What Medieval Stories Can Teach Us about Marketing

The determined knight sets off on a journey to slay the dragon terrorizing the kingdom, but gets his sword stolen, before meeting a wise wizard who crafts him a magical sword, allowing him to finally defeat the winged beast and save the world. What can such stories teach us about marketing?

There are patterns in such stories that can be applied to your own marketing to make it much more effective. I first learned about this concept by reading the book StoryBrand 2.0 by Donald Miller (I definitely recommend it!).

Keep reading this article to find out the deep reasons why medieval stories are a powerful teacher for improving how you talk to your customers through your marketing materials.

What exactly about medieval stories translates to effective marketing?

Medieval stories typically follow a surprisingly rigid storyline structure. This same structure can be found in books and movies across the world.

While the hero's journey is not specific to medieval stories, medieval stories offer some of the most illustrative imagery people can immediately understand.

This structure broadly defines how the hero of the story starts with a goal, gets knocked down, is helped by a mentor, and finally manages to hit their goal with that help.

In a marketing-saturated world like we have today, people are deeply in tune with this kind of story structure. We intuitively recognize this structure, and subconsciously look for the elements of this structure.

Poor marketers talk only about themselves and how great they are. Who wants to hear that? Not many people.

I typically skip ads on YouTube. Don't make your marketing feel like an ad people want to skip. Make your marketing feel like a story they can't stop reading.

On the other hand, great marketers make their customers feel like the hero of their own stories. Great marketers position themselves as the wise mentor that will help customers on their hero's journey. Great marketers position their products as the helpful tools that will help customers "slay their dragons".

Now that's a story that everyone wants to hear. Who wouldn't want to hear an epic story of their own life, where they overcome the odds, are offered effective help to make the journey easier, eventually reaching their goals?

People aren't interested in hearing about a brand self-pedestalize itself.

People want to hear about how you can solve their problems.

By simply switching the positioning of our marketing, we can change our prospects' behaviour from disinterested eye-rolling to having them beg for more information about our offers.

What is the structure of a medieval story?

Essentially, a medieval story has a few parts:

• The hero of the story sets off on their epic quest. This could be a student trying to increase their grades to make it into medical school, which is notoriously difficult.
• A seemingly insurmountable obstacle knocks them down. The student might have gotten unlucky and had many exams in the same week, leading them to fail one of their exams.
• The hero meets a wise mentor who helps them figure out how to overcome that obstacle. This student might look for help on YouTube, and end up watching a video from a well-known medical school preparation tutor, who has a link in the video description to book a free consultation call, promising to reach A+ grades within 6 months if a student works with them. With a money-back guarantee.
• The hero uses their mentor's help to blast through obstacles. The student has a weekly call with the tutor and follows their custom preparation roadmap meticulously.
• The hero eventually finds success in their epic quest. Over time, by following the tutor's wise advice, studying the right things, the student's grades increase significantly, obtaining A+ scores they need to get into medical school.

The hero should be your customer.

You should be the wise mentor.

Your products or other services should be the help you provide your customers with to make their journey a success.

This simple medieval story structure will make your marketing more effective and potentially even addictive.

Before VS After Marketing Example

Down below is an example of marketing messaging a company used before learning about how to emulate medieval stories:

"Silverkey & Co. Accounting has over 20 years of experience. We are a team of certified professionals offering bookkeeping, tax preparation, and payroll services. Our award-winning firm is committed to excellence and uses the latest software. Contact us today!"

Now, here's an example of the same company adapting their messaging to make it more effective:

"Get your evenings back. We'll handle the books.

Most small business owners lose 5+ hours a week to receipts, invoices, and payroll, with tax season seemingly always right around the corner. For 20+ years, we've taken that off the plates of over 300 local businesses, with certified accountants handling your bookkeeping, taxes, and payroll so you never miss a deadline or overpay again.

Book a free 20-minute call, and we'll show you exactly where your time and money are going."

Conclusion

Medieval stories have survived centuries for a reason. They are addictive and have an aspirational element to them that many people want to identify with.

By adapting your marketing positioning to one where your customers are the hero of their own story, and you are the wise mentor helping them achieve their goals, you will find yourself making more sales with less effort.

If you'd like to chat more with me about this topic, feel free to reach out at info@blueskiesdigital.com; it will be my pleasure, as this is a concept I'm passionate about.