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Building great marketing content
… a lesson from The Revenant Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
2
Most people find The Revenant to be
a really captivating movie
…which is interesting, since for the large part it’s
just one actor and lots of snow.
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
3
What makes the film such an
attention-grabber and how
can we incorporate these
techniques into our content?
4
It’s all down to the construction of the storyline
The Revenant is told in
three parts or “acts” …
there’s a beginning,
middle and end. Engaging
and rising conflict is
delivered with each act,
and it keeps the audience
spellbound!
5
What can content
writers learn from this?
6
Let’s dig deeper – and see how we can
use these techniques for our own content.
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Great stories begin with the hero facing a difficulty or
a challenge. This creates tension and tension creates
drama that keeps the audience engaged.
Source: https://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/three-acts/57-act-three-the-end
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When your audience
relates to the hero and
the challenges the hero
faces – then you have
their attention.
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Let’s see how The Revenant creates drama right
from the start…
RUGGED TACITURN ANGRYBROW FRONTIERMAN LEONARDO
DICAPRIO is hunting for food with his HALF-NATIVE
SON, FORREST GOODLUCK.
FORREST GOODLUCK, Dad, did you hear something?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, Huh? Sorry, I was distracted
by how horribly ironic your name is gonna turn
out to be.
(Source http://www.the-editing-room.com/the-revenant.html)
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
Their camp is ATTACKED by an ARIKARA HUNTING
PARTY! A bunch of trappers desperately hide
behind trees and in underbrush only to be
UTTERLY FRAGGED by ARROWS! Others flee madly
only to be SHOT DOWN!
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But then, it gets worse…
our hero is attacked by a bear and left to die. His son is
killed by John Fitzgerald, a member of the trapping party.
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
11
You’ve certainly got my
attention. But what
about the day-to-day
world of business?
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
12
Meet Kevin, he’s the IT Director
for a distribution and trucking
company.
When Kevin goes to work the last
thing on his mind is killer bears or
an Arikara hunting party – he’s
thinking of ensuring that the
company’s servers are up and
running and secure from threats.
13
But Kevin faces a critical problem. With a small
staff and a backlog of unresolved issues, Kevin
feels that he’s constantly fighting a losing battle
to keep the infrastructure up and running. It’s a
battle that affects not just Kevin but his company,
their partners – and customers too. It certainly
keeps Kevin awake at night!
14
Kevin is the hero of our story. By
describing the challenges he
faces and the tension he
experiences we’ve taken the first
steps to creating drama and
winning the audience’s attention.
15
So, how do you build on
this tension and move the
story forward?
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By following the three
act structure of all
great story lines …
17
Let’s understand how this is done in
The Revenant!
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
18
The Revenant’s three acts
Act One – Setup The hero is attacked by a
war party, mauled by a bear
and left to die. The hero’s
life is at stake
19
Act Two – Obstacles The journey begins. The hero
awakens and struggles to rise
from the dirt. He finds a bear
pelt to keep him warm and
starts to move through the
woods, beginning a rage-
fueled journey of revenge.
The Revenant’s three acts
20
Act Three – Resolution
The Revenant’s three acts
The hero makes it back to the
safety of a trapping post and is
able to confront Fitzgerald, the
person who murdered his son.
21
And so, we can start building a story line for Kevin
Act-one – Kevin struggles to keep his company’s
servers up and running. He doesn’t have the
staff or budget for all the challenges faced.
Act-two – He starts a journey to understand the kinds
of solutions that can help solve the problem.
Act three – Keven selects a cloud-base solution.
Now, we have the basic plot.
22
Compare this to the basic plot for The Revenant
A frontiersman on a fur trading
exhibition in the 1820s fights for
survival after being mauled by a
bear and left for dead by members of
his own hunting team…
That’s all you need to get started. Let’s now use the techniques of
screen writers to start putting flesh on the basic plot…
23
So far, I’ve not mentioned personas or
the buyer’s journey – keys to building
great content. Instead, let’s look at
actors and storyline.
24
Casting your buyer as an actor
and building the content script
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Building great content using
script building techniques…
(I have taken a few liberties to simplify
some of the script building techniques.)
26
Theme: Establish the theme of your story. For Kevin, it’s the
challenge of keeping the company’s infrastructure
humming.
Character introduction: Introduce the principal character. Provide the IT
manager’s background – let the audience identify with
the character.
Protagonist: Outline the challenges and issues Kevin faces.
Inciting incident: The inciting incident (or point of attack) is the moment
when the dramatic conflict announces itself. It’s the first
perception of the predicament to come – in Kevin’s
case, it might be a server that crashes at 4 AM.
Source: https://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/three-acts/55-act-one-the-beginning
Act one, the setup
27
Main tension: This sets up the main tension around which the
story will be built. Will Kevin lose his job? Will his
team mutiny and leave the company?
The stakes: The stakes have to be clear in order to show how
and why this tension is important to them. What
happens to the company when a server crashes?
Are customers likely to leave? How is the bottom
line impacted? What happens to the company?
Objective: What is Kevin’s goal? What drives him? How badly
does he want to solve the problem.
Act one (continued)
28
Challenges: Here we look deeply at the challenges, and the jam
that our hero is in.
Ramifications: And, explore the impact to others and the costs of
doing nothing.
