Strategic storytelling: the meeting point of business and stories
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 6:46 am
Ben Horowitz is a startup founder and venture capital expert. He has invested in the next generation of leading technology companies, including Airbnb, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
A few years ago, while interviewing leading startups, he was asked about business owner database can help companies that insist that products are the only thing that matters.
“You can have a great product, but it’s a compelling story that gets a company moving. If you don’t have a great story, it’s hard to motivate people to join you, work on the product, and get the public to invest in the product. Companies that don’t have an articulated story don’t have a clear, well-thought-out strategy. The story we tell is the strategy of the company .”
The idea behind a strategic (or business) narrative is very simple: why not apply the principles of storytelling — the same principles that have been used for books, movies, and video games — to business and strategy?
Now that we've seen how the classic storytelling model works for movies and literature, let's apply it to business!
Three storytelling business models
Some authors and storytellers have used personalized approaches. Let's look at three models, respectively, those of Donald Miller, Robert McKee, and Andy Raskin.
Donald Miller, building a story
Donald Miller, who founded a company called StoryBrand, has simplified storytelling into a process called the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework (also known as SB7).
Using the SB7 framework, businesses can create a brand story and then draw on their ideas to write copy and content.
Here is a brief summary of the seven principles or steps in the StoryBrand framework:
Miller's StoryBrand model
StoryBrand Miller Model
A character: your client is the hero.
You have a problem: as a successful company, you have to deal with your customers' internal problems.
And they find a guide (your brand): Customers are looking for a guide to help them with their frustrations.
The guide formulates a plan: Clients will trust a guide who has a plan.
And it encourages them to take action: customers are faced with the choice to act.
This helps them avoid failure: each party involved tries to avoid a tragic ending as best they can.
And it ends in success: your customers understand how the product or service your company offers can successfully improve their lives.
Robert McKee, Storynomics
The second model analyzed is the one presented in Storynomics, by Robert McKee.
A legendary Hollywood screenwriting coach, speaker and screenwriting doctor, McKee has expanded his teaching approach to include content that he and Skyword CEO Tom Gerace have created specifically for marketing, advertising and sales leaders.
He and Gerace teach a seminar and have written a book called Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World , which lays out the 8 stages of designing a good story.
McKee and Gerace's Storynomics model
McKee and Gerace's Storynomics model
The essence of the book is the application of McKee's model of Hollywood film plot development to marketing.
The model, first explained 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.
To restore balance, the protagonist sets out in search of an object of desire.
The film describes the quest, in the face of numerous obstacles, usually of increasing difficulty, to reach the object of desire. The plot culminates when the mission is accomplished or failed.
Andy Raskin, The Strategic Narrative Model
Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative.
His clients include venture capital-backed companies and some large enterprises.
I first came across Andy when he published an article in 2016 titled “ The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen. It's Zuora's and it's brilliant. Here's why.” That post now has several million views.
I had the opportunity to personally interview Andy a few months ago, and he was interested enough to share his story and methodology.
Andy calls strategic narrative “ the story in buyers’ heads .”
His methodology is a simplified version (which is not a negative statement) of McKee's Story model: Andy clearly mentions McKee's books as his main inspiration after failing with a venture capital pitch several years ago.
Andy Raskin's model
Andy Raskin Model
Dissecting and analyzing several successful sales pitches, mostly from startups, Andy identified a common pattern. Specifically, he noted how brilliantly leads were guided through five elements, in the following order:
1. Name an important and relevant change in the world
Never start a sales presentation by talking about your product, your headquarters locations, investors, customers, or anything about yourself.
Instead, he names the undeniable transformation they are producing in the world:
The big bets
your potential client's perception of urgency.
2. Explain that there will be winners and losers
Explain how the change you mentioned above will create big winners and big losers.
Adapting to this change will likely result in a very positive future for the potential client.
3. Take time for the Promised Land
At this point, it's tempting to go into the details of your product or service. Resist that urge!
If you present product/service details too early, potential customers won't yet have enough context to explain why those details are important and will consequently tune out.
Instead, first, you present a “teaser” vision of the happy ending your product/service will bring to the potential customer, what Andy calls the Promised Land.
The Promised Land must be desirable (obviously) and difficult for the prospect to achieve without outside help.
4. Introduce features like “magic gifts”
It is essential to introduce functions such as "magic gifts" to overcome obstacles to the Promised Land.
When presenting products or services, we must do so by positioning their attributes as "magic gifts" to help your main character (lead) reach that much desired Promised Land.
5. Present evidence that you can make the story a reality
The last piece of your pitch is the best evidence you can offer that you can make the story you're telling a reality.
By far the most effective type of evidence is a success story about how you have already helped someone else (who is similar to the prospect) get to the Promised Land.
