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Storytelling is an art of writing. It makes your reader imagine their life as they’re reading. It takes them on a journey. It keeps them hooked and engaged.
It’s a fantastic tool to give your writing a boost. And there are many ways to do it.
Let’s look at 3 storytelling formulas that will help you supercharge your writing.
Before-After-Bridge
Before: describe your target audience's problem
After: describe their lives without their problem
Bridge: describe the solution to get that carefree life
This is one of my favorite storytelling formulas, because it’s super simple. You can apply it in your social media content, blogs, emails, and more.
Start the bit describing one of your target audience’s problems, something your company solves. Then, move on to describe your target audience’s lives without that problem. Focus on their needs – which ideally, you would have already identified – and make them want it. Close with the solution your company offers.
Let’s look at a simple and short example where we’re promoting the content creation tool Canva:
Creating carousels for Instagram takes time.
Imagine taking only 20 minutes to create one or even more!
With Canva, you can design amazing social media content in a matter of minutes.
Dave Lieber’s V Formula
Introduce the character
Bring the story to its lowest point
Turn it around and finish with a happy ending
With this storytelling formula, you start your piece introducing the character. The character is ideally based on your customer persona, so your (potential) customers can relate to the story. After you introduce the character, take your readers through a journey. Your character is now at their lowest point in their life. Use emotive copy to captivate your readers. And finally, end the story with a happy ending. The happy ending is the solution your company provides.
Let’s look again at an example, but now we’re promoting the platform Medium:
Oliver was an account manager for 25 years.
One day, the company decided to let him go. At his age, he couldn't find a job for months.
But Oliver has always been a gifted writer. When he found Medium, he was able to share his content with a community. He found a new job that's also his passion.
Three-Act Structure
The Setup: set the scene, introduce the character(s)
The Confrontation: mention the problem
The Resolution: provide the solution
The three-act-structure is the simplest and most straightforward storytelling formulas. You start the story introducing the character. Then, your character faces a problem. The problem you choose here is one of your target audience’s pain points. You end the bit with the solution. The solution is here again the product or service your company provides.
Here’s a third and final example to show how this works. Let’s assume you’re selling an accounting software for entrepreneurs and small businesses:
Olivia turned her hobby into a business.
It's been her dream. Except the taxes and bookkeeping were ruining it for her.
But she no longer has that problem ever since she started using [SOFTWARE NAME].
Which storytelling formula is the right one for me?
As you can see, these 3 storytelling formulas focus on the problem and the solution. They just describe it in different ways. The best way to find out which storytelling formula works best on your target audience is to test.
Test different types of content and see which gets the most engagement, which gets the most conversions.
Storytelling makes your readers imagine their lives with your offer
In the previous blog post we talked about the importance of talking about benefits instead of features. Take it one step further and do some storytelling.
Make them feel seen and heard. And the best way to do that is to take one of their pain points and turn it into a story with a happy ending. The happy ending being your offer.
Do you have an amazing product, but need help with the way you’re marketing it on your website? Do you need some storytelling infused in your content? Send me a message and let’s get started.
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