At the heart of every great drama is theme: a statement of claimed truth, validated emotionally by the universal human experience. Without theme there is no drama, only a vague hope that your efforts are leading somewhere. If your business marketing lacks a coherent, consistent theme - or if you don't know what it is - you may be finding it close to impossible to effectively market your business.

Creating A Thematic Premise

In dramatic presentation, a "premise" is simply a concise, clear statement of the theme in as few words as possible. Developing a focused premise for your marketing plan is the important first step to building and guiding your central sales message.

Start by taking a close look at what you offer, from a cause-and-effect perspective. What human truth does your business represent? What consequences await the customer who doesn't respect that truth? That claimed truth is your premise.

Imagine a company that provides energy efficiency and consulting services for enterprise-level corporate interests. Obviously, the premise is going to involve energy: the role it serves, its business value, the risks involved in not using energy wisely, the opportunities available in procuring energy intelligently - all important points supporting the value of what the company offers its customers. And what happens if the prospect doesn't respect that value? Money is wasted. Opportunities are lost. Decisions are hamstrung because procurement's ability to make decisions is curtailed by rapid fluctuations in the energy market.

So what is our company's premise?

"Intelligent energy procurement saves more than just money."

"We protect our customers from the business risks of wasteful energy management."

"Our energy services offer your business decision-making power without energy risk."

Take a good look at your business, what you offer, and who you offer it to. What's the truth of what you offer? What do you stand for? What do your customers know you for?

Write it out in a single clear sentence. That's your dramatic premise.

Developing Your Conflict

Life is conflict. There is never enough time, enough resources, enough energy, or enough will for us all to have everything we want. The limits of basic scarcity guarantee that humanity will always be motivated by conflict great and small. As a business marketer, your job is to determine the conflict that motivates your customers - and to provide the tools they need to resolve it.

Once you have a clear premise written, working out the conflict isn't hard. You have just made a clear, stated claim of truth; your business represents the affirmation of that truth. So what represents opposition/violation of your premise? Who or what stands against your business in proving your point to your customers?

Let's take just the first premise example from our fictional energy business:

"Intelligent energy procurement saves more than just money."

The antagonist here is obvious: stupid energy procurement practices. Why are those practices in place? Maybe lack of management planning is to blame. Perhaps the customer has worked with the wrong energy consultants in the past. Outmoded, anticompetitive procurement practices could be at fault. Once you know your antagonist, you have your conflict in hand.

Imagine your business as a brave knight, rushing boldly to slay an evil dragon, in order to prove the truth of your premise. In your case, what's the dragon?

Building Your Marketing Message

A conflict can't exist forever. The mission of your business is to provide a product or service that tilts the balance in the favor of your customers, proving your premise. Once you know your premise and central conflict, you should easily be able to deduce your central message.

Our energy business premise is, "Intelligent energy procurement saves more than just money."

Let's say that, after careful evaluation of our business, that we have decided to focus on outmoded and inappropriate procurement practices as our dragon. The next question becomes, what arsenal does our knight have available to slay it? How do we plan to prove our premise to our customers?

Maybe we offer energy procurement consulting. Or perhaps we offer customers the ability to outsource their energy procurement altogether. We could also focus even more specifically, aiming purely at technology solutions - better procurement software, more energy-friendly automated contracting practices, etc. The options are limited only by the nature of your business and the scope of your vision.

Once we have the central theme/premise, the essential conflict, the natures of both our white knight and dragon, and the means by which we will resolve the conflict for our customers, we have our marketing message. Now it's time to put it together:

"Intelligent energy procurement saves more than just money - and Energy Consulting Inc. delivers the expertise and advanced technology solutions that your enterprise level business needs to free itself from the cost and risk of wasteful energy procurement practices."

Wordy, yes - but it's a starting point and it tells your story. It's the drama of your business.

Now the rest of up to you. Let the show go on!