Like Oscar Wilde observed, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.” But when it comes to marketing messages, both matter tremendously – and most businesses are failing at both. Let’s unpack why your marketing likely isn’t working, and how the ancient art of storytelling might be your salvation.
The Brutal Truth About Business Communication
Most businesses communicate like a desperate actor at an audition – throwing everything they’ve got at the wall, hoping something sticks. They create noise, not clarity. As Seth Godin might say, they’re trying to be everything to everyone, and thus become nothing to anyone.
Here are the two cardinal sins most businesses commit:
- They fail to focus on how their offering helps people survive and thrive
- They force their customers to burn too many mental calories trying to understand their message
Let’s examine five fascinating case studies that illuminate a better way forward
Case Study #1 – The Cutting Room Floor
Imagine sitting in an editing bay in Hollywood, surrounded by hundreds of hours of footage. The director has shot enough material to make a six-hour film but needs to deliver a tight two-hour story that will keep audiences engaged. What happens next is a masterclass in clarity.
Scene by scene, line by line, every moment must justify its existence. Does this clever subplot serve the main story? Cut. Is this brilliant piece of dialogue moving us forward? Cut. Even entire characters, despite brilliant performances, might end up on the cutting room floor.
Yet when businesses approach their marketing, they often do the exact opposite. They create the equivalent of “The Bourne Identity” where Jason Bourne simultaneously tries to discover his identity, lose weight, pass the bar exam, win on Jeopardy, and adopt a cat. The audience, forced to burn too many mental calories trying to track multiple narratives, simply checks out.
The lesson? Your marketing message needs to be as ruthlessly edited as a blockbuster film. Every element should serve your core story, or it needs to go.
Case Study #2 – The Jobs Transformation
In 1983, Apple launched a computer called Lisa with a nine-page advertisement in the New York Times. It was a technical masterpiece, detailing every specification and feature in exquisite detail. It was also, as Steve Jobs would later realise, a masterclass in how not to communicate.
Fast forward to Jobs’ return to Apple after his time at Pixar, where he’d been immersed in the world of master storytellers. The transformation was radical. Gone were the technical manifestos. Gone were the feature lists. In their place? Two words: “Think Different.”
What changed? Jobs had learned that effective communication isn’t about telling people everything you know – it’s about telling them what they need to know to take the next step in their journey. The Lisa ad was Apple talking to itself. “Think Different” was Apple talking to its customers’ aspirations.
Case Study #3 – Three Words That Doubled Revenue
Sometimes the most powerful stories are the simplest. A pet supply company specialising in aquariums was struggling to break out of the hobbyist market. Their marketing focused on technical specifications, water quality management, and the fine details of aquarium maintenance – all things that matter tremendously to fish enthusiasts but leave the average person cold.
Then they added three simple words to their packaging: “Kids Love Aquariums.” Sales nearly doubled. Why? Because they’d shifted from talking about what the product was to talking about what the product meant. For parents, this wasn’t about pH levels or filtration systems – it was about creating moments of wonder and connection with their children.
The transformation was so dramatic because it tapped into a fundamental human desire – the need to create joy and meaningful experiences within our family tribe. They’d moved from selling aquariums to selling memories.
Case Study #4 – The Power of Story Gaps
Humans are naturally curious creatures, and nothing drives us quite as mad as an unresolved mystery. A group of gift retailers discovered this power when they experimented with creating intentional story gaps in their marketing.
They started with a simple sign outside their stores: “Looking for something Mum will love for Mother’s Day? We’ve got 20 ideas under $100.” Inside, they placed numbered cards on selected items reading “#17 Mum Is Going to Love This” or “#3 Perfect for Mum.” The results were remarkable – sales of these items increased significantly.
Why? Because they’d created what storytellers call an “open loop” – a question that demands an answer. The sign created the gap (“What are these perfect gifts?”) and the numbered items inside provided the satisfying resolution. They’d turned shopping into a treasure hunt, where each discovery felt like a win.
Case Study #5 – The Luxury of Rest
A high-end resort was experiencing what we might call an identity crisis in their marketing. Their collateral featured endless shots of their pristine front desk (because apparently, people dream of checking in?), artfully arranged photos of their restaurant’s exterior (because buildings are so emotionally compelling?), and countless images of their smiling staff (who, while lovely, weren’t the reason anyone was booking a luxury getaway).
Like many businesses, they’d fallen into the trap of marketing themselves rather than marketing to their customers’ desires. But what their customers truly wanted wasn’t to admire their building’s architecture or memorise their staff directory – they wanted a luxurious, restful experience.
After reframing their story, they transformed their website to show images that spoke directly to these desires: a steaming bath surrounded by candles, plush robes that looked soft enough to sleep in, someone experiencing a moment of bliss during a massage, and a hypnotic video loop of a rocking chair swaying gently on a back porch, overlooking trees swaying in the breeze along their golf course.
The transformation wasn’t just visual. They distilled their entire message down to one powerful controlling idea: “Find the luxury and rest you’ve been looking for.” This phrase became more than marketing – it became a mission statement posted on office walls, embraced by every team member from the sous chef to the groundskeeper. They all understood exactly what story they were helping their customers live out.
The Power of Your Controlling Idea
Think of your controlling idea as the North Star of your marketing – it’s the one idea you want your audience to remember above all else. It’s not just a tagline or a clever phrase; it’s the moral of the story you’re inviting customers to participate in.
In Donald Miller’s “Building a StoryBrand 2.0”, he shares a fascinating example of this principle in action. One of his mastermind clients ran a unique fitness business where clients work one-on-one with trainers for just twenty minutes, twice a week. Initially, their marketing collateral was cluttered with technical details about resistance training, nutrition science, and exercise physiology. But their breakthrough came when they distilled everything down to one controlling idea: “Twenty minutes, twice a week.” In a world where people believe they need to practically live at the gym to see results, this controlling idea challenges conventional wisdom while promising something people desperately want – efficiency without sacrifice.
Your controlling idea should be something customers can easily remember and repeat to others. It should spark immediate interest and require minimal explanation. Think of it as a memorisation exercise – you want to repeat it so often and so consistently that it becomes synonymous with your brand in your customers’ minds.
Most importantly, your controlling idea must emerge from a deep understanding of what your customers truly want. It’s not about your company’s history, your professional credentials, or your sophisticated processes – it’s about the transformation you offer your customers.
Taking Your First Steps
The path forward begins with a simple question: How does your offering help people survive or thrive? Don’t overthink this. Are you helping them:
- Save time or money? (Survival)
- Build meaningful connections? (Tribal survival)
- Gain status or respect? (Social survival)
- Find peace of mind? (Emotional survival)
- Create something meaningful? (Legacy survival)
Your controlling idea – the one thing you want customers to remember – should focus on this core survival benefit. Everything else is noise.
As Oscar Wilde also noted, “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.” Perhaps the same is true of marketing. By embracing the power of story, we can make our marketing both more engaging and more effective. After all, humans have been using stories to share important survival information for thousands of years. Why should your marketing be any different?
Remember: You’re not just selling a product or service. You’re offering people a better version of themselves. Make sure your story shows them exactly how you’ll help them get there.
These insights and examples come from Donald Miller’s excellent book “Building a StoryBrand 2.0,” which David Olney and I will be exploring in depth in upcoming podcast episodes. Miller’s framework provides a powerful way to think about marketing that aligns perfectly with what we’ve long advocated – that effective marketing is about clarity, not complexity.
What’s your story?