Donald Miller
Customers don’t generally care about your story; they care about their own. Your customer should be the hero of the story, not your brand. This is the secret every phenomenally successful business understands. (Location 256)
To get the most out of this book, I encourage you to do three things: 1. Read the book and understand the SB7 Framework. 2. Filter your message through the framework. 3. Clarify your message so more customers listen. (Location 262)
how many of them have read a single book about writing good sales copy? How many of them know how to clarify your message so customers listen? (Location 280)
The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things. And if we haven’t clarified our message, our customers won’t listen. If we pay a lot of money to a design agency without first clarifying our message, we might as well be holding a bullhorn up to a monkey. (Location 282)
Even if we have the best product in the marketplace, we’ll lose to an inferior product if our competitor’s offer is communicated more clearly. So what’s your message? Can you say it easily? Is it simple, relevant, and repeatable? Can your entire team repeat your company’s message in such a way that it is compelling? (Location 298)
How many sales are we missing out on because customers can’t figure out what our offer is within five seconds of visiting our website? (Location 302)
“Their marketing is too complicated. The brain doesn’t know how to process the information. The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest. Story helps because it is a sense-making mechanism. Essentially, story formulas put everything in order so the brain doesn’t have to work to understand what’s going on.” (Location 314)
Mistake Number One The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive. (Location 333)
Mistake Number Two The second mistake brands make is they cause their customers to burn too many calories in an effort to understand their offer. (Location 347)
The key is to make your company’s message about something that helps the customer survive and to do so in such a way that they can understand it without burning too many calories. (Location 357)
STORY TO THE RESCUE Mike agreed the most powerful tool we can use to organize information so people don’t have to burn very many calories is story. As he said, story is a sense-making device. (Location 359)
In a story, audiences must always know who the hero is, what the hero wants, who the hero has to defeat to get what they want, what tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win, and what wonderful thing will happen if they do. (Location 383)
In fact, at StoryBrand we have a mantra: “If you confuse, you’ll lose.” (Location 390)
What we often call marketing is really just clutter and confusion sprayed all over our websites, e-mails, and commercials. (Location 395)
What we think we are saying to our customers and what our customers actually hear are two different things. And customers make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear. (Location 413)
How many people are buying from our competition because they’ve communicated more clearly than we have? How long will we last if we keep talking about aspects of our products our customers don’t care about? (Location 423)
We are going to figure out your customers’ story and place ourselves right smack in the middle of it. (Location 433)
Transformation in his thinking happened after working with (and partially creating) the genius storytelling factory that is Pixar. When Jobs came back to Apple after being surrounded by professional storytellers, he realized story was everything. (Location 466)
They did this by (1) identifying what their customers wanted (to be seen and heard), (2) defining their customers’ challenge (that people didn’t recognize their hidden genius), and (3) offering their customers a tool they could use to express themselves (computers and smartphones). (Location 475)
People don’t buy the best products; they buy the products they can understand the fastest. Apple has inserted themselves into their customers’ story like no other technology company, and as a result, they’re not only the largest technology company, they’re in the top ten largest companies period. (Location 484)
Once you understand how story integrates with your brand message, you’ll be able to create communication pieces (and even a brand strategy) that engages more customers and grows your business. (Location 490)
Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: (Location 497)
be able to pause a movie and be unable to answer three questions: (Location 529)
Here’s the kicker: if these three questions can’t be answered within the first fifteen to twenty minutes, the story has already descended into noise and will almost certainly fail at the box office. (Location 535)
Just because a tagline sounds great or a picture on a website grabs the eye, that doesn’t mean it helps us enter into our customers’ story. In every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into confusion; (Location 539)
And they should be able to answer these questions within five seconds of looking at our website or marketing material: (Location 544)
If you were an aspirin company, would he be able to grunt, “You sell headache medicine, me feel better fast, me get it at Walgreens”? If not, you’re likely losing sales. (Location 552)
