for web copy.
But remember part two of our three-part story structure? Conflict. It’s the struggle that makes a story appealing. Founders and politicians and CEOs don’t always like to talk about the difficulties they’ve faced. But these are exactly the details that help make a story interesting, relatable, and––well, a story.
Step two is to turn these notes into a cohesive narrative. My first pass would look something like this. Remember the structure: goal, conflict, and nevertheless victory.
Imaginary Bakery, LLC: Story Draft 1
Ever since I made sourdough loaves with my grandma when I was little, I always wanted to open my own bakery. But my parents wanted me to be a doctor, so I settled for baking bread during my study sessions. The smell when I put it in the oven always made me happy, but it never felt like enough. I eventually dropped out, and felt lost and alone. I got a job at a bakery and remembered how happy baking made me. After many years of hard work, I’ve finally opened my own storefront. And to this day, my grandma still comes to help me at the counter sometimes.
If I were sending this off to a client I’d want to suss out further details, make the scene more evocative, and definitely do a few revisions. I’d also adjust the length and level of detail to the different places the story might appear. (Website, social, back of a package, conversational pitch to a juice-maker she’s looking to partner with…) But structure-wise, this would be a great start for getting potential customers interested in this baker and their story. They’ll remember her business. And they’ll buy more bread.
This is because, now that we’re telling the story, we’re not just selling bread. We’re also selling the realization of someone’s dream. The story quite literally becomes part of the value the customer decides to purchase when they put the bread in their cart.
For those of you slightly grossed out by the last sentence––yeah, I know. I also have a complex relationship with this technique of monetizing life narratives. It’s squicky. And it’s important not to ignore that squicky feeling. In this case, I’d talk to the baker about whether she felt like she was ready to share this story. How did it make her feel to revisit this time in her life? Would she be OK if a customer or a journalist asked her questions about it? (This is the part where the storytelling session starts to feel like therapy, and all of a sudden a client and I are discussing their fraught relationship with their parents.)
But if the baker was ready, and she felt like she’d processed this difficult time in her life, and was maybe even excited to tell folks about these struggles and successes, I’d say––let’s do it. It’s powerful.
And until we take down our capitalist overlords, selling more bread is the best way for this baker to continue doing the work she loves.
Telling Your Story
Think about where and how you can tell your story. Think about how it can help you meet your personal or professional goals. Also think about about how your story might inspire someone else to work toward their own goals. In the case of this imaginary shop owner, for example, maybe some struggling young baker comes across the website and feels understood––and becomes a little less lost themselves, because of it.
Next week, we’ll talk a more about how the stories we see out in the world can affect our idea of what’s possible.
In the meantime, happy holidays to all celebrating. And happy storytelling to everyone out there, too.
<3
Erin
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Erin Becker (she/her)
Writer | Communications Consultant | Storytelling Expert
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