Deciding who to make the hero is one of the hardest decisions to make. We’re all the hero of our own life story, right? Right. Except if you’re telling a story with an audience or desired outcome in mind, its best to make your audience the hero. Because if you’re audience can see themselves in the story, then you have nothing to sell (and that’s a good thing!). The hero is the central character of any story, and often the narrative is constructed or told through their perspective.
Traditional consumer advertising, usually frames the customer as the hero of the story. Whether we’re talking laundry detergent or a fancy new sport car, if people can envision themselves in the story you’re telling, it’s easy for them to buy into your message.
Of course, it gets a lot more complicated. I recently wrote an article exploring these hero issues from the perspective of nonprofit causes. You can read the article here, and also read the transcript or listen to a teleclass I did on the topic for Network for Good (just scroll to the bottom of the page after clicking on either of the last two links).