The difference? He highlighted the aspects of his course that would help parents survive and thrive (build stronger tribes, strengthen family connections, and connect more deeply with life’s greater meaning), and he did so in such a simple way (with fewer than three hundred words on his sales page) that people didn’t have to burn calories to figure out what was in it for them. Overnight he’d gone from a cluttered mess to the clear guide in his customers’ story. Today, Kyle has quit his day job and runs shultzphotoschool.com full-time. (Location 565)
Alfred Hitchcock defined a good story as “life with the dull parts taken out.” (Location 571)
So how do we come up with these messages? It’s simple. We use the same grid storytellers use in telling stories to map out the story of our customers, then we create clear and refined statements in the seven relevant categories of their lives to position ourselves as their guides. (Location 574)
Once you’ve finished the process, you’ll use your BrandScript to create all manner of improved marketing material, and you’ll be more clearly positioned in the marketplace. (Location 582)
In the next section of this book, I’ll dive deep into the elements of the SB7 Framework, showing you how each important category of messaging makes your brand inviting to customers. (Location 588)
STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS THE HERO, NOT YOUR BRAND. (Location 592)
Communication expert Nancy Duarte has done extensive research on how to create powerful presentations. The strategy she recommends to her clients is simple: when giving a speech, position yourself as Yoda and your audience as Luke Skywalker. (Location 597)
Once we identify who our customer is, we have to ask ourselves what they want as it relates to our brand. (Location 601)
STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE TWO: COMPANIES TEND TO SELL SOLUTIONS TO EXTERNAL PROBLEMS, BUT CUSTOMERS BUY SOLUTIONS TO INTERNAL PROBLEMS. (Location 606)
Customers are attracted to us for the same reason heroes are pulled into stories: they want to solve a problem that has, in big or small ways, disrupted their peaceful life. (Location 611)
By talking about the problems our customers face, we deepen their interest in everything we offer. (Location 616)
STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE THREE: CUSTOMERS AREN’T LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HERO; THEY’RE LOOKING FOR A GUIDE. (Location 625)
It’s no accident that guides show up in almost every movie. Nearly every human being is looking for a guide (or guides) to help them win the day. Brands that position themselves as heroes unknowingly compete with their potential customers. (Location 635)
When a brand comes along and positions itself as the hero, customers remain distant. They hear us talking about how great our business is and start wondering if we’re competing with them for scarce resources. Their subconscious thought pattern goes like this: Oh, this is another hero, like me. I wish I had more time to hear their story, but right now I’m busy looking for a guide. (Location 640)
What customers are looking for, then, is a clear path we’ve laid out that takes away any confusion they might have about how to do business with us. (Location 650)
STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FIVE: CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION. (Location 658)
In the eighties, the fast-food chain Wendy’s effectively asked America, “Where’s the beef?” The implication was that their competitors weren’t using enough meat. (Location 682)
You can create your StoryBrand BrandScript for free at mystorybrand.com, and it looks like this: (Location 709)
The first project I’d like you to BrandScript is the one that represents your overall brand. Next you’ll want to create a BrandScript for each division of your company, and after that, each product within each division. (Location 713)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 721)
Thousands of companies shut their doors every year, not because they don’t have a great product, but because potential customers can’t figure out how that product will make their lives better. (Location 739)
StoryBrand Principle One: The customer is the hero, not your brand. (Location 756)
Before knowing what the hero wants, the audience has little interest in her fate. This is why screenwriters have to define the character’s ambition within the first nine or so minutes of a film getting started. (Location 760)
hours. As a brand it’s important to define something your customer wants, because as soon as we define something our customer wants, we posit a story question in the mind of the customer: Can this brand really help me get what I want? (Location 762)
What their customers wanted most, actually, was a luxurious, restful experience. After StoryBranding their resort, they changed the text on their website from long stories about themselves (which positioned them as the hero) to images of a warm bath, plush towels and robes, someone getting a massage in the spa, and a looping clip of a back-porch rocking chair against the backdrop of trees blowing in the wind along a golf course. They replaced the text on their main page with short and powerful copy: “Find the luxury and rest you’ve been looking for.” (Location 768)
