Why Storytelling Is More Than Plot
In the beginning, there was a business. The business made a profit, and saw that it was good. But there was a problem, and the business did not like it. And lo, our agency descended from on high to face the problem. Together with the business, we solved it. And then everything was fine and that’s why you should hire our agency too. #storytelling
Characters: Include Actual Humans in Your Case Studies
Conflict: Be Honest about the Pains of the Process
As anyone who has ever participated in a big tech project knows, transformative new technology is never simple to implement, nor does it magically fix everything. Yet you wouldn’t know that from reading the average technology-driven case study. Too often the implementation of new software or systems gets summarized as “after a quick on-boarding” or “with this solution in place.”
Leaving out conflicts is a surefire way to make your reader disbelieve your story and stop reading. Instead, write content stories that do justice to the real, meaningful conflicts that happen when you introduce a new digital platform in a business or organization. Is the company losing anything worthwhile in this changing process? How hard was it for people at the company to learn the new system? What would they have done differently had they began the implementation from scratch?
We’re not saying readers want to read angry Slack transcripts between your IT and marketing teams. Instead, we’re saying your readers want to believe your story of success. Nothing makes a reader roll their eyes like seeing all the work of an implementation, or other conflicts, summed up in less than a sentence.
Themes: Ask Better Questions, Inspire Better Choices
Too often case studies and scenario-driven content read like badly-written parables. These shallow stories end with some cliched or pithy adage like “design is more than just pictures,” “cybersecurity can save your business,” or “that’s why customers trust [insert your company name here] with [problem].”
These conclusions aren’t necessarily wrong, but they’re boring. The best case scenario, as a result of these simplistic parables, is that your audience shrugs at the end. The worst case is that the audience feels insulted because you treated them like children who need an easy, clear moral at the end. One sentence takeaways can make the audience feel lectured to or “taught a lesson” rather than engaged and moved. In contrast, quality storytelling asks interesting questions and inspires smarter choices in an audience.
For example, let’s say you were telling a story about a company detecting a data breach and adopting a new cybersecurity strategy. A simple version of the story would conclude with “And that’s why you need end-to-end security.” A better story would embrace the thorny theme of how security strategy is essentially a question of Control versus Freedom. You can secure your business by forcing employees to change passwords every day, never carry a personal smartphone, and authenticate every email they send. However, that strategy drastically limits how much freedom and agility your employees have to do their best work. This in mind, the best security strategy for your company is a combination of technology and processes that fits your culture of trust and empowerment, while also protecting essential data from breaches.
This conclusion is more complex than “Security good, breaches bad,” but that’s the point. You want to engage your readers as thoughtful agents of their own destiny, not children who need simplistic morals to do the right thing. Offering meaningful themes shows your audience you want to partner with them rather than just sell them something and move on.
It’s Time to Tell Stories that Matter
Content storytelling isn’t some mysterious art that can only be practiced by award-winning writers. Instead, any marketer can adopt proven storytelling methods to make their content more engaging. From memorable characters, to relatable conflict, to meaningful themes and questions, good storytelling shows respect for your readers and inspires them to want to connect with you.
If you’ve got questions about how to implement these ideas or want to argue about how preposterous this all sounds, we’re game.
