Stories are powerful. Entire civilizations are built on top of it. But what makes stories so powerful?Stories are powerful because they give shape to the abstract in us. Through stories, our fears, our passions and our emotions suddenly feel real to us. Without stories, there’s simply no way to understand the world.Our brain is a story processor. Not a logic processor. - Jonathan Haidt.American writer Kurt Vonnegut observed that all powerful stories followed a similar arc and could be plotted on a graph. “The shape of the curve is what matters” - Vonnegut said.Around the same time, Joseph Campbell published his famous “Hero’s journey” storytelling arc -a variation of Vonnegut’s curve.The hero’s journey is an example of an archetype: An unconscious set of psychological patterns of consciousness.Donald Miller in his book Story brands adjusted this narrative for brands and businesses. It goes something like this -“The hero faces a problem. He meets a guide who gives him a plan and calls them to act on it to help him overcome his obstacles and emerge victorious”.The hero’s journey can be broken down into its individual components:Our hero.Who faces a problem.Meets a guide.Who gives him a plan.And calls him to actionThat helps him avoid failureAnd emerge victorious.The hero is your customer and the guide is your brand.The hero is a character who lives in a village called a market and he has five different stages of awareness:CluelessYour hero doesn’t know he has a problem. He doesn’t even know that he needs someone to show him his problem. Even if he did, he wouldn’t know where to look.Problem AwareYour hero feels he has a problem. He can sense it. He has a need to solve the problem he is facing. But he is unable to match his problem to the existing solutions.Solution AwareYour hero knows that he wants a solution to his problem but he doesn’t know that there is a solution (your solution) that will solve his problem.Product AwareYour hero knows you and your solution. But he is still not sure if you’re the right person to guide him through their troubles.Most AwareYour hero knows about your solution and knows how it can solve his problem. But he hasn’t gotten around to buying it yet.Now it’s time to get to know the village he is living in so we can get some perspective on our hero:A market is simply a collection of people who are willing to solve their big problems in exchange for money. According to Eugene Schwartz, the market has 5 stages of sophistication:The first stageIt is a brand new market. Your brand is the only player here. There is zero competition. Your hero is not even aware he has a problem.The second stageThe market is still relatively new but there are competitors now who are bringing their own solutions to the market. Your hero is aware of your competitors.The third stageCompetition is wild here. The hero is aware he has a problem and is bombarded with potential solutions by many competing brands.The fourth stageAt this stage, the market is pushed to the extreme. Two or three major brands emerge who eat up the whole market share.The fifth stageThe hero is tired in this market. He is tired of the abundance and hasn’t found a solution to his problem.Depending on which stage of market sophistication you are in, your brand will emerge as a guide to your hero. This will be a little easier now that we have figured out our hero’s degree of awareness. However, we still have to understand and feel his problems.PS: I will be writing about it in the next issue of Market Curve - a weekly newsletter on the intersection of marketing and consumer psychology.PPS: You can read the full essay here see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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