I have always been an avid reader and a lover of stories. For all those that don’t like reading, am sure you still like listening to stories. We know the interest that lights up in a reader/listener’s eyes when they feel like you will be getting to the climax. We know they are on the edge of their seat waiting to know what happens next – kind of like you may be now trying to decipher what I am getting at.
But, despite knowing this fact when it comes to telling stories – especially stories about our startups or organisations we deliver some lame 100 word paragraph that we think talks about what we do or haltingly try to compare ourselves to a product the customer may already be aware about. I was as equal a culprit as you in doing this until I attended a workshop a couple of weeks ago.
Organised by TiE Mumbai and facilitated by Snighda Manchanda of Story Ninja, this workshop was an overview into Story-Selling. That is, using stories rather than pre-set marketing preamble to sell better and more effectively to customers.
The workshop had several aha moments for me personally and was truly an enriching experience.
One of the key things we learnt was the structure behind stories. Having never really given a thought to the fact that there may be such a structure, I was amazed by the ‘Hero’s Journey Monomyth originally introduced by Joseph Campbell.
If you can’t be bothered seeing the full video, The Hero’s Journey is a theory that explains how most popular stories are based on nine key stages. The picture explains the stages above so let me use a story to illustrate – my favourite Harry Potter:
Call to adventure – Harry is an orphan and hates his foster parents who treat him cruelly
Supernatural aid – Dumbledore tells Harry that he is actually a wizard
Threshold – Harry heads to the School of Wizadry
Mentor – Hagrid the giant is Harry’s mentor aided by Dumbledore
Challenges – Harry faces off the Slytherin boys and gets mysterious headaches. Comes into contact with Voldemort
Abyss – Harry faces off Voldemort and nearly dies
Atonement – Harry learns why he was chosen to be a Gryfindor and not a Slytherin. He also proves to himself that he is indeed the savior
Return – School finishes and Harry returns for the summer to his parents more confident and happy
You will note that this structure remains the same for any great book or movie that you may have come across be it 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight, Matrix or even Zindagi na Milegi Dobara for that matter.
But, understanding these stages is only the first step towards constructing a great story about you and your startup that you can tell clients. Next, you must learn the 7 basic story plots and use each based on the business need you have.
1. Overcoming the Monster – This is the basic plot of any hero type story where there is a great danger that the hero survives. The main stages include The Call, Initial Success, Confrontation, Final Ordeal and a Miraculous Escape. If you are thinking of Star Wars right now then you are on the right track. In the business perspective, this kind of approach works great for the About Us page of an established business that has survived a major threat to the company and/or is announcing a new merger etc.
2. The Quest – The quest is the typical plot of a hero that is off to achieve a distant goal and has set off on a long hazardous journey. Here, the main stages include The Call, The Journey, Arrival and Frustation, Final Ordeal and The Goal. Lord of the Rings is the best example for this plot. It works great when talking about the launch of a new product or service – what your quest was and how you overcame it to bring your idea to market.
3. Voyage and Return – Based on the Wizard of Oz type drama this plot is when the hero goes into a parallel world completely cut off from the first. The stages include Fall into another world, Fascination, Frustration, Nightmare and a Thrilling Escape. It works great when you are trying to explain to investors why you quit your job to startup or even in documenting case studies where there may have been a huge crisis that your team averted.
4. Comedy – More of an internal story plot, the Comedy plot is based on the general chaos and misunderstanding that occurs in work environments. The main stages include Confusion, Nightmare and New Information transforming the situation. While it works best to diffuse tense situations, timing is key when using such stories and it’s recommended to not do this externally. A great example of a company executing this strategy externally however, is Blendtec which took to crushing iPhones, iPads and more in it’s Will it Blend campaign to show how strong the blender is.
5. Tragedy – After comedy must come tragedy, which is based on the hero being tempted into a dark action that culminates in the hero’s destruction. The main stages include Anticipation, Dream, Frustration, Nightmare, Destruction. Used quite significantly by life insurance companies or even the Drinking/Smoking campaigns, within a startup this plot line works best when communicating failures or bankruptcy. A company that didn’t do it so well and whom we can learn from is probably KingFisher Airlines.
6. Rags to Riches – The plotline of any hindi movie set in the 80s we are all familiar with the stages of this plot which are Initial Wretchedness, Initial Success, Central Crisis, Financial Ordeal and Final Union. Within the startup environment though, this plotline works best to communicate pivots made within a company or to talk about product/service re-launch.
7. Rebirth – The plot of a typical fairy tale like Sleeping Beauty the rebirth story talks about the hero getting trapped in a dark state and then being reborn. The main stages include Hero falling under Dark Power, All seem Well, Living Death, Triumph over Dark, Miraculous Redemption. Use this kind of story to communicate pivots made within your startup or to share why you undertook re-branding.
While each of these plots only scratches the surface of how you go about story-selling, I hope it gives you a brief insight on how to use each of the steps to structure your next press release, investor pitch or presentation. A key point we learnt in the workshop is to not underplay the crisis – the tragedy of a situation only makes the success seem greater and more profound. Would you be interested in any American Alien movie if only 5 people died for example?
It would be very hypocritical of me to go to such a workshop and not give story-selling a try myself. It’s for this reason that I came back and revamped the Bawi Bride About me page – I followed the ‘Quest’ plotline so do check it out and let me know how well I followed the stages. It’s a work in progress so I look forward to your feedback.
For those of you that feel story telling isn’t your thing, Story Ninja also offers customised workshops to construct About Us pages – do get in touch with Snigdha for more information.
