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Applying literary narrative theory to B2B positioning

Hi, I’m James. Thanks for checking out Building Momentum: a newsletter to help startup founders and marketers accelerate SaaS growth through product marketing.

In the UK, traditionally ‘Media Studies’ further education is considered to be a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject – a pejorative way to tarnish ‘soft’ topics against harder subjects like maths and science.

But you know what? Unlike algebra in maths, I actually learnt a ton of stuff that I still use in my day-to-day work.

In this post I want to explain two big theories that you can use to build stronger and more resilient narratives in your marketing, positioning, and sales narrative.

Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory

This theory is applicable to nearly every story I can think of: a core component of the narratives that govern, influence, and form our world.

What’s the theory?

There are five stages:

1. There is an equal balance and initial equilibrium.
2. The equilibrium is disrupted by an event. (Disequilibrium)
3. There is recognition of the disruption occurring.
4. There is an attempt to repair the damage done by the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium at the end of the narrative.

What does this look like, in practice?

Think back to your favorite movie: it starts with an equilibrium, where context is introduced. Quickly, an event happens that causes damage, whether physical, mental, or emotional. The disruption is recognized, before our protagonist goes on a journey to fix the issue, right the world, and win the affection of the love interest.

In business we can think about the stories we tell our prospects:

  1. The world used to be fine: things worked as they were meant to.
  2. Suddenly, something happens: a world change, a technological innovation, a new challenge
  3. You feel the pain of it through these metrics, these are the symptoms you face as part of that problem
  4. But, you can fix it with our product – this is what the process could be like
  5. When you’re live, you’ll be back to normal – and seeing even better results

How can we use this?

It’s no longer as simple as thinking about the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

When understanding, building, and training narratives we need to think about the full picture, and this theory helps:

  1. What was life like before?
  2. What happened to disrupt the equilibrium?
  3. How was it recognised?
  4. How can it be fixed? What does that journey look like?
  5. What is life like after?

Using Equilibrium Theory can help you build more empathy for customers, grounding your work in their lives.

Propp’s Character Theory

Once you understand this, you’ll see this theory in use in every movie you watch – sometimes it’s a trope, sometimes it’s done with more consideration.

What’s the theory?

Every story has characters that fit into these seven archetypes

  1. The protagonist/hero (the character around whom the action revolves)
  2. The antagonist/villain (opposes the hero)
  3. The dispatcher/boss (sends the hero on the quest)
  4. The helper/sidekick (aids the hero)
  5. The donor/fairy godmother (gives the hero advice or a useful object)
  6. The princess/the girl (motivation & reward for the hero)
  7. The false hero/the betrayer (often a helper who turns on the hero and is punished)

They may be a ‘sole’ archetype, or fulfil several roles during the story.

What does this look like in practice?

Let’s take a fairytale example: Little Red Riding Hood

  1. Protagonist: Little Red Riding Hood
  2. Villain: Big Bad Wolf
  3. Dispatcher: The mother, sending LRRH to her grandmother’s
  4. Helper: The woodcutter
  5. Donor: The woodcutter, with an axe
  6. Princess: LRRH
  7. False hero: The Big Bad Wolf, for pretending to be the grandmother

How do we apply this to SaaS marketing, you ask? Let’s take Drift as an example.

  1. Protagonist: The prospect’s marketing team
  2. Villain: Forms!
  3. Dispatcher: The end-customer, who hates forms
  4. Helper: Drift
  5. Donor: Drift, and their platform
  6. Princess: The end-customer, and their money!
  7. False hero: Forms, pretending to be good ways to ask for details from prospects

How can we use this?

Whether you’re aligned to Andy Raskin’s World Change framework, narrative design, or any other narrative framework, are you missing elements that could help you tell a stronger story? Do you understand the full scope of the characters, roles, and actors that are performing in your market, and within your marketing/sales narrative?

By better understand the roles that your internal and external stakeholders play, you can reframe conversations, think bigger, and develop new ways to guide the narrative in your favour.

Layering theory will simplify, not complicate

Whenever I mention these to people, the most common response is something like “That sounds too complex.” And my response would be “Yes, because simplification is complex by design.”

When we start with well-researched and validated frameworks or theories as a basis for our narratives, we’re able to save time and cognitive energy. Not only is it easier to shortcut initial thoughts, but these systems and tropes and stereotypes are embedded in the minds of our customers, thanks to the modern media machine. The frames already exist for you to build from.

Just don’t forget to use these frameworks as inspiration, not instruction.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought – find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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