In the last piece, we will present a simple model to build a strategic narrative for your brand, using a combination of the three methodologies seen today.
A few years ago, while interviewing leading startups, he was asked about business owner database can help companies that insist that products are the only thing that matters.
“You can have a great product, but it’s a compelling story that gets a company moving. If you don’t have a great story, it’s hard to motivate people to join you, work on the product, and get the public to invest in the product. Companies that don’t have an articulated story don’t have a clear, well-thought-out strategy. The story we tell is the strategy of the company .”
The idea behind a strategic (or business) narrative is very simple: why not apply the principles of storytelling — the same principles that have been used for books, movies, and video games — to business and strategy?
Now that we've seen how the classic storytelling model works for movies and literature, let's apply it to business!
Three storytelling business models
Some authors and storytellers have used personalized approaches. Let's look at three models, respectively, those of Donald Miller, Robert McKee, and Andy Raskin.
Donald Miller, building a story
Donald Miller, who founded a company called StoryBrand, has simplified storytelling into a process called the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework (also known as SB7).
Using the SB7 framework, businesses can create a brand story and then draw on their ideas to write copy and content.
Here is a brief summary of the seven principles or steps in the StoryBrand framework:
Miller's StoryBrand model
StoryBrand Miller Model
A character: your client is the hero.
You have a problem: as a successful company, you have to deal with your customers' internal problems.
And they find a guide (your brand): Customers are looking for a guide to help them with their frustrations.
The guide formulates a plan: Clients will trust a guide who has a plan.
And it encourages them to take action: customers are faced with the choice to act.
This helps them avoid failure: each party involved tries to avoid a tragic ending as best they can.
And it ends in success: your customers understand how the product or service your company offers can successfully improve their lives.
Robert McKee, Storynomics
The second model analyzed is the one presented in Storynomics, by Robert McKee.
A legendary Hollywood screenwriting coach, speaker and screenwriting doctor, McKee has expanded his teaching approach to include content that he and Skyword CEO Tom Gerace have created specifically for marketing, advertising and sales leaders.
He and Gerace teach a seminar and have written a book called Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World , which lays out the 8 stages of designing a good story.
McKee and Gerace's Storynomics model
McKee and Gerace's Storynomics model
The essence of the book is the application of McKee's model of Hollywood film plot development to marketing.
The model, first explained 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.
To restore balance, the protagonist sets out in search of an object of desire.
The film describes the quest, in the face of numerous obstacles, usually of increasing difficulty, to reach the object of desire. The plot culminates when the mission is accomplished or failed.
Andy Raskin, The Strategic Narrative Model
Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative.
His clients include venture capital-backed companies and some large enterprises.
I first came across Andy when he published an article in 2016 titled “ The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen. It's Zuora's and it's brilliant. Here's why.” That post now has several million views.
I had the opportunity to personally interview Andy a few months ago, and he was interested enough to share his story and methodology.
Andy calls strategic narrative “ the story in buyers’ heads .”
His methodology is a simplified version (which is not a negative statement) of McKee's Story model: Andy clearly mentions McKee's books as his main inspiration after failing with a venture capital pitch several years ago.
Andy Raskin's model
Andy Raskin Model
Dissecting and analyzing several successful sales pitches, mostly from startups, Andy identified a common pattern. Specifically, he noted how brilliantly leads were guided through five elements, in the following order:
1. Name an important and relevant change in the world
Never start a sales presentation by talking about your product, your headquarters locations, investors, customers, or anything about yourself.
Instead, he names the undeniable transformation they are producing in the world:
The big bets
your potential client's perception of urgency.
2. Explain that there will be winners and losers
Explain how the change you mentioned above will create big winners and big losers.
Adapting to this change will likely result in a very positive future for the potential client.
3. Take time for the Promised Land
At this point, it's tempting to go into the details of your product or service. Resist that urge!
If you present product/service details too early, potential customers won't yet have enough context to explain why those details are important and will consequently tune out.
Instead, first, you present a “teaser” vision of the happy ending your product/service will bring to the potential customer, what Andy calls the Promised Land.
The Promised Land must be desirable (obviously) and difficult for the prospect to achieve without outside help.
4. Introduce features like “magic gifts”
It is essential to introduce functions such as "magic gifts" to overcome obstacles to the Promised Land.
When presenting products or services, we must do so by positioning their attributes as "magic gifts" to help your main character (lead) reach that much desired Promised Land.
5. Present evidence that you can make the story a reality
The last piece of your pitch is the best evidence you can offer that you can make the story you're telling a reality.
By far the most effective type of evidence is a success story about how you have already helped someone else (who is similar to the prospect) get to the Promised Land.
In the last piece, we will present a simple model to build a strategic narrative for your brand, using a combination of the three methodologies seen today.