Subplot: The subplot defines others impacted – perhaps the
CIO is also catching flak when servers fail, or the
VP of Sales risks losing potential customers.
First culmination: This is the midpoint of the story – where we get the
first hints of the solution. It could be the point where
Kevin decides to explore a cloud solution. But there
are obstacles and more challenges to come.
Act two, the obstacles
29
Setback: This is where our hero hits a snag. In Kevin’s
case, it may be when he says to himself, “Okay a
cloud solution might be the best way forward – but
how do I begin to select a solution that’s best for
me? Where do I start?”
Main culmination This is where our hero faces the biggest obstacle.
For Kevin, it could be building a case for a new
solution, finding budget, convincing others in the
company, or getting people to change the way
they currently operate.
Act two (continued)
30
Final culmination: This is the point where there’s just one path to
take. All other alternatives have been explored
and eliminated. Kevin is ready to make a choice –
but he’s concerned about the risks and costs of
the solution. He’s worried about whether the
project will be a success. Kevin is looking for
proof points. The final culmination is also where
the main plot (Kevin’s quest) and the subplot (the
CIO’s goals and challenges, the needs of the VP
of sales) collide – so it’s time to describe a
solution that is acceptable to all.
Act three, the resolution
31
Resolution: This is the end of the story, a solution has been
found to address all the issues of the final
culmination – and your solution is selected. Our
hero walks off into the sunset!
Act three (continued)
32
It’s certainly a lot of fun
building content using the film
script formula… and it leads
to some great, unique and
compelling content.
33
With your script complete, it’s time to start
building content using the script as an outline.
Fusce ultrices scelerisque felis,
id semper quam posuere a. Sed
nec erat eget velit euismod
condimentum a in enim.
Maecenas bibendum aliquam
tincidunt. Mauris vestibulum
neque at nulla sagittis id lacinia
enim fermentum. Quisque
adipiscing risus nec massa
auctor condimentum. Mauris
venenatis lacus justo, eu varius
odio. Fusce commodo luctus
felis, vitae lobortis lectus facilisis
Theme
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
Nullam massa enim, tincidunt
non hendrerit eget, malesuada
et nisi. In hac habitasse platea
Character
Act One
Sed lacus nulla, faucibus
eget ullamcorper ut, mollis
at metus. Vivamus tortor
felis, tincidunt at tristique ut,
tincidunt feugiat velit.
Fusce ultrices scelerisque felis,
id semper quam posuere a. Sed
nec erat eget velit euismod
condimentum a in enim.
Maecenas bibendum aliquam
tincidunt. Mauris vestibulum
neque at nulla sagittis id lacinia
enim fermentum. Quisque
adipiscing risus nec massa
auctor condimentum. Mauris
venenatis lacus justo, eu varius
odio. Fusce commodo luctus
felis, vitae lobortis lectus facilisis
Main tension
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
Nullam massa enim, tincidunt
non hendrerit eget, malesuada
et nisi. In hac habitasse platea
Stakes
Act Two
Sed lacus nulla, faucibus
eget ullamcorper ut, mollis
at metus. Vivamus tortor
felis, tincidunt at tristique ut,
tincidunt feugiat velit.
Fusce ultrices scelerisque felis,
id semper quam posuere a. Sed
nec erat eget velit euismod
condimentum a in enim.
Maecenas bibendum aliquam
tincidunt. Mauris vestibulum
neque at nulla sagittis id lacinia
enim fermentum. Quisque
adipiscing risus nec massa
auctor condimentum. Mauris
venenatis lacus justo, eu varius
odio. Fusce commodo luctus
felis, vitae lobortis lectus facilisis
Culmination
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
Nullam massa enim, tincidunt
non hendrerit eget, malesuada
et nisi. In hac habitasse platea
ResSOLUTION
Act Three
Sed lacus nulla, faucibus
eget ullamcorper ut, mollis
at metus. Vivamus tortor
felis, tincidunt at tristique ut,
tincidunt feugiat velit.
34
Here’s how the three-act process can work for you…
Bottom
of
funnel
Middle
of
funnel
Top
of
funnel Act one content
Act two content
Act three content
35
Act one content
Act two content
Act three content
Three-act content examples…
Video
ebook
36
Act one content
Act two content
Act three content
Three-act content examples…
Home page
Inner page
Landing page with contact form
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Act one content
Act two content
Act three content
Or even …
Making the cloud work for you!
The Complete 94 Page Guide
All you need to know about hybrid cloud
deployment.
38
Your value proposition
The value of your solution is
established by showing how
you help your hero achieve
conflict resolution in a way
than no one else can!
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
39
Interested in learning more?
Drop me a line or… oops, let
me try that again.
Image credit – 20Th Century Fox
40
Drop me a line or contact me
through LinkedIn:
dave@espressob2b.com
www.linkedin.com/in/dave-brown-
45a395
Interested in learning more?
41
Dave’s workshops include:
o Account-Based Marketing.
o Building Personas, Creating Winning Marketing Content.
o Building Content That Counts, the Foundation of Digital Marketing.
o Focused on Revenue: A program for channel partner lead generation.
o The Sales Navigator: A program to build new go-to-market solutions,
breakthrough market positions and unique value propositions for
channels and alliances.
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