What Manufacturers Can Learn from Storytelling Legends—and Why It Works
For as long as people have been people, we’ve made sense of the world through stories.
Before textbooks, before technical manuals, we passed down wisdom in the form of characters and consequences. Folktales warned children not to stray too far from the village. Myths and legends taught early societies how to face danger, respect the gods, and navigate betrayal, fear, ambition, and hope.
Stories weren’t entertainment. They were survival guides.
And while the stakes may feel different in a business context—nobody’s getting turned to stone or eaten by a wolf—the same emotional mechanics are still at play. When your customer faces a buying decision, they're not just comparing features or price points. They're asking themselves a story question:
“If I choose this vendor, how does the story turn out?”
Is this the partner that helps them look smart? Hit their deadline? Impress their boss? Or is it the one that leads to delays, quality issues, and awkward debriefs in next quarter’s ops review?
Every decision your customer makes is a scene in a story.
The only question is—what role does your brand play?
That’s what this article is about.
When manufacturers learn to position their brand as the guide, not the hero, they begin to resonate on a much deeper level. They step into the emotional arc their buyers are already living—and they become the safe bet.
Let’s dig into how that works.
Brand positioning might not seem like it has much in common with literature, but stay with me.
When Kurt Vonnegut mapped out his now-famous “shapes of stories,” he was trying to show something profound: that the structure of a story—the emotional journey—matters just as much as what happens in it.
The same is true for your brand.
Because whether you mean to or not, your brand tells a story. Every website headline, every trade show booth, every line of copy on a capabilities sheet is part of that story. The only question is: is it a story your customer wants to be part of?
Let’s explore how manufacturers can borrow the structure of timeless storytelling to position their brands more powerfully—without needing to write a novel or hire a Hollywood scriptwriter.
Your Customer Is the Hero. You’re the Guide.
One of the biggest mistakes manufacturers make in their brand messaging is trying to play the hero.
They lead with “We’ve been around since 1972,” or “We’re ISO-certified and have a 60,000 sq. ft. facility.” And while those things are important, they don’t answer the only question your customer actually has:
Can you help me solve my problem?
In a compelling story, the hero isn’t the one with all the answers. The hero is the one facing a challenge, trying to succeed. That’s your customer.
Your job is to be the guide.
The Yoda to their Luke. The pit crew to their race car. The partner who helps them get the win.
When your brand message frames your customer as the central figure—and you as the team that helps them overcome obstacles—you build more trust, create more clarity, and make it easier for buyers to say yes.
The “Man in Hole” Story—and Why It Works
One of Vonnegut’s most famous story arcs is called “Man in Hole”. It goes like this:
- The character starts off fine
- Something goes wrong—they fall into a hole
- They struggle
- They find help
- They climb out of the hole
- They emerge better, stronger, or smarter
Now imagine your buyer as the one in the hole:
- Their product is failing durability testing
- Their supplier can’t hold tolerances
- Their quality team just flagged another delay
- Their boss is breathing down their neck
They’re not looking for a list of your capabilities.
They’re looking for a way out.
Your brand positioning should say:
“We’ve seen this before. We can help you climb out. And here’s how.”
This is what makes your messaging resonate. It aligns your company with the emotional journey your customer is already on.
Mapping the Buyer’s Arc to Your Brand Message
Let’s bring this down to the shop floor.
Imagine you’re a composites company. You form lightweight, high-strength components for aerospace and defense OEMs.
Your buyer—a program engineer at a Tier 1—is working on a tight deadline. They’re behind on deliverables. Their supplier just failed a fatigue test. And now they’re back at square one with procurement breathing down their neck.
Here’s the story that doesn’t help:
“We offer filament winding, layup, and autoclave curing across a 40,000 sq. ft. facility.”
Here’s the one that does:
“When failure isn’t an option, we help aerospace teams recover fast—with proven processes, deep material knowledge, and a track record of helping Tier 1s hit mission-critical milestones.”
See the difference?
You’re not the hero.
You’re the helper who shows up when the stakes are high.
Why Emotion Belongs in Manufacturing Messaging
Technical buyers are logical. They care about specs, standards, and certifications.
But they’re also human. They worry about delays, lost budget, blame, and burnout. They’re under pressure to be right, to protect the company, to avoid rework and recalls.
When your brand messaging speaks to that deeper emotional context—without being manipulative or fluffy—you build trust faster. You become relatable. Safe. Worth talking to.
And trust is the real currency in industrial sales.
How to Apply This to Your Own Brand
You don’t need to rewrite your website in iambic pentameter. You just need to reframe your messaging through a simple narrative lens:
-
Start with the customer’s problem
What’s the “hole” they’ve fallen into? -
Show empathy and expertise
How do you understand what that feels like? -
Offer a path forward
What have you done for others in this same situation? -
Clarify the outcome
What does success look like once they work with you?
This structure can shape:
- Your homepage headline
- Your email campaigns
- Your sales presentations
- Your case studies
- Even your trade show booth graphics
Because story isn’t just something we enjoy—it’s how we make sense of the world.
When Brand Positioning Follows an Emotional Arc, Buyers Stay With You
The goal isn’t to create drama. It’s to create clarity.
When you show your customer that you understand what they’re up against, and that you’ve helped others out of the same hole, you position your company as a guide worth trusting.
And when that trust is in place?
The conversation changes. The deal moves faster. The relationship gets stronger.
Your brand doesn’t need more buzzwords.
It needs to tell a better story.
Want help shaping a brand message your customers actually want to follow?
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The Right Horse helps manufacturers clarify their brand message using proven storytelling frameworks—so you show up as the trusted guide your customer’s been looking for.