Defining exactly what their customer wanted brought clarity and camaraderie to the staff. Each member of the staff then understood his or her role in the story they were inviting their customers to engage in. (Location 773)
When we identify something our customer wants and communicate it simply, the story we are inviting them into is given definition and direction. Here are some more examples from companies we’ve worked with: (Location 779)
Defining something our customer wants and featuring it in our marketing materials will open a story gap. (Location 806)
“Wait, we provide about twenty-seven things our customers want. Can’t we mention all of them?” The answer is no, at least not yet. (Location 810)
As you create a BrandScript for your overall brand, focus on one simple desire and then, as you create campaigns for each division and maybe even each product, you can identify more things your customer wants in the subplots of your overall brand. (Location 815)
Once a brand defines what their customer wants, they are often guilty of making the second mistake—what they’ve defined isn’t related to the customer’s sense of survival. In their desire to cast a wide net, they define a blob of a desire that is so vague, potential customers can’t figure out why they need it in the first place. (Location 823)
He was making potential customers burn too many mental calories to figure out how he was going to help them survive and thrive. I recommended he make an edit to his message. Instead of saying, “Inhale knowledge, exhale success,” simply say, “Helping you become everyone’s favorite leader.” (Location 830)
Defining something the customer wants and connecting it with the customer’s desire for survival opened an enticing story gap. What Does Survival Mean? When I say survival, I’m talking about that primitive desire we all have to be safe, healthy, happy, and strong. (Location 837)
So what kinds of desires fit under this definition? Well, too many to count, but consider these examples: (Location 841)
When we’re motivating a team, convincing shareholders, or engaging customers, we must define a desire our customers have or we will have failed to open a story gap and our audience will ignore us. Remember, customers want to know where you can take them. Unless you identify something they want, it’s doubtful they will listen. Imagine your customer is a hitchhiker. You pull over to give him a ride, and the one burning question on his mind is simply Where are you going? But as he approaches, you roll down the window and start talking about your mission statement, or how your grandfather built this car with his bare hands, or how your road-trip playlist is all 1980s alternative. This person doesn’t care. All he wants to do is get to San Francisco with a flower in his hair! (Location 880)
If you randomly asked a potential customer where your brand wants to take them, would they be able to answer? Would they be able to repeat back to you exactly what your brand offers? If not, your brand is suffering the cost of confusion. You can fix this. Define a desire for your customer, and the story you’re inviting customers into will have a powerful hook. CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 888)
Choose something your customer wants and fill in the “character” module of your StoryBrand BrandScript. (Location 896)
Once you fill out the first module of your StoryBrand BrandScript, you’ll be on your way to inviting customers into an incredible story. At this point, they’re interested in you and what you offer. But what can we do to entice them even further into a story? (Location 899)
StoryBrand Principle Two: Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but customers buy solutions to internal problems. Now that you’ve entered into your customers’ story, how do you increase their interest in your brand? You borrow another play from the storyteller’s playbook; you start talking about the problems your customers face. Identifying our customers’ problems deepens their interest in the story we are telling. Every story is about somebody who is trying to solve a problem, so when we identify our customers’ problems, they recognize us as a brand that understands them. (Location 908)
It bears repeating. The more we talk about the problems our customers experience, the more interest they will have in our brand. (Location 921)
If we want our customers’ ears to perk up when we talk about our products and services, we should position those products and services as weapons they can use to defeat a villain. And the villain should be dastardly. The villain doesn’t have to be a person, but without question it should have personified characteristics. If we’re selling time-management software, for instance, we might vilify the idea of distractions. Could we offer our product as a weapon customers could use to stop distractions in their tracks? Sounds kind of dramatic, right? And yet distractions are what’s deluding our customers’ potential, wrecking their families, stealing their sanity, and costing them enormous amounts of time and money. Distractions, then, make for great little villains. (Location 932)
