{"id":66550,"date":"2021-04-06T13:12:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T13:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockcontent.com\/?p=66550"},"modified":"2025-09-08T22:15:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T01:15:02","slug":"strategic-storytelling-where-business-and-stories-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/strategic-storytelling-where-business-and-stories-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategic Storytelling: Where Business And Stories Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

First episode is here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Second episode is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ben Horowitz is a startup founder and VC expert. He has invested in the next generation of leading technology companies<\/a>, including Airbnb, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. <\/p>\n

A few years ago, interviewed about leading startups, he was asked about companies insisting that products are the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n

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“You can have a great product, but a compelling story puts the company into motion. If you don’t have a great story, it’s hard to get people motivated to join you, work on the product, and get people to invest in the product. Companies that don’t have a clearly articulated story don’t have a clear and well-thought-out strategy. The company story is the company strategy”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The idea behind a strategic (or business) narrative<\/strong><\/a> is insanely simple: why not applying principles of storytelling, the same principles that have been repeatedly used for crafting stories behind books, films, and video games, to business and strategy?<\/p>\n

Now that we have seen how the classic storytelling model works<\/a> for movies and literature, let’s apply it to business!<\/p>\n

Three storytelling business models<\/h2>\n

A few authors and storytellers have used customized approaches. Let’s look at three models, respectively the ones of Donald Miller, Robert McKee, and Andy Raskin.<\/p>\n

Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand<\/h3>\n

Donald Miller, who founded a company called StoryBrand, has streamlined storytelling into a process called the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework (also known as SB7). <\/p>\n

Using the SB7 framework, companies will be able to create a brand story and then draw on its ideas to write copy and content.<\/p>\n

Here is a brief summary of the seven principles or steps in the StoryBrand framework:<\/p>\n

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\"Miller's
Miller’s StoryBrand model<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. A character<\/strong>: Your customer is the hero.<\/li>\n
  2. Has a problem<\/strong>: As a successful company, you should attend to your customers’ inner problems.<\/li>\n
  3. And meets a guide<\/strong> (your brand): The customers search for a guide to help them with their frustrations.<\/li>\n
  4. Who has a plan<\/strong>: Customers will trust a guide who has a plan.<\/li>\n
  5. And calls them to action<\/strong>: Customers are confronted with a choice to take action.<\/li>\n
  6. That helps them avoid failure<\/strong>: Each party involved tries to avoid a tragic ending as best they can.<\/li>\n
  7. And ends in success<\/strong>: Your customers understand how the product or service your business is offering can successfully improve their lives.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As simple as this framework sounds, actually applying it is a whole different beast. Teams often get tangled up in the everyday stuff\u2014metrics, deliverables, the latest fire alarm\u2014and forget to step back and look at the bigger story they\u2019re really trying to tell. You\u2019d be surprised how many startups think they\u2019ve nailed the \u201chero\u201d bit, but in meetings, everyone\u2019s still positioning the company (not the customer) as the main character. It\u2019s a little ironic but painfully common.<\/p>\n

    The upside is that when it finally clicks\u2014when team members start framing everything as a journey with the customer at the center\u2014a lot of decision-making gets easier. Messaging gets sharper almost overnight. Instead of dense brochures or websites drowning in jargon, you end up with materials that actually make people nod along or, at the very least, not tune out after the second sentence. It\u2019s less about magic words and more about speaking to actual problems in a way that feels, well, human.<\/p>\n

    Robert McKee, Storynomics<\/h3>\n

    The second model analyzed is the one presented in Storynomics, by Robert McKee. <\/p>\n

    McKee, legendary Hollywood screenwriting coach, lecturer, and script doctor, has expanded his teaching focus to include content he and Tom Gerace, CEO of Skyword, have created specifically for marketing, advertising, and sales leaders. <\/p>\n

    He and Gerace teach a seminar and have written a book called Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World<\/a>. He lays the 8 stages of story design out in his book.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"McKee
    McKee and Gerace’s Storynomics model<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    The book’s essence is the application of McKee’s model of Hollywood film plot development to marketing. <\/p>\n

    The model, explained initially in McKee’s 1997 book Story and repeated in Storynomics, is that the plot begins when an inciting incident throws the protagonist’s life out of balance. <\/p>\n

    To restore balance, the protagonist undertakes a quest for an object of desire. <\/p>\n

    The movie depicts the quest, in the face of numerous obstacles, usually of increasing difficulty, to grasp the object of desire. The plot culminates when the quest is fulfilled or fails.<\/p>\n

    Andy Raskin, The Strategic Narrative Model<\/h3>\n

    Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative. <\/p>\n

    His clients include venture-backed companies and some large enterprises. <\/p>\n

    I first came across Andy when he posted an article in 2016 called ‘The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen. It’s Zuora’s and it’s brilliant. Here’s why.’<\/a> That post has today several million views.<\/p>\n

    I had the chance to personally interview Andy a few months ago<\/a>, and he was keen enough to share his story and methodology.<\/p>\n

    Andy calls the strategic narrative “the story in buyers’ heads”. <\/p>\n

    His methodology is a super-simplified (which is not a negative statement) version of McKee’s Story model \u2014 Andy clearly mentions McKee’s books as his main inspiration after failing with a VC pitch several years ago.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"Andy
    Andy Raskin’s model<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    Dissecting and analyzing several successful sales pitches, mostly coming from startups, Andy identified a common pattern. Specifically, he noted how brilliantly the decks led prospects through five elements, in precisely this order:<\/p>\n

    1. Name a Big, Relevant Change in the World<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Don’t kick off a sales presentation by talking about your product, your headquarters locations, investors, clients, or anything about yourself. <\/p>\n

    Instead, name the undeniable shift in the world that creates both:<\/p>\n