A Tale of Two Stories
It has been said that, in literature, there are only two stories: “A person goes on a journey” and “A stranger comes to town.” Though used to teach countless lessons, and convey an endless number of messages, all stories, new and timeless, boil down to one of these two tales. The same, it turns out, can be said of product marketing.
Properly executed, all product marketing can also be distilled down to versions of the same two stories: “Why this solution is better than your current solution (and worth the switching costs)” and “Why you need a product you never knew existed and your business has survived without.”
The first, sometimes known as the “better mousetrap,” is about a customer’s journey. This journey takes them from a solution they currently employ to a replacement you are selling. The story unfolds in two acts. Act One is all about demonstrating the benefits to their business; Act Two concentrates on justifying the switching costs.
Too often, Act One unfolds as a series of feature upgrades and technological breakthroughs. In fact, Act One is all about the impact on the customer’s business of making the change. By the time we reach intermission, it must be clear to the customer exactly what advantageous outcomes they can achieve by switching to your product.
Unfortunately, Act Two is often neglected; the customer’s excitement over the revelations in Act One are often mistaken for a done deal, and the story never concludes. It is equally important to address, and justify, the switching costs the customer will incur, and they are many. As these race through the customer’s mind, guide them through the second half of the journey, during which they realize it is still a worthwhile endeavor, and turning back before crossing the proverbial chasm would be a mistake.
The second story is that of a strange product coming to town, and it can be a confusing one to tell correctly. Told incorrectly, and it is just another account of a lonely solution seeking a nonexistent problem. When a stranger comes to town, people are often skeptical, even hostile, and gaining acceptance and trust is generally one of the main plot lines.
In this story, your innovation is so new, so unprecedented, that your customer has no idea they need it at all (and may indeed have objections to it). Whether this is a tale of software being introduced to an historically low-tech industry, or one of rendering a solution the customer is heavily invested in obsolete, your product is not likely met with open arms in the first chapter.
The ultimate conclusion, though, is similar to the first story: drawing a landscape in which the customer sees what they can achieve tomorrow with your product that they could not accomplish yesterday without it. Trying to explain to a profitable, well-run company the need to evolve technologically is often futile, but everyone has aspirations (and fears); the key is tying your product to them.
When evaluating a product marketing narrative, ask yourself: Which of these two stories am I telling, and am I telling it clearly and concisely? The right messaging and positioning for the right audience can be confusing, even elusive, but knowing the basic framework through which a value proposition is conveyed is a monumental first step.
Still have questions? I’d love to hear from you!