Here are four characteristics that make for a good villain on your StoryBrand BrandScript: (Location 945)
Is there a villain in your customers’ story? Of course there is. What is the chief source of conflict that your products and services defeat? Talk about this villain. The more you talk about the villain, the more people will want a tool to help them defeat the villain. (Location 953)
The three levels of problems heroes (and customers) face are External Problems Internal Problems Philosophical Problems In a story, a villain initiates an external problem that causes the character to experience an internal frustration that is, quite simply, philosophically wrong. These are also the three levels of problems a customer hopes to solve when they buy a product. (Location 961)
But what does the existence of an external problem in a story have to do with branding? Well, most of us are in the business of solving external problems. We provide insurance or clothes or soccer balls. If we own a restaurant, the external problem we solve is hunger. The external problem a plumber fixes might be a leaky pipe, just like a pest-control guy might solve the external problem of termites in the attic. Brainstorming what external problems you solve will be the easiest part of creating your StoryBrand BrandScript. It’s usually pretty obvious. (Location 977)
Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but people buy solutions to internal problems. (Location 985)
In almost every story the hero struggles with the same question: Do I have what it takes? This question can make them feel frustrated, incompetent, and confused. The sense of self-doubt is what makes a movie about baseball relatable to a soccer mom and a romantic comedy relatable to a truck-driving husband. (Location 991)
This is where most brands make a critical mistake. By assuming our customers only want to resolve external problems, we fail to engage the deeper story they’re actually living. The truth is, the external problems we solve are causing frustrations in their lives and, just like in a story, it’s those frustrations that are motivating them to call you. (Location 995)
Apple started selling more than computers; they started selling a resolution to the problem of customer intimidation. Understanding their customers’ internal problem is one of the reasons Apple achieved such growth and created passionate brand evangelists. The only reason our customers buy from us is because the external problem we solve is frustrating them in some way. If we can identify that frustration, put it into words, and offer to resolve it along with the original external problem, something special happens. We bond with our customers because we’ve positioned ourselves more deeply into their narrative. For example, if we own a house-painting business, our customer’s external problem might be an unsightly home. The internal problem, however, may involve a sense of embarrassment about having the ugliest home on the street. Knowing this, our marketing could offer “Paint That Will Make Your Neighbors Jealous.” (Location 1003)
Speaking of car companies, CarMax is a chain of used car dealerships that aims most of their marketing collateral at the internal problem a customer experiences when looking for a used car, namely having to interact with a used-car salesman. (Location 1020)
After creating their BrandScript, a global consulting firm we worked with began to talk about how everybody deserved to work for a great manager. A pet-store owner who came to us hung a sign in her window that said, “Pets deserve to eat healthy food too.” A fun-loving travel agent came to us and adopted the seasonal line “Because this summer should be remembered forever.” (Location 1060)
If we really want our business to grow, we should position our products as the resolution to an external, internal, and philosophical problem and frame the “Buy Now” button as the action a customer must take to create closure in their story. (Location 1080)
Let’s look at how some successful brands we all know about have positioned the purchasing of their products as the resolution to external, internal, and philosophical problems: (Location 1082)
WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU HELPING YOUR CUSTOMER OVERCOME? The idea of identifying a villain that is causing an internal, external, and philosophical problem may seem daunting, but it will come to you if you commit to working it out in a brainstorming session. But be careful. A large problem most of our clients face is they want to include three villains and seven external problems and four internal problems, and so on. (Location 1099)
Is there a single villain your brand stands against? And what external problem is that villain causing? How is that external problem making your customers feel? And why is it unjust for people to have to suffer at the hands of this villain? These are the four questions we want to answer in the problem section of our StoryBrand BrandScript, and when we do, the story our brand is telling will take shape because our hero, the customer who wants something, is being challenged. Will they win? Will their problems be resolved? (Location 1104)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1109)
StoryBrand Principle Three: Customers aren’t looking for another hero; they’re looking for a guide. (Location 1124)
Storytellers use the guide character to encourage the hero and equip them to win the day. (Location 1149)
The fatal mistake some brands make, especially young brands who believe they need to prove themselves, is they position themselves as the hero in the story instead of the guide. As I’ve already mentioned, a brand that positions itself as the hero is destined to lose. (Location 1154)
The larger point here is simple: the day we stop losing sleep over the success of our business and start losing sleep over the success of our customers is the day our business will start growing again. (Location 1178)
The two things a brand must communicate to position themselves as the guide are Empathy Authority (Location 1196)
Oprah Winfrey, an undeniably successful guide to millions, once explained the three things every human being wants most are to be seen, heard, and understood. This is the essence of empathy. Empathetic statements start with words like, “We understand how it feels to . . .” or “Nobody should have to experience . . .” or “Like you, we are frustrated by . . .” or, in the case of one Toyota commercial inviting Toyota owners to engage their local Toyota service center, simply, “We care about your Toyota.” (Location 1211)
Expressing empathy isn’t difficult. Once we’ve identified our customers’ internal problems, we simply need to let them know we understand and would like to help them find a resolution. Scan your marketing material and make sure you’ve told your customers that you care. Customers won’t know you care until you tell them. (Location 1216)
Remember, the human brain likes to conserve calories, and so when a customer realizes they have a lot in common with a brand, they fill in all the unknown nuances with trust. (Location 1221)
When I talk about authority, I’m really talking about competence. When looking for a guide, a hero trusts somebody who knows what they’re doing. The guide doesn’t have to be perfect, but the guide needs to have serious experience helping other heroes win the day. So how do we express our authority without bragging about ourselves so much that we step into the role of hero? As customers view our websites, commercials, or e-mails, they simply want to check off a box in the back of their minds that gives them confidence in our ability to help them. There are four easy ways to add just the right amount of authority to our marketing. (Location 1234)
A simple statement like the e-mail marketing platform Infusionsoft’s “125,000 users trust [our] award-winning automation software”6 is all your potential customer needs. (Location 1247)
Take a minute to scan your marketing material and ask yourself whether you’ve demonstrated competency. Remember, you don’t have to brag about yourself. Testimonials, logos, awards, and statistics will allow customers to check the “trust” box in the back of their minds. (Location 1256)
Cuddy distilled her research into two questions people subconsciously ask when meeting someone new: “Can I trust this person?” and “Can I respect this person?” (Location 1264)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1278)
StoryBrand Principle Four: Customers trust a guide who has a plan. (Location 1289)
When a customer places an order, they’re essentially saying, “I believe you can help me solve my problem, and I believe it so much I’m willing to put skin in the game. I’m willing to part with my hard-earned dollars.” (Location 1295)
After potential customers listen to us give a keynote or visit our webpage or read an e-mail blast we’ve sent, they’re all wondering the same thing: What do you want me to do now? (Location 1319)
The fact that we want them to place an order is not enough information to motivate them. If we’re selling a storage system a customer can install in their garage, they hover over that “Buy Now” button subconsciously wondering whether it will work for them, how hard it will be to install, and whether it will sit unopened in the garage in boxes like the last thing they bought. But when we spell out how easy this whole thing is and let them know they can get started in three easy steps, they are more likely to place an order. We must tell them to . . . 1. Measure your space. 2. Order the items that fit. 3. Install it in minutes using basic tools. Even though these steps may seem obvious, they aren’t obvious to our customers. (Location 1322)
THE PROCESS PLAN At StoryBrand we’ve identified two plans you can use to effectively encourage customers to do business with you. The first kind of plan, and the one we recommend every one of our clients employ, is a process plan. A process plan can describe the steps a customer needs to take to buy our product, or the steps the customer needs to take to use our product after they buy it, or a mixture of both. For instance, if you’re selling an expensive product, you might break down the steps like this: (Location 1332)
So far I’ve mostly talked about stones we can place in the creek that lead our customers to make a purchase, but another kind of process plan would be the post-purchase process plan. A post-purchase process plan is best used when our customers might have problems imagining how they would use our product after they buy it. For instance