Your Story, Your Narrative and Their Impact on Agency New Business

Storytelling is one of the most useful tools you have in your agency’s pitching arsenal. I hold firm to this belief and talk about it often (for instance, here and here and here and here). But, as powerful as a well told story can be in a sales situation, nothing brings it to its knees like a weak narrative.

And what, exactly, is the difference between a story and a narrative? Management consultant and founder of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge, John Hagel defines the differences this way:

Stories:

• Are closed-ended nature (once a story resolves, it is more or less over)

• Have a defined structure: a beginning, middle and an end

• Can be retold by others and used as an example 

• Have limited opportunity for participation (in other words, it’s a one-way path going from the teller to the told)

In contrast, narratives: 

• Are open-ended—they do not have a resolution

• Are always in the process of unfolding – the end is undetermined 

• Offer an implicit invitation to participate, which allows the audience to play a role in what the outcome is going to be

Your agency’s compelling stories 

There are numerous positive stories you can tell about your agency that illustrate why your shop is worth hiring. In fact, you’re already telling them because … 

…Stories form the basis of your case studies. 

…You lean on storytelling when you recount your agency’s history in RFP responses.

…Your team bios are conveying stories of what shaped the people who work for you and how they evolved into valuable members of the team.

…If you’re smart, you’re structuring your new business pitch presentations on a foundation of storytelling.

In all these examples, whether you realize it or not, you are relying on some form of a classic story arc (stasis, inciting incident, rising action, falling action, climax, resolution) to communicate your message. That arc, as John Hagel says, is finite. It has a beginning, middle, and end. It goes in only one direction – you tell it and the audience receives it.

When you start putting these stories out into the world – on your website, in your pitch meetings, in your Small Agency of the Year submission, in your content marketing – you are (again, whether you realize it or not) creating a narrative.

That’s what a narrative is, a central theme backed up by many stories.

To use an example we’re all familiar with, Nikes’s “Just Do It” represents a narrative of perseverance, empowerment, and self-determination through athletics and it’s reinforced by thousands of individual stories of athletes of all kinds. 

Nike is a sophisticated marketer and it knows that every marketing decision it makes must tie back to the spirit of Just Do It to ensure its narrative stays strong. 

You’re a sophisticated marketer too – that’s how you’ve come to run your own agency – and you apply that sophistication to decisions you and your team make on behalf of your clients.

But do you neglect to apply it to yourself?

Your agency’s compelling narrative

Ground zero for your agency’s narrative is your strategic positioning in the marketplace. When you define your audience and are clear on how you get them results, you provide yourself with an effective filter for all your messaging and marketing decisions. 

In other words, it makes it easier to answer the question, “does this message or tactic support or undermine the narrative I want to cultivate?”

Here are some examples of how a poor narrative might undermine your credibility with your audience of ideal clients:

• You profess to be an expert in marketing for challenger brands yet show a preponderance of category leaders on your client list.

• You claim your “people are the difference”, but don't offer team bios on your website or any other insight into how you attract and retain the best people. 

• You’re a big agency refugee who started a boutique creative shop because you believe marketers deserve an agile, nimble approach to problem-solving but the work process you describe in your proposal is lengthy and front-loaded with discovery-related tasks. 

Remember, narratives are open-ended, always unfolding and participatory. Whether you want them to or not, your audience contributes to your narrative every time they engage with you or your content. 

That’s why contradictory messages (all those smaller stories you tell on a daily basis) can be catastrophic to your new business efforts. When we are confronted with them, we find it jarring, and we discount the validity of both the message and the messenger.

Or, less catastrophic but damaging nonetheless, a weak narrative leaves your audience to draw inaccurate conclusions.

For example, has this ever happened to you?

You meet someone for the first time and upon introduction, that person says to you, “oh yeah, you’re the agency that does all that financial services marketing” and you think to yourself, “how on earth do they have that impression? We haven’t touched a financial services account in years…”

They have that impression because that’s the narrative they’re participating in. When you encounter a situation like this, it’s time to:

• Investigate how your narrative is performing in the market

• Discover where it’s getting derailed (outdated client lists in the hands of search consultants? Google searches that dredge up the award-winning financial services work you did in 2013?)

• Make a plan for taking back control 

I will always applaud agencies that use good storytelling skills as a means to demonstrate why they deserve to be hired. Just be sure you’re doing those stories justice by weaving them into a narrative that invites the audience to participate on your terms and supports your agency’s goals for growth.