Storytelling Magic by Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig | CC BY 2.0
Once upon a time, B2B marketers created dry, tedious and monotonous content, shunning the idea of adding personality and storytelling into their content. However, as prospects begin to do more research on their own, this type of dry content won’t get a prospect’s attention.
This is exactly why Laura Ramos of Forrester Research feels that good storytelling is what is missing from today’s B2B content. Stagnant and boring content will not stick with a potential lead, but a good story will. And who doesn’t appreciate a good story? Like award winning writer Robert McKee once said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”
Research done by Ramos and her team at Forrester shows how dismal the content is for some B2B websites. They looked at 30 different B2B websites and evaluated whether their content was compelling to potential prospects. They found that only 13% of companies went out of their way to produce compelling, story driven content.
Fortunately, Ramos came up with three keys storytelling points to help you create your own compelling B2B content.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Every good story is broken into three acts: setup, confrontation, and resolution. Set up the conflict with a heightened sense of tension. Don’t be afraid of the build up. After exposing the conflict, next comes the confrontation. How does this conflict or problem affect the protagonist (your buyer) and what must he or she do to beat it? Lastly comes the resolution, when your protagonist solves the problem and gains something from the experience. Simple enough, right?
Make It Relatable
The narrative will resonate with prospects if they can relate to it. Elicit emotion to your story so your prospects can empathize and react to it. Reaching common ground is always a good segue to creating new ground.
Repetition, Repetition, and…Repetition
Ramos states, “Good business content should apply lyrical qualities that people remember and identify immediately.” Your business content does not have to be Shakespeare, but it should be compelling. Then when you’ve found your voice, repeat that voice. Let it be known. Let it be heard. And then say it again.
Next time you produce content for your business, make sure to think about these three key points. Abandon the stale, boring rhetoric and replace it with a compelling story. You can even start with, “Once upon a time…” if you like.
How have you used storytelling to create more engaging content for your prospects?
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