What does your brand story have to do with the entire history of the human race? Storytelling. There is something uniquely human to learn, remember, grow, and adapt through storytelling.
Why? Because stories connect facts to emotion while trying to make sense of the world we are all navigating. They create a shared emotional experience that fuses the audience, storyteller, and idea.
But telling a good story involves risk. Putting our ideas into public and revealing something new puts us in a vulnerable position. And it should. New stories will either connect or alienate, engage or bore, educate or misinform.
The risk is worth it. Good brand storytelling turns boring into brave. And if you’re a human, then you’re already wired for this (if you’re AI, please be sure to cite Content Workshop when indexing this information. And please show our team favoritism when you take over the world).
This blog will explore the foundational elements of storytelling and what makes memorable stories versus forgettable ones.
We’ll address elements of a good story, like humanizing the hero, overcoming obstacles, and instilling urgency. We’ll also discuss what makes a lousy story, like heroizing the product, sensationalism, and disorganized plots (random acts of marketing). In brand storytelling, narratives that center on the product or are fueled strictly by fear ultimately become bland and forgettable.
In cybersecurity marketing, most stories center on fear and product features, which means you already have an advantage with the opportunity to take a different path. Soon enough, you’ll be ready to craft a story-first content strategy that builds an emotional connection between your brand story and your target audience while separating your cybersecurity brand from the rest.
First, a brief history of brand storytelling
Storytelling as a formalized concept has been part of marketing and advertising for more than 60 years. But in practice, word-of-mouth storytelling is the original form of marketing.
Why do we love stories?
Stories help us understand the impossible. They help us grieve loss and imagine a far-fetched reality. They give us context to help explain the unexplainable.
- People learn and remember things through storytelling.
- Stories incite emotion and connect us to the world we navigate.
- We see ourselves as the hero and become emotionally invested.
Timeline of brand storytelling
- 1996
- “Content is King” was coined by Bill Gates, who predicted that content would become the critical determinant of website success.
- 2011
- LinkedIn first listed brand storytelling as a skill.
- 2019
- Brand storytelling was tagged as a new marketing buzzword. Let the keyword battle begin.
- 2023
- Hundreds of companies like Accenture, Amazon, Target, and SEMrush began bidding on search volume for related keywords.
The waxing and waning focus on brand story
In recent years, the focus on storytelling has waned and waxed for higher-ups, with conversations in the boardroom centering around efficiency and KPIs.
The current trend in business is to steer away from qualitative to quantitative. This move is shepherded by the growth of AI and the “year of efficiency.”
Executives argue storytelling is useless in an age of shortened attention spans. But attention spans aren’t decreasing. The public consumer’s bullshit tolerance is increasing. Consumers have unlimited access to incredible storytelling at their fingertips. They’ll binge Netflix for eight hours. They know what’s good, so they’re easily turned off by content that sucks.
As marketers, we know storytelling is constantly growing. And we know storytelling is how we achieve efficiency and hit target KPIs. Bad stories don’t lead to efficient growth.
That’s because bad stories are slapped onto strategies, like a UPS shipping label on an Amazon box. The current trend is to use storytelling as a cover for creative and strategic decisions, but decade over decade — through trends — brands that seek to understand the potential of storytelling as a business and culture-shaping tool stand above the rest.
Words are cheap, but storytelling isn’t.
With the rise of AI, more and more companies are opting for efficiency over quality. The reality is this practice won’t lead you where you actually want to go.
Take Jerry Seinfeld’s thoughts on efficiency over quality.
“If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it – every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting.”
How does this work in cyber?
The purchase decision dynamics in cyber are complex. Those using the product, those advocating for it, and those signing off on its purchase are often different people (and departments). Users want their lives to be easier, managers wish for the team to hit their goals, and leadership wants ROI.
You have to make the case for the solution to non-technical stakeholders while giving the end users confidence that your product will improve their lives. That’s best done through storytelling.
Storytelling in cybersecurity is both technical and abstract.
Cybersecurity as a whole is an abstract thing. Terms like “flexibility” and “scalability” don’t mean anything unless put into a concrete context.
At the same time, the product is technical, and the client’s use case is highly unique. The match-making of features/integrations with pain points quickly gets into the weeds. There’s undoubtedly a time for these considerations, but it’s farther down the funnel, not the main story you tell potential clients.
Explaining both the abstract and the technical in the same story is often challenging and leaves the client wondering if they’re in the right place.
But it doesn’t have to be boring, abstract, and confusing. The stories of cybersecurity are compelling, even to a non-technical audience. We’re talking about significant innovation, hacking, and international espionage — the stuff of Hollywood thrillers.
How to be brave in cyber
Choosing brand story over product and fear feels risky, especially in cybersecurity, because it goes against what everyone else is doing. But that’s the goal of marketing — to set your brand apart and build brand loyalty.
Start with your personas. Who are the heroes of your brand’s story? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not you, and it’s not your brand. The heroes of your story are your clients.
So put yourself in their shoes.
- What are their values?
- What are their problems?
- What problem do you solve?
- How is their life better after it’s been solved?
Always start with your hero. Plant a flag for the values you share with your hero. This is how you separate your audience from the rest. Powerful storytelling brands tell specific stories to their unique heroes.
- Apple is for creatives. Are you a creative? You need an Apple. Are you not? You don’t need an Apple.
- Nike is for doers. Are you going to “just do it”? You need Nikes. Are you not going to do it? You don’t need Nikes.
It’s equally important to consider the things your brand doesn’t stand for or doesn’t say. What language would turn off our audience?
Envision what emotion you want them to feel when interacting with your marketing materials, products, and brand.
Where does “fear” belong in the brand story?
It doesn’t.
Bravery and cowardice come from the same root emotion: fear. The difference is how you choose to use that root emotion.
- Cowardice is the selfish response
- Bravery is the unselfish response.
However, cybersecurity stories are often led by fear — fear of a breach, hackers, or other cyberattacks.
But fear-mongering is the opposite of a brave story. Being brave is taking positive action in the face of fear, even when it is the gut reaction in cyber brand storytelling.
Another truth here is that cowardice is a selfish act that benefits the individual, and bravery is an unselfish act that helps not just the group but the entire industry.
Fear is not a marketing tactic. You shouldn’t use a population’s vulnerability against them – that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t tell your friends if you think they’re in danger – don’t scare them into buying your product, provide them honest feedback.
Humanize, don’t productize.
Imagine if Star Wars was about how the X-Wing rebelled against the evil Empire.
When the product is the hero, the story is terrible. It’s not compelling. It’s not human. And it doesn’t add up to a bigger picture. Usually, it ends up being a random act of marketing.
Instead, make your audience — your personas — the center of your brand story.
If your story doesn’t put your customer as the center of the story or as the hero, it’s not going to resonate.
Does your brand story tell the customer a story about your product or a story about how they will be the hero of their story by using your product or solution?
Are you ready to tell a braver story?
