The act of telling a story is powerful.
Stories affect the audience—they see themselves in the characters, feel for their struggles, and become satisfied when the ‘hero’ achieves glory. A great story also informs the audience about a topic, how the world works, and even about themselves. Who hasn’t been to a movie, and as you leave the theater, you feel like the scientist, the gladiator, or the spy who just saved the day?
That feeling as you head home from the theater is so palpable because stories affect the entire brain—the rational, instinctual, and emotional brain. (Remember, it’s not the medium, it’s the story—movies, books, a stage presentation—they are all the same in this context.)
The emotional brain creates memories and feelings. When you watch a movie, characters can remind you of yourself—as perhaps a young girl or maybe a college student—you may have lived in a similar place or also came to the big city from a small town. You know what it feels like to be there, in those places, as that person, and you feel it.
The instinctual brain contains your fight-or-flight mechanism, which protects you from danger faster than our rational brain can. When a scary movie makes you jump from your seat, and you spill some popcorn, that is your instinctual brain at work. You can’t stop yourself from reacting. That reaction then moves to your emotional brain, and you create connected feelings to that reaction. For scary movie buffs—they love it. For others—nothing but dread. Either way, the emotional connection is there.
The rational brain comes last, and you use it to process the data and facts of the story. Your rational brain takes in all the details, helping us follow along and keep track of the plot. It is a lot slower but is used long after watching, as you share and argue with your friends over your favorite scenes.
Stories affect the entire brain, and great stories go deep into each part, activating your identity perception, excitement, morality, judgment, hopes, and fears.
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You can harness all of this power when you connect it to your offers. Let’s look at the brain and how you can do this with your audience—your dream customer.
The Emotional Brain
When your dream customer sees your character fail, they will feel the same negative emotions around that failure. They will remember that they, too, have failed. However, once your character succeeds, your dream customer will follow them into feelings of joy and happiness—all made possible by your offer. Showing both failure and success will bring your dream customer on the necessary emotional ride for them to care, pay attention, and see your offer as the way to achieve those positive emotions.
The Instinctual Brain
When your story reveals something unexpected, especially related to your character’s failures, your dream customer will jump, cringe, or recoil. When success comes, your dream customer will celebrate, fist-pumping in the air. These quick reactions will move to their emotional brains, and they will connect emotions. Imagine seeing someone who struggled finally win. You probably say ‘Yes!’ and then a warm feeling comes over you. This is the process in action. There is no better way to create feelings quickly in your dream customers than to tap into the instinctual brain.
The Rational Brain
This is easy—just show the success achieved from the use of your offer. When your character buys your product, and it changes their life, your dream customer will be able to justify their feelings. It makes sense they are feeling this way—the product works! Suspicions are confirmed, the risk of trying your offer has been dramatically reduced, and your dream customer is ready to take action.
How to Tell Stories That Tap Into This Power
Use the Fire Came Later Framework to structure your stories, include details that tap into all three parts of the brain every time, and pick the correct emotions to take your dream customer on the proper emotional ride.
Stories that make your dream customers feel are the stories that make them believe, and when you connect your offers, your dream customers will take action.
Ready for the Fire Came Later Framework?
The FCL Framework is the best method for structuring and writing stories that create belief—belief in you as the guide and your offers as the path to their success.
