Some marketing content stops people mid-scroll. They read every word and remember it weeks later. Other content, no matter how well-researched or valuable, gets scrolled past without a second glance. The difference comes down to turning your marketing into storytelling by taking ordinary information and shaping it into a narrative that people actually connect with and ultimately act on.
So, where do you learn to create that kind of connection? There’s a group of people who have perfected this exact skill. Every night, they step on stage with nothing but their words and have to make a room full of strangers connect with a story in seconds.
Comedians.
We sat down with comedian, copywriter, and brand strategist Mimi von Schack (who just appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Wells Fargo) on “Marketing, Demystified The Podcast” to learn what storytelling principles comedians have mastered that most marketers miss. What she shared wasn’t about how to be funny. It was about understanding the structure that makes any story memorable and how to use it in your marketing content.
The Five Core Principles of Storytelling in Marketing
Here are the five core principles that make storytelling work, whether you’re writing a sketch or a LinkedIn post.
Storytelling Principle 1: Three Beats That Heighten
Think about the classic SNL cowbell sketch. Will Ferrell plays a cowbell during a professional recording session. Chris Parnell is clearly annoyed. So what does Will do? He plays it again. Louder. Chris Parnell gets more upset. He plays it AGAIN. Even louder, right in Chris’s face.
We can almost anticipate where it’s going, but we don’t know exactly how ridiculous he’ll take it. That combination of anticipation and escalation is what makes it stick in your memory years later.
What makes this work is a storytelling structure comedians call “three beats that heighten.”
Beat 1: Establish the premise fast. (He plays the cowbell. We immediately get it’s annoying.)
Beat 2: Heighten it. (He does it AGAIN, louder.)
Beat 3: Heighten it MORE. (He does it AGAIN, even more obnoxiously.)
Each beat escalates one core idea.
Most marketing sets up a problem and jumps straight to the solution, but the storytelling upgrade is in the escalation. Instead of introducing a point and resolving it immediately, sit in it. Build it. Push the same core idea further with each beat. This might look like starting with the surface-level reality, expanding the consequence, then revealing the deeper cost.
That’s what makes people feel something, and when people feel the weight of the problem (or the relief of the solution), they remember you.
Storytelling Principle 2: Make Your Marketing Ruthlessly Specific
In comedy, specificity creates “laughs of recognition.” Sometimes we laugh not because something is absurd, but because it’s so accurate it’s almost uncomfortable.
There is an improv exercise that demonstrates this. If the prompt is “airport,” you don’t just say “I’m at the airport.” You have to ask: WHERE in the airport?
Are you in the security line, taking off your shoes? In the bathroom stall, trying to figure out where to hang all your bags? Sitting at the airport, Chili’s, wondering if a margarita at 9 am is acceptable?
Each of those creates a different, specific picture. That specificity is what makes it memorable. The same principle applies to your marketing content. Your product solves a problem, but what does experiencing that problem actually LOOK like?
Here are two examples of the same customer pain point.
Generic: “Our software streamlines long reporting processes.”
Specific: “It’s 4pm on Friday. You’re still pulling reports from five different tools, copying numbers into Excel, and double-checking math. Your boss needs it by EOD. There’s a better way.”
Those micro-moments of frustration? That’s where your stories live. That’s when your audience stops scrolling.
Storytelling Principle 3: Keep Your Marketing Concise
“Brevity is the soul of wit,” according to Shakespeare. If he were around today, he’d probably say the same thing about marketing copy.
Comedians obsess over this because stage time is limited and attention spans are shorter. If a word doesn’t move the story forward or set up the payoff, it’s dead weight.
Marketers should obsess over it for the same reason. Your audience sees thousands of marketing messages every day. They’re scrolling fast. You have seconds to earn their attention. Your marketing should be clear and concise. Get to the point. Tell the story. Deliver value. Then stop.
Remember: you don’t need to obsess over wordcount. It’s about making every word earn its place. A 2,000-word article can respect brevity if every sentence matters. A 10-word headline can be bloated if half the words are filler.
Storytelling Principle 4: Play to the Top of Their Intelligence
In comedy, there’s a golden rule: Play to the top of your audience’s intelligence. The comedians who talk down to their audience or over-explain their bits? They bomb. The ones who trust their audience to keep up? They build loyal followings.
“Audiences are savvy,” Mimi explains. “They don’t miss a beat. They clock everything. Media literacy for the average consumer is through the roof.”
Your marketing audience is no different. They see marketing everywhere, all day, every day. They know when they’re being manipulated, when they’re being talked down to, and when something’s being over-explained to them. So stop over-explaining and trust them to connect the dots.
Keep in mind, though, that playing to their intelligence isn’t a license to write over their heads. The sharpest comedians build their best bits from plain, everyday language. Your marketing should do the same.
Aim for something close to an eighth grade reading level, not because your audience can’t handle more, but because clear, fast copy respects their time as much as trusting their intelligence respects their savvy.
Respect breeds trust, and trust is the foundation you need to connect with your audience.
Storytelling Principle 5: Defining Your Target Audience (And Let Everyone Else Go)
If you hate country music, you probably wouldn’t buy a ticket to a country music concert just to stand in the crowd and yell, “play something else!”
Comedians understand this. Their act isn’t for everyone, and they don’t pretend it is. A comedian who does absurdist humor knows they’ll lose the crowd that wants observational stand-up. Because trying to appeal to both audiences means connecting with neither.
The same storytelling principle applies in marketing. When you try to speak to everyone at once, you abandon everything that makes storytelling work. Specificity gets lost. Recognition disappears. The message becomes so broad that nobody feels like you’re talking directly to them.
That’s why defining your target audience ahead of time is essential.
If you’re trying to speak to busy executives, early-career marketers, and enterprise decision-makers all in the same piece of content, you won’t connect authentically with any of them. They’re having completely different experiences.
Pick your audience. Get ruthlessly specific about their experience. Let everyone else scroll past. That’s strategic storytelling.
How To Start Using Storytelling in Marketing
Comedians have spent decades perfecting these principles because their livelihood depends on it. Every night, they either connect with a room full of strangers or they bomb. That feedback loop taught them what actually works.
The same principles apply to your marketing content.
Pick one principle and try it. Get ruthlessly specific about your customer’s experience. Build your next email in three escalating beats instead of problem-solution-goodbye. Cut every line that doesn’t earn its place. Write with your audience in mind, and let everyone else scroll past. Trust your audience to be smart enough to connect the dots without you holding their hand.
The goal isn’t to make anyone laugh out loud. Just focus on writing content for your audience that makes them stop, recognize themselves in your story, and remember you for it. That’s storytelling in marketing.
Great storytelling gets attention. Turning that attention into pipeline takes a full system.