For example, songs are written on similar principles-an introductory riff is played, the main melodic themes are introduced, those themes are built on in increasingly interesting ways until they all come together in a moment of high intensity, and then the song draws to a conclusion. This type of structure applies to almost every form of sequential art. In fact, the structure of informative posts can be illustrated by a pyramid of its own that shares many of the key features of the traditional model:
A conclusion that ties everything together.A moment when the main problem is introduced.An introductory section that hooks the reader's attention.They are both, at their most basic level, made up of the following parts: When examined from this perspective, factual articles and stories start to sound really similar. Finally, the article presents a solution to the piece's main problem, and all the loose ends are tied up in a conclusion. Most of the time, writers will attempt to structure their pieces so that the more interesting points are saved until the end in order to maintain reader interest throughout, improving their content's overall SEO through factors like scroll-depth and total time spent on a page. Then, the bulk of the article elaborates upon that central concept. Generally, this introductory section ends with a sentence or two that explicitly states what main idea the piece will present or what problem it will explore. There's often an introduction that both hooks the reader and provides them with background on what the piece will be discussing. After that problem-addressing climax occurs, all remaining loose ends are tied up during the resolution.īut how can this model be applied to a factual or tactical piece of content? Consider how a well-written article is usually structured. The stakes grow more and more dire until the characters must take an action that solves (or fails to solve) the conflict once and for all. The reason this action is "rising" is because throughout it all, tension is gradually building.
As the characters attempt to solve this conflict, they face a series of successive complications, all of which fall under the category of rising action.
This is followed by the inciting incident, which is the moment when a story's primary conflict is introduced. The introduction is when you both hook the audience's attention and give them any background information they may need. In it, you'll see that a story is broken into five parts: the introduction, the inciting incident, the rising action, the climax, and the resolution. This is an incredibly simplified take on story structure, but it works best for our purposes. To start, let's get into the fundamentals by reviewing a diagram you probably saw way back in high school English class: Freytag's Pyramid.
If you understand what those building blocks are and how they work, you can apply them to any form of media-and you'll be able to "storify" even the least story-like content marketing piece. The most basic building blocks of story structure are elements designed to capture and keep our attention. That's because the power of story in creating messages is universal. While those how-tos, listicles, and thought leadership content aren't stories in the most literal sense, you can still use a storytelling structure when creating them. It's true that there is a place in content marketing for pieces that aren't strictly stories. Long answer: Depends on your definition of "story." Yet these types of content definitely still have a place in the content marketing mix, and they often drive excellent traffic and engagement.ĭoes the success of traditional non-story content mean that it's time to dismiss discussions of brand storytelling as nothing more than big ideas and buzzwords? They appear more like briefings or tactical overviews than materials with a clear narrative structure or overarching argument. Most of us wouldn't call these informative or summary pieces "stories" in a traditional sense. For content marketers looking to produce a lot of content to fill out an entire month's (or even quarter's) content calendar, the easiest forms to turn to are how-tos, listicles, and other fact-focused pieces. We know by now that great content marketing is powered by storytelling.īut often, when organizations get their content marketing engines up and running, they face a dilemma in how exactly to make storytelling work as a medium for all of their brand's messaging.