See a photo of Kristiaan, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Kristiaan Van Woensel, Questions 5 and 6:

Q: How important is it to you and your work to function within the framework of a particular definition of “story?” (i.e., What is a story?) What definition do you espouse?

A: My business experience tells me “storytelling” is the word that triggers marketing managers. People in general, associate “storytelling” too much with the “once upon a time” cliché, which makes it pretty hard to be taken seriously as a business-communication consultant!

“Brand storytelling,” “story sharing” or “story working” are non-provocative terms I use in my daily meetings with managers and they work fine!

The best definition of “story” for my business purposes is the one from The Elements of Persuasion book. (Richard Maxwell & Robert Dickman):

A story is a fact, wrapped in an emotion that compels us to take an action that transforms our world.

We use this definition as a turning point in our corporate presentations and the public seems to like it! [Note: Link in this paragraph goes to the presentation illustrated above.]

Why do they actually? More than likely, because we emphasize on the word “fact,” which is a pretty important “nuance” to pharma marketers, who breath scientific facts and data!

Q: Your Web site states: “Marketing plans don’t read like a novel and actually they should.” How do you go about creating marketing plans that read like novels — or at least have story elements?

A: A marketing plan is much more than a strategic document, reserved for marketing department and sales force only. A marketing plan is the lighthouse on paper, that will lead every member, working on a brand team, toward the common objectives for the upcoming business year. No matter what your function or position is within a team, you should know the base of the marketing plan of the brand you’re working for!

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” That goes for a brand team as well! For a marketing plan to be really successful, it should be understandable for every brand team member so that you, as brand team leader, can get your team aligned.

What we propose brand managers to do is quite simple: shape your 60-page marketing plan into a story of one page and win the hearts of all brand team members! Drill down your marketing plan to the essence and focus on three story elements to create your one pager:

Quantitative brand objective 2011: “how much” you want to get!

Qualitative brand objective 2011: “how good” you want to get!

Main brand program 2011: “how” you are going to get your brand objectives!

A simple job to copywriters and storytellers, but I admit, a true burden for marketeers! Why is it so hard for marketeers?

It’s in the marketeer’s DNA to collect the 3 F’s, with their analytical minds: Facts, Figures and Features. Marketeers think, speak and live by numbers and graphs, not by stories…

So, here’s where The Story House jumps in and supports brand managers with the making of their brand plan story. We give recommendations about the most appropriate metaphor or story angle to use for a particular brand-plan story. We advise brand managers to use or speak their audience’s language! Brand managers speak mainly rationally while sales people and non-marketing employees talk more “emotion.”