Starting off the Story Strategy Elements Series is Element 1: Character.
Every story obviously needs a main character, a protagonist, and a hero. In your brand story, who do you think the main character is?
(Hint: it’s NOT you.)
It’s actually your customer! As humans we live our lives through our own first person POV. So, we are always going through the world as the main character. Even when we watch movies with someone who may look and act differently from us, we still project ourselves onto them because we are always the main character in our eyes.
Your brand should reflect this and play into it. In other words, your brand should be customer-centric. Make your customer the main character in the story of how you can help them achieve their goal. The story of your customer is what really matters, not so much the story of your actual brand/business.
Your brand should be customer-centric.
So if you’re not the hero in your own brand, what does that makes you? Good question. It makes you the GUIDE. (Read Story Strategy Element 3: Guide to learn more about this role) Basically, when we position our customer as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges.
But getting back to the Character, in order to effectively speak to your audience and have them really feel into their role as the character, you need to know WHO your customer is.
What are their demographics(things like age, gender, race, income, etc) and psychographics(things like personality, lifestyle, interests, values, etc)? What does their life look like right now? What do they want their life to look like? How do they feel right now? How do they want to feel? What’s the problem keeping them from achieving the life they want?
Really put yourself in their shoes and imagine what they’re thinking and feeling.
Once you identify who your customer is, ask yourself what do they want as it relates to your brand. The fuel for any story is that the hero wants something. Unless we identify something our customer wants, they will never feel invited into the story we’re telling.
One Story Strategy Element down, 6 to go!
Click below to learn more about the Story Strategy and the other elements that go into making your brand story irresistible to your audience.
What Is The Story Strategy?
Story Strategy Element 2: Problem
Story Strategy Element 3: Guide
Story Strategy Element 4: Plan
Story Strategy Element 5: Call-To-Action
Story Strategy Element 6: Failure
Story Strategy Element 7: Success
Story Strategy Element 1: Character
JENNA ROTHWEIN
