Conflict<\/strong> describes that problem or challenge that prevents your customer from getting what she wants.<\/p>\n And Resolution<\/strong> is where you \u2013 the mentor=guide comes along with your product\/service and saves the day.<\/p>\n Naturally, this is the classic narrative sequence. Advanced business narratives test diverse story sequences and outcomes (i.e., positive, neutral and even negative).<\/p>\n In our workshops and my online interactions, I find that most marketers are not aware of this classic narrative structure, and worse they tend to briefly touch on the conflict and 95% of their message is dedicated to the Resolution part \u2013 singing the praise of their widget.<\/p>\n And you know how does that feel? No one is interested in self-aggrandizing messages.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Simple. Because what really happens here, is that you, the brand is, in essence, taking away the role of the hero from your customer. If you are the hero what role do you leave for your customer? The adoring fan?<\/strong><\/p>\n Guess what? Your customer at the top of the funnel is just getting to know you. She\u2019s not ready yet to play the adoring fan, just yet. So, good chances she\u2019ll intuitively classify your message as advertising noise and ignore it.<\/strong><\/p>\n You see, the role of the Evangelist comes much later \u2013 at the bottom of the funnel – after you won your prospect\u2019s business, she loved your service experience and can\u2019t wait to tell the whole world about it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s super critical that wh Another visual metaphor I use to underscore the importance of narrative roles is to think about stories as \u201cmirrors.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n They work best when they can authentically reflect your customer\u2019s authentic world and key problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n The moment your customer can see herself in your story, your story stops being YOUR STORY and becomes YOUR CUSTOMER’S STORY:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHey, that\u2019s my pain you\u2019re talking about here! \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n A great \u201cnarrative mirror\u201d will serve as a fertile ground for generating audience empathy and trust.<\/p>\n Now that you have the basic foundations of a great story, let\u2019s go back to the importance of creating a good Setting. The first part of your story.<\/p>\n In this part, you describe your customer life before coming across the core problem your product\/service aims to solve.<\/p>\n So, you want to be super descriptive and address details such as time, location, moods, and emotional state. The more details you can provide the crispier, believable, and relatable your story will mirror your audience real world.<\/p>\n To maximize your story\u2019s impact, you want to ensure that your hero\u2019s starting point is as far remote from where she lands at, at the Resolution.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why after you authentically describe a detail-rich world of your customer, the core conflict she encounters, you want to delay the transition to the Resolution with real-life customer objections.<\/p>\n Customer objections could range from budget, timing, trust, competition, decision avoidance, internal politics, etc.<\/p>\n When you place your customer objections in your narrative, it allows your audience to a) find an answer to a similar doubt they carry \u2013 so it\u2019s a seamless pre-empting exercise b) builds up authenticity and humanizes your message as the transition from non-believer to a believer is not trivial. And c) a great makeover story offers empathy hooks<\/a> to transform your story from an easy-to-ignore ad to a relatable human story.<\/p>\n In conclusion, make sure that the narrative seams that connect your customer\u2019s problem to your product resolution reflect your customer decision process and doubts. This sliver of imperfection and vulnerability will boost your story\u2019s authenticity and trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n![\"story](\"http:\/\/www.visualstorytell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/girl-740780_1920.jpg\")
en you develop your story the hero\u2019s role is always reserved for your customer. And you \u2013 the brand – play the mentor or guide, helping your hero gets what she wants at each stage of the buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\nReady to empower your entire team
\nwith effective visual storytelling?<\/h3>\n