Telling the tale: applying a strategic brand storytelling process for STP planning

ABSTRACT

The Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning (STP) process is a central tenet of marketing, yet can be challenging to implement in practice. Moreover, previous studies have identified a gap between academic theory and execution of STP. To contribute to this gap, this qualitative study utilizes storytelling as a window to gain a deeper understanding of practitioners’ lived experience in applying STP. A storytelling training workshop was developed, in which participants create buyer personas, plan out a story architecture, and write a story narrative. Five field tests and corresponding focus groups were conducted with marketing practitioners to examine their experiences in working through the STP process and the value of storytelling as a strategic planning tool. The findings shed light on specific marketing planning challenges and reveal benefits of using storytelling to address such challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Storytelling
• story writing
• segmentation-targeting-positioning process
• STP process
• buyer personas

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.