95% of successful storytelling boils down to 7 key elements:
- A character
- Their problem
- Your guide
- Your plan
- The call to action
- Helping them avoid failure and
- Achieve success
Here's how to craft each element of your story:
- A character:
• Choose your target customer • Identify what they want • Make this the centre of your story
Example: Nike chose underrepresented girls who want to play tennis as the character of this ad:
- The problem:
• What problems does your customer face in getting what they want? • Address these problems directly.
Example: Apple identified privacy as the core problem for their hero in this ad:
- Your plan:
• Tell your hero how you're going to solve their problem.
Example: Apple creates amazing visual guides for their products:
- The call to action:
• Once you've demonstrated your value, urge the hero to take action. • Great calls to action are clear and compelling.
Example: Nike probably has the most compelling call to action in the history of advertising - Just Do It:
- Avoiding failure:
• You've already identified the hero's pain point - the problem. • Now show them how you're going to help them avoid the pain of failure.
Example: In this ad apple shows you how you can make your life less complicated by switching to iPhone:
- Achieving success:
• Show the hero what success looks like at the end of their journey with you.
Example: Instead of listing specs and features, this iPhone ad nails it by simply showing you what success looks like - a beautiful picture.
Now go tell some amazing stories 🙌🏼
The source for most of this thread:
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller.
If you found this thread useful, I strongly encourage you to buy and read the book.
Thanks for reading!
If you liked this, Join Superhuman ― my weekly newsletter that teaches you how to leverage AI to boost your productivity and accelerate your career: superhuman.beehiiv.com/subscribe