There are two basic ways you can communicate the value of what you offer.

The first is direct.  You simply tell people what you do and how it will benefit them.  For example:

I’m a nutritional counselor who will help you resist eating junk food so you can lose weight, have a healthy heart, and increase your energy.

We help you:

• learn to resist your junk food cravings 
• prepare healthy alternatives at home
• learn to snack healthy
• change your attitude about comfort food
• find enjoyable ways to exercise 
• keep your commitment to a healthier lifestyle

Or, you can create a storyline where you use a character to dramatize the benefits of your offering without directly stating what you do:

Nick hated driving by fast-food burger joints.  He knew the craving would hit as soon as he imagined biting into a cheeseburger or stuffing a handful of salty fries into his mouth.  He’d get cravings even when he wasn’t hungry.  

Worse, his last physical was a slap in the face.  30 lbs overweight.  Stage 1 hypertension.  High cholesterol.  Heart attack waiting to happen. 

So he called Stacy for help because he knew she would start with the real problem – the food cravings he couldn’t resist.  She helped him develop a new relationship with food that was both healthy and enjoyable.  Add in a reasonable workout program, and in 3 months he shed 25 pounds.  His wife jumped for joy when she saw his blood pressure and cholesterol numbers.  

As an added benefit, Nick and his wife started-up their date night tradition again, and it’s better than ever…

So which is more effective?  There are advantages to both depending on your target audience.

The first works when you want to get your message across fast, with zero ambiguity.  It’s useful in direct-response advertising content where the goal is to get the audience to take action now.  You’re not trying to make a lasting impression.  You want to convince them that your offer is for them and they need not look any further.

The second, storytelling method is effective for two reasons.  First, it gets the reader to visualize the situation.  From fighting cravings in front of a burger joint to a renewed romance thanks to being fit, you can picture “Nick” in your mind.  In turn, the audience can picture themselves in a similar story – and that act of visualization is unmatched at attaching itself to memory.

Stories, by their nature, create a visceral experience.  A consumer will “feel” the benefit of your offer more than they intellectually analyze it.  Often, when it comes to motivating action, this is a better state of mind for your content to induce.

It’s worth noting that overdoing either of these content strategies is likely to derail successful lead generation.  A focus on features, presented in “fact-mode” is known to draw blanks from audiences.  Anyone who’s sat through a powerpoint that’s all bullet points knows how listing features bores audiences.

On the other hand, stories that lose focus on creating a conversion and delve too much into creative expression can confuse or distract an audience.  Your goal is not just to entertain or showcase your creativity (business owners who contract writers to develop their marketing story need to be especially careful about this.  Writers who overestimate their creative appeal make poor marketers).  Online audiences are notoriously impatient, and they often won’t take the time to shift through a three-part narrative.

However, overall, using story telling techniques is beneficial.  Like a product hero shot, a story helps your audience visualize themselves experiencing the benefit of your product.   Deducing meaning through a story creates imprints on memory.

In other words, a story sticks with people.  They mull it over and contemplate what will work for them.

Facts, on the other hand, are almost immediately forgotten.  If you don’t convince the person on the spot, they’ll forget about your features – and you – when the time comes to make a decision .

Smart marketers know how to combine facts and storytelling.  Developing an effective story is the harder of the two, which is why it’s not used as often, particularly in SMB verticals.

Look at your marketing material.  Are you droning on about features and facts, or are you telling a story people will connect with and remember?

It’s no easy thing to create lasting memories with a web audience.  Fortunately, it’s also no easy thing to forget a story that strikes a chord with you.

Who’s your hero?

PS.  Make a note to think about this blog post in a weeks time.  Do you think you’ll remember what the nutritional counselor offers, or what Stacy did to help Nick?