🧠NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION🧠
Hey, quick question: Why do you think the guy in this image is feeling so sad?
Here’s why:
This guy paid up-front for an evening in a chic restaurant…
He was all excited and confident when he walked in!
But then he sat down and….
- the staff was rushed
- they didn’t give proper attention
- they messed up the orders…
All while an inexperienced server was awkwardly apologizing but at the same time not fixing anything for them.
You understand why he’s sad?
I mean, can you imagine how insanely frustrating that is?!
To know that you’re only getting a FRACTION of the experience you COULD be getting at this amazing restaurant.
I mean for real, doesn’t that just make you wanna freaking EAT the champagne glass?! OMG🤬
As a visitor there, this guy could see all the amazing potential, but the way they executed it today was just SUCH a waste!
Here’s a shocker:
I actually get sad like this at work too.
Not because I’m out at restaurants all the time. But because I see so much amazing potential for marketing that’s being WASTED because it’s not got a COMPELLING STORY…
It has potential. But it’s not executed correctly to have the maximum effect.
Hey, I get it, though…
People today are rushed and need to throw something together quickly “just to get it out there” but if you really stop and think…
This can be so much better!
“Sure it can, but ain’t nobody got time for this shit?!”
And you’re right.
A lot of marketers think the only way to better work is by having to do MORE work.
That’s a huge misunderstanding.
“Better marketing” isn’t somewhere far away down the road, hidden after EVEN MORE work, tapping away at your keyboard in a dark room while the kids have already gone to bed – with that white glare of your screen burning into your eyes.
It may feel like the only way to “better” is being buried in even more work right now, but it’s not.
The way to better work is not doing more.
The way to better work is doing less.
It’s the difference between a shotgun and a sniper.
A shotgun sprays tiny shrapnel all over.
A sniper kills instantly.
To improve something means focusing on the most important thing that is going to move the needle.
And ignoring all the rest.
And we know, that the 1 thing that moves the needle for marketing campaigns to work is this:
CREATING NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION.
If people feel like they got carried away for a second…
That means they paid attention.
YOU had their attention.
And in these moments of narrative transportation, they’re listening.
And so if you want to say something to them, they have to listen.
Therefore, you need a compelling story.
Otherwise, they ain’t listenin’.
The point is: Figure out how to tell stories!
Learn a framework!
Really!
It’s the most valuable thing you can do to improve your marketing.
You can’t learn this off of one quick blog post…
But for a lil’ snack, I want to leave you with the 3 crucial elements of a good story:
3 steps to bring narrative transportation into your marketing
Check off these 3 items, to ensure you’re focusing on bringing narrative transportation to your audience:
1) Start with their problem.
This means: Employ empathy to really understand and give words to your audience’s challenges or problems.
2) Make them the hero.
This means: You are the guide. Your services the solution. Don’t talk about you first. You’re only allowed to present yourself as a solution to the customer’s problem.
3) Use language people can “feel”.
This means: When you read the word “loathing” do you notice your brain immediately knows what face you’d make with that? Or “dancing his brains out”? The words people can feel make it a story they can imagine themselves in, and remember.
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Well! Sorry to go here but that is it for today folks! 🙂
Have a good one out there!
Remember: Talk about THEIR problem. Make them the hero of your story. And make sure they can FEEL what you’re writing.
