selling a story rather than a product

People are always drawn to stories as it has the ability to form a strong emotional connection with the mind. Tony Fadell (chief engineer of iPhone and iPod, Founder of Nest Labs) in his book ‘Build’, stresses on the importance of a product to have an underlying story that explains why it needs to exist and how it solves the pain points of consumers. A good product story according to him has three elements : it appeals to people’s emotional and rational sides, it takes complicated concepts and makes them and simpler, and most importantly highlights the ‘why’ of the product.

A product story should be formed well before the development of the product has started. The product story helps guide the product development process. However, the story need not be set in stone, but can be dynamic and subject to iterations based on recurrent feedback from different stakeholders. Finally, when the product is complete and ready to be launched, effective communication of the product story to potential users is of paramount importance. So when consumers do end up listening to the narrative, they become truly conscious of the pain points that are prevalent and why this product needs to exist.

A very famous example of selling a story rather than a product, is the historic launch of the iPhone by Steve Jobs in MacWorld 2007. Sharing the link here so that you get a clear picture of what I am talking about! : D