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Ten Stories That Can Sell Anything
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007

Advertising is all about telling your marketing story: a story
that your audience can relate to, so that it builds confidence
and credibility in your ability to deliver your product or
service.

A well-crafted business story invites your audience to open a
dialogue with you, a line of communication that will ultimately
lead to a customer and sale for you, and a sense of satisfaction
and accomplishment for your new client.

Effective marketing stories are about universal truths and
primal needs; they provide a cathartic emotional experience for
your audience. There is no point in spending a lot of money on
advertising until you have identified that fundamental change
your product or service provides to your audience.

Once you have isolated that hidden quality in what you do, you
can then develop a video, audio, or print campaign that delivers
your message in a memorable, meaningful manner that audiences
will respond to.

There are only so many stories you can tell and the art of
advertising, or corporate storytelling, is the ability to
present that story in fresh new ways.

How Many Marketing Stories Are There?

An acquaintance of mine once pitched a Hollywood studio
executive on a movie idea and was turned down flat. The
executive told this fellow, "there are only seven movies and
yours isn't one of them." When I first heard this I was
appalled at the lack of imagination from someone in a creative
business, but when you think about it, what financial backer is
going to invest tens of millions of dollars in something that
nobody knows anything about, certainly not the people financing
movies. And when it comes to advertising the circumstances are
the same; if you're paying the shot, you at least want a
fighting change at success.

Where's Your Product On The Hierarchy of Needs

There are some disagreements as to what these seven stories are,
and if there are really only seven. This magic number seven is
interesting as it coincides with noted psychologist Abraham
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Maslow identified seven basic human motivations that guide
peoples' conduct: physical needs, safety needs, social needs,
self-esteem needs, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, and
self-actualization needs.

Develop a marketing campaign consisting of stories that satisfy
one of these motivational triggers and you have a campaign that
your audience will respond to and consider relevant.

Blake Snyder's Ten Story Scenarios

Not everyone limits the number of prime stories to seven, Blake
Snyder, professional screenwriter and author of "Save The
Cat,' says there are ten. Snyder approaches the problem with a
more flamboyant flair than Maslow, but still based on
fundamental emotional and psychological criteria.

Snyder's ten basic story scenarios are: Monster In the House,
Dude With a Problem, Fool Triumphant, Superhero, Buddy Love, Out
Of a Bottle, Institution, Golden Fleece, Rights-of-Passage, and
Whydunit. This is all very interesting but does it help you
develop an advertising campaign that delivers your marketing
message?

If we look at Snyder's list of ten story scenarios and relate
them to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs we can see how you can
develop a marketing story that can be delivered on a website
with a Web-video marketing campaign that will be remembered by
your audience, and will likely generate an increased interest in
your company.

Physical Needs - "Dude With a Problem"

Before people can concern themselves with intellectual or
spiritual matters, they must first satisfy their physical needs:
water, food, shelter, and procreation. If individuals cannot
satisfy these basic needs they have a problem, hence your
marketing story can be delivered using the tried and true "Dude
With A Problem" scenario.

If you are in the business of selling bottled water, packaged
food, physical fitness, real estate, or vitamins you are
supplying your audience with a solution to one of life's most
basic needs.

Safety Needs - "Monster In The House"

The need to be safe, to protect your family and yourself from
harm, is fundamental to how people behave and what they deem
important. The marketing of products and services that fulfill
safety needs requires the audience understand the dangers that
your product or service is designed to eliminate.

The "Monster In The House" scenario is your standard monster
movie featuring some scary, frightening entity. This kind of
scenario is based on our need to secure a safe and secure
environment and life-style.

From a marketing perspective this approach is how you sell
insurance, tires, health care products, alarm systems, or
anything that protects you and yours from harm. Instead of some
imaginary boogeyman or alien, your monster is disease, fire,
accidents and crime.

If your product protects, then it can be sold by showing how it
safeguards your audience from the "Monster In The House."

Social Needs - "Buddy Love" & "Rights-of-Passage"

We are social animals, we live in communities, we form family
units, and we crave meaningful relationships with others. These
types of basic needs are played out in scenarios that are
commonly referred to as buddy and rights-of-passage movies.

If you run a dating service, nightclub, restaurant, or bar, or
if you sell products like beer or wine that involve social
gatherings and interaction, then you can use the buddy movie
scenario to tell your story.

If you sell products that clear-up acne or solve other kinds of
teen related problems relating to becoming an adult, then
perhaps the rights-of-passage scenario is the story to tell.

Self-esteem Needs - "Fool Triumphant" & "Superhero"

We all need to feel good about ourselves. If you sell a product
that allows people to overcome some insecurity then you have a
sure-fire hit if you tell your story in a convincing, compelling
fashion.

The "Fool Triumphant" scenario delivers the message that no
matter what your short-comings you to can be a winner. The
"Superhero" tale tells the story of ordinary people who have
been transformed into extraordinary achievers through some
incident or action. In either case, if your product or service
supplies that conversion from loser to winner then that's the
story you want to tell.

Prime examples of businesses that could use these storytelling
scenarios are exercise equipment suppliers, nutritional
supplement companies, and self-help and motivational product and
service businesses.

Cognitive Needs - Institution

The "Institution" scenario is the story of 'Everyman' versus
'Big Brother:' how we cope, or don't cope, with the demands
of a complex society where we are worn down by bureaucracy,
incompetence, and arbitrary rules and red tape.

Dealing with Big Brother, the government, or large oligopoly
businesses can be traumatic and in some cases seemingly
impossible. Telling this story is the bread and butter issue for
companies that provide solutions to dealing with 'The
Institution.'

Whatever the rules were yesterday you can be sure that they'll
be different tomorrow. The skills you learned in school or on
the job are no longer in demand, no longer relevant, and no
longer work. Whether you're a homemaker, entrepreneur,
accountant, or doctor, you have to keep pace with changing
technology, and an ever increasing demand to know just about
everything.

Knowing what you need to know in order to compete, comply, and
to accomplish in a world dominated by remote, faceless
institutions governed and managed by petty officials is a
significant impediment to success.

As a result, products and services like private schools,
self-help programs, and books and DVDs for self-confessed
nincompoops can be sold by delivering a message that solves the
"Institution" scenario.

Aesthetic Needs - "Out Of A Bottle"

Once we have satisfied our more basic needs, our desires move on
to more aesthetic concerns. We all want to feel good and one of
the best ways to feel good is to look good.

The "Out Of A Bottle" scenario provides the marketing message
for cosmetic, beauty and health care products and services,
weight loss and exercise products and programs, or any aesthetic
issue that can be resolved with a pill, potion, or patch.

Self-actualization - "Golden Fleece" & "WhyDunit"

In an affluent society the basic needs of most people are for
the most part available, but affluence doesn't mean happy.
People need more than food, shelter, companionship, and a small
waistline. They need to be the best they can be and they need to
find some meaning in their lives.

The "Golden Fleece" scenario is about the search for personal
recovery, while the "WhyDunit" story is about the search for
insight and meaning. These approaches are similar, but one deals
with personal salvation, while the other deals with more
metaphysical concerns.

Self help and motivational businesses can deliver their messages
using the "Golden Fleece" perspective, while religious and
charitable institutions can deliver their message through the
"WhyDunit" approach.

Conclusion

There is more money wasted on bad advertising than on any other
business function. The reason is we try to apply rational,
factual, and statistical criteria to a fundamentally emotional
and psychological hierarchy of needs. Determine the appropriate
need your product or services fulfills, apply a suitable
storyline to its presentation, and your audience will sit-up and
take notice.
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Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design
firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit
http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and
http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com
or telephone (905) 764-1246.
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