You probably know that stories are important in marketing, and so is knowing your audience. But have you considered using stories as a way of understanding your audience?
This is the idea behind customer journey mapping, but I started thinking about it even more when reading User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton.
One of the key points of the book is the importance of having people arrive at a shared understanding. Patton describes this as “when we both understand what the other person is imagining and why.” (loc 305)
He further adds that stories help us arrive at that shared understanding, and that “what’s most important isn’t what’s written down – it’s what we remember when we read it.” (loc 365)
From this perspective, it’s easy to apply the concepts of the book to marketing, even though it was written for the stories used in agile software development.
But in marketing, the important part is also what people remember after they read the materials. Even if everything you write is accurate, if it’s not presented in a way that resonates with your readers and makes them feel understood, they won’t remember what you wrote.
And the best way to understand them is to write their stories. When you do this, you not only visualize what actions they take, but you also develop empathy for them.
If this idea of writing these types of stories is new to you, here are some suggestions for how to get started.
Start with One Person
You might have multiple people who use your product or service in different ways. For example, maybe you install solar panels for homeowners but also for businesses. Each type of customer is very different, so pick one to start.
Once you’ve identified the person, write a description of them as if they were a character in a novel. Give them a name and personality. Talk about what their life is like. They’re the hero, after all, and the better you know them as a person, the better you’ll be able to write the rest of their story.
Define the Problem
Your customers and prospects are coming to you for a reason. They have a problem they need to solve, and they can’t do it by themselves.
But instead of writing this down as a problem statement, write it as part of a story.
For example, say you offer composting services, and you’re focusing on households with busy moms. You wouldn’t write, “Busy moms want to compost to cut down on food waste in the garbage.”
Instead, you could write something like this.
When Karen put something in the trash, she noticed how smelly it was, and the garbage pickup was still a couple of days away. She realized the smells have gotten worse since she started having more fruits and vegetables with the meals and now puts the food scraps in the trash.
She wishes she could do something different, though, especially after the kids came home talking about how bad it is for the environment to put food in landfills. But Karen doesn’t have time or space for a compost pile outside, and the idea of worm composting makes her shudder. At the same time, she doesn’t like smelly trash. She’d love to have another option.
You can see how this adds much more color. Now you know why Karen might be interested in your composting services, and you also have more empathy for her.
If you don’t know enough about your customers or prospects to write something like this, it’s time to talk to them and get to know them. Find out the underlying need and why they have that need before moving on.
How Will You Solve the Problem?
This is where you come in with your product or service. Your goal is to provide a solution to their problem, ideally the best solution you can find for your customers.
The key here is to never assume that you know everything. Your customers may use your product or service in ways that you haven’t thought about, or they may want certain features that haven’t come up before. That’s where writing this as a story can help, since it helps to uncover the details.
For example, sticking with the composting theme, don’t say, “We provide a composting service.”
Again, write out a story about how your customers will use it. Think about all the details that impact how they’ll use it.
Now that Karen has curbside composting, she enjoys making dinner with lots of veggies because she can easily put the scraps in the compost bin. The lid is easy enough for the kids to take off, but it’s also tight enough that she doesn’t smell anything when it’s closed.
Karen also appreciates that the bin is small enough to fit in her kitchen, and she likes the handy sheet from the composting company with information about what can be composted. She never would have thought about composting paper plates or muffin liners, and she enjoys the feeling of doing something good for the planet.
You’d probably write more than that, but that gives you an idea. This helps you think about what size bin you might use, how the cover goes on, how to keep odors contained, etc. You might also think about if the bin should be clear so customers can see how full it is, if it should have a handle for easy carrying, and more.
After writing all this, you should feel like you know your customer very well, and even better, you know exactly what kind of help she needs.
Use What You’ve Learned
Now that you all have all this information, make sure you apply it! Remember all these details when you’re writing materials for your customer. Focus on what matters to her, and you’ll have a much more engaged audience.