Once upon a time, there was a little walnut that dreamed of making the B2B SaaS sales world a better place for buyers.
Before you say to yourself, “Walnut has really gone nuts this time,” there’s a method to our madness.
Everyone loves hearing a good story. And this certainly includes your buyers.
Especially in the current market, it’s not enough to just list out the features and benefits your product has to offer (no matter how great they are). You have to tell a well-crafted story that conveys your product vision and captures your customers’ attention.
So, join us as we break down some helpful tips and tricks that you can use to perfect the art that is product storytelling.
What is product storytelling?
Before we go any further, let’s go over some definitions to make sure we’re all on the same page.
You can think of product storytelling as being like the, well, story or narrative of your product. It should explain why you developed your product, the challenges you had to overcome, and most importantly, how it improves customers’ lives.
Essentially, it’s the communication of your product’s value in a way that focuses on addressing pain points rather than on the different features it offers.
This is much more effective than simply listing features because it increases the chances that the prospect will relate to your message.
What is the goal of product storytelling?
People buy based on emotions. And that’s exactly what product storytelling tries to accomplish.
Compelling product storytelling helps your customers establish an emotional connection to your product.
Think of it this way. With product storytelling, you should be explaining the “why” and the “how” of your product, AKA the product vision and the product strategy.
The “why” is where you have the chance to set your product apart from the competition and encourage buyers to remain loyal to your brand.
Meanwhile, the “how” is where you cover which pain points your product will address and how it will tackle them.
All of this can help prospects remember your product and hopefully, sign on the dotted line.
What makes a good product story?
This all makes sense. But what exactly goes into a good product story?
Glad you asked!
First and foremost, a compelling product story is relatable. It needs to present your product in a way that speaks to your buyer’s specific needs, pains, and goals.
Otherwise, there’s no chance they’ll remember it or develop that emotional connection with the product that makes them take the plunge.
Another rule of thumb: keep it as simple as possible. You’re fighting against your audience’s limited attention span, so your story needs to pack a quick punch in order grab their focus and keep them captivated.
Generally, a good product story should also dispel any confusion about your product, increase the audience’s understanding of your product, create alignment, and improve engagement.
Product storytelling example
At this point, you’ve got the basics down pat, but you’d really love to see an example of effective product storytelling.
Well, that’s very convenient, because at this point in the article, we were just about to share one!
Liquid Death: Murder Your Thirst
When it comes to mountain water brand Liquid Death, it’s about expecting the unexpected.
While other water companies tell stories that portray their product as refreshing, calm, clear, and hydrating, Liquid Death tells a totally different story.
This brand is harsh, intense, and even kinda violent. And even though that might seem shocking, the strategy works because it speaks to their target audience that’s made up of Millenials and Gen-Z and it doesn’t feel like they are trying too hard.
Not to mention the product itself is eco-friendly, which is a huge priority for their audience.
Walnut for Teams: Another Product Commercial
If there’s one thing we at Walnut want to be known for, it’s understanding our target audience.
We know that in sales, the common belief is that the best salespeople are “lone wolves”. But we asked ourselves, isn’t a wolf pack significantly more impressive?
Our Walnut for Teams product story spoke to the issue of salespeople working alone and how it can limit the overall effectiveness of the team by creating isolated silos that’ll lead to missed opportunities for growth and success.
Using a bit of humor (of course), we then showed how Walnut for Teams solves this problem by offering tools that help the entire sales team work together more efficiently and learn from one another.
6 Top product storytelling tips
You’re ready to roll up your sleeves and start telling winning product stories.
That’s the spirit!
But before you whip your pen out, here are some helpful pointers to keep in mind:
1. Explain the “why”
Good storytelling is all about setting the scene.
That means you need to give some background about not only what the problem is, but why your product is the solution. You also need to explain why your product is better than the competition’s solution.
This will allow you to give context about your product and better demonstrate why your prospect needs it in their life.
2. Keep it simple
Don’t be afraid to keep it short and straightforward.
Focus on only the most necessary details of your product story rather than adding too many nitty gritty details. This will help ensure that prospects aren’t getting distracted from your core message.
It’s a good idea to follow this standard three-part structure:
- Beginning: Explain the problem that you want to solve.
- Middle: Describe how your product solves the problem.
- End: Show a success story and point out the product’s benefits.
3. Focus on the prospect
When you craft your product story, make sure you keep your audience in mind.
Remember, your product story needs to center around the customer. And that’s why you need to understand your prospect’s needs and pain points like the back of your hand.
But more than that, you need your product story to have a unique angle based on the persona you’re targeting. So, it’s a good idea to include emotional hooks that are tailored to your prospect.
Because at the end of the day, to capture your prospect’s attention, you need to understand their unique point of view and center the story around it.
4. Make it relatable
How can you craft a story that resonates?
Well, you need to make the audience (i.e. your prospect) see themselves as the main character. Essentially, it’s about showing them why they should care about what you’re saying and how it’s relevant to them.
One way to do this is to show empathy for the issues they are facing, describe the conflict that is preventing them from solving their problem, and how they can resolve the problem.
5. Stay consistent
Plain and simple, a good story must be consistent.
The messaging that you use to communicate your product vision and strategy needs to be the same throughout each part of your product story. Otherwise, your story won’t pack the same punch.
It may even be confusing for prospects to follow.
6. Test, monitor, and adjust your story
As Hannah Montana says, “nobody’s perfect.”
So, no matter how compelling your product story is, there’s always room for improvement.
Based on any feedback from customers or new insights you learn about your audience, you may need to tweak your product story. This can be anything from updating the wording, tone, technique that you use to tell your story to changing how you present your product story.
If you use an interactive demo platform (like Walnut), you can analyze how viewers engaged with your product demo to understand which parts of your product story interested them the most and which parts were less relevant to them. Then you can make adjustments accordingly.
Using interactive product demos to tell compelling product stories
A good story sticks with you.
And that’s exactly what you want to do with a product story: create a memorable experience for your prospect that paints a picture of your product vision and strategy.
This will help you strike a nerve with your prospect and when done right, convince your prospect that they can’t go on without your solution.
With an interactive demo platform (like Walnut), it’s much easier to craft compelling product stories that speak to your prospect’s point of view and show how your product can solve their specific pains.
Think of it this way. Without a compelling product story, it’ll be much more challenging to make an impact on your buyer and stand out in a sea of competition.
Start telling engaging product stories by clicking the “Get Started” button.
