{"id":83994,"date":"2023-05-01T09:30:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/uncategorized\/how-to-use-the-heros-journey-for-content-marketing-a-good-story-goes-a-long-way\/"},"modified":"2023-09-14T06:20:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T10:20:04","slug":"how-to-use-the-heros-journey-for-content-marketing-a-good-story-goes-a-long-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/content-marketing\/how-to-use-the-heros-journey-for-content-marketing-a-good-story-goes-a-long-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use the Hero’s Journey for Content Marketing: A Good Story Goes A Long Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AI-fueled transformation of content marketing is both exhilarating and distressing. OpenAI and an avalanche of new content tools and best practices are overwhelming many content marketers. Despite the uncertainty many of us feel about the future of our profession, staying grounded in content foundations should provide confidence going forward.<\/p>\n

Content foundations are must-have artifacts like buyer profiles, industry and competitor data, search keyword analysis, content performance data, and key marketing messages. You can’t build an effective content strategy without these facts and data.<\/p>\n

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But facts alone do not persuade companies to pay big money for software, consulting services, or other high-value items. Companies are made of people with emotions and desires.<\/p>\n

That’s why you need another brick in your content foundation: the story.<\/p>\n

How the Hero’s Journey framework creates powerful business stories<\/h2>\n

According to Dr. Jennifer Aaker<\/a>, author, behavioral scientist, and Stanford professor, stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you can find the threads of a story (aka a narrative) in the messaging your product marketing team developed. But this messaging is often brief, bulleted, and matter-of-fact. There is no sense of urgency to buy, or intrigue to prompt buyers to imagine a better future and act now to secure it.<\/p>\n

A narrative, on the other hand, is a complete story with a setting, plot, characters, and conflict. The Hero’s Journey is a universal narrative structure found in both traditional and contemporary stories. Joseph Campbell, a renowned mythologist, introduced the concept in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/a>.\u201d In it, he outlines 17 distinct stages of the Hero’s Journey, starting with the initial “Call to Adventure” and ending with “Freedom to Live.\u201d Campbell’s structure can be simplified into three acts:<\/p>\n

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  1. Departure:<\/strong> The hero prepares for a journey into the unknown with help from a mentor.<\/li>\n
  2. Initiation: <\/strong>Enemies put the hero’s new knowledge and abilities to the test in a series of trials.<\/li>\n
  3. Return:<\/strong> The hero earns his reward and begins the trip back to the known world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Image Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    The Harry Potter series is a modern hero’s journey: As Harry ventures into the world of wizardry, he confronts a string of tests and obstacles. Along the way, he acquires knowledge of magic, bonds with mentors, and battles adversaries including the dark wizard.<\/p>\n

    Similarly, a business has a mission to help customers solve a problem. Or said another way, businesses are on a quest to help heroes overcome trials.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    Here is a real-life illustration from content marketing, which I mentioned at the top of this article:<\/p>\n

    Content marketers (hero) are discovering the world of AI-generated content (journey). Experienced digital agencies (mentor) are offering knowledge to help content marketers outsmart search engines (enemy) to achieve page one ranking (reward).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Here is another example from the world of blockchain:<\/p>\n

    Prompted by the financial crisis of 2008, an anonymous developer (hero) seeks an alternative (journey) to traditional finance (enemy). He encounters other developers (allies) who share his goal and provide knowledge that helps him develop blockchain. The developers are thwarted by the banking industry (enemy), which spreads misinformation about blockchain (trial) because it threatens their power.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    If you build out these brief narratives with more detail, you can tell the entire story of your company or product, why it exists, and for whom. That story becomes the heart and soul of everything you write. Every article, podcast episode, or web page should connect back to and reflect it.<\/p>\n

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    Image source: Seed World<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Putting hero’s journey narratives into practice<\/h2>\n

    Before you throw up your hands and say you have too many time-sensitive content demands right now to build a narrative, consider how it can pay off right away and throughout your marketing cycles.<\/p>\n