December 1, 2017

How to transform your story into your BUYER’S STORY

It’s a fact not a whole lot of people are aware of.

But half of all new business ventures fail in their first 5 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to CBInsights the top reason is No market need. 

Translation: businesses don’t know how to craft and vet a compelling business story that resonates with their market. 

It’s as if founders fall in love with a product that is only connected to a nice-to-have problem nobody really cares to solve.

In our visual storytelling workshops, during our Story Making phase, we underscore the importance of clients vetting their customers’ core problems on several levels.

Building an authentic portrait of your top buyer persona profile requires:

1)    DIRECT interviews with customers, sales team, and partners to uncover their purchase decision process;

2)    INDIRECT social media research – to capture their hot topics, pain points, passions, and interests, including your competition.

This research is critical since your top buyer – like you – processes information on objective and subjective meaning levels.

Objective would carry the largest common ground with your customer segment, whereas subjective – is triggered by personal experiences and belief systems.

Moreover, your job as – the Chief Visual Storyteller – is to map out how your top buyer perceives the core problem your widget aims to solve.

You’ll find that what your top buyer thinks, feels, does and says – is not always in sync.

That’s why the direct and indirect research tactics are super important.

Yes, it requires investing more field work but it’s worth it!

Because the closest you can get to standing in your buyer’s shoes the more chances your story will authentically mirror her problem.

Your goal is to make your story feels as if it’s your buyer’s story, NOT YOURS.

“Wow! This [problem] just happened to me last week and that was exactly why I was so frustrated. This {widget} is exactly what I need to get this {problem} out of the way” should be your buyer’s imaginary thought bubble after consuming your visual story.

What do you think? How are you vetting your customer’s problem? What learnings are your finding? Feel free to drop me a note.

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Ready to become a pro visual storyteller?

We help you rise above the communication noise with personalized visual storytelling workshops, so you can connect with your audience, empower their lives and grow your company.

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Source: Visual Storytelling