Greetings, dear hero. You’ve made it to the final leg of your journey. If you’ve been following along with this series, you know we’ve taken our audience out of their ordinary world and into the special world of brand storytelling. Now it’s time to return our hero back to the ordinary world a little bit wiser than when she or he first started.
Act III: Returning to the Ordinary World
If you haven’t read the first two installments in our Hero’s Journey, make sure to check them out first. Act I explores hooking your audience, while Act II focuses on delivering epic experiences. Now, in our final act, we’ll explore how to delight your audience and change their world forever.
The Hero’s Journey is broken up into various milestones. In this post, we’ll focus on “The Road Back,” “Resurrection” and “The Elixir.
The Road Back
The first act of the Hero’s Journey culminated in our audience “Crossing the Threshold.” It’s the moment when your hero journeys into the unknown, or in our case, explores your content. Now they’re ready to head home. At this point in the story, the hero is welcomed back to cheers and admiration. Think Frodo returning to the Shire or the Rebels on the forest moon of Endor.
What have you done to ensure your audience returns to their ordinary world (or office) a hero? As we’ve mentioned throughout this series, your hero’s whole incentive for their journey is based on your organization answering questions or solving problems through quality content. Empower them to return home with the knowledge they need. They’re greatest challenge still awaits.
Resurrection
This is the moment when your audience gets to take what you’ve taught them and apply it to their problems. In a way, this is the truest test of your brand’s ability to help your audience. Can they take the information they’ve gleaned from the experience actually use it in their day-to-day lives? Through reading blog content, downloading your ebook or maybe even talking to one of your team members, did you prepare your hero for success? If your hero succeeds, she or he will have proven themselves as a true hero to their company. If they fail, well, you probably won’t see them returning.
Remember when Gollum told Frodo and Sam he could lead them safely to Mordor? He seemed to be solving a problem the Hobbits’ had. He was super-friendly and engaged his audience, only to lead them into a giant spider’s web. While you probably don’t have any nefarious plans for audience, it’s worth keeping in mind that all of that great content needs to do what it promises to do.
It’s so important to believe in the content you’re producing for your audience. Driving traffic to your site and generating leads are definitely great goals—but why? Every piece of content needs to solve a problem or answer a question your audience might have. Whether that’s something as simple as writing about topics that are relevant to your industry, or providing a full-on ebook that walks them through every stage of specific process.
The Elixir
Ah, finally home. We’ve come to the end of our epic journey. The hero has left the ordinary world with all of its problems and questions, journeyed into the unknown to engage with your brand’s content and returned wiser and ready to tackle any situation. The “Elixir” is anything your audience can use to help them in the future—whether that’s a helpful piece of premium content, the number of a support person or simply better knowledge to help them out.
Your hero’s life is now better as a result of the experience they had and she or he is equipped to tackle new challenges as they come. At the end of the book, Frodo leaves Middle Earth to sail to the Undying Lands. He didn’t need to be persuaded to embark on a new epic journey, but sought it out himself. The same goes for the other great content you can offer your heroes. They’ve been down the path before. They know what to expect. Make sure your there to lend your hero your sword...or...bow...or ax.
Take the Brand Storytelling Journey with ProFromGo
As your trusted mentor for all things content marketing and brand storytelling, ProFromGo is here to help you solve your organization’s problems, or maybe just answer a few questions. Feel free to contact us today. We’ll help you become the hero you always knew you could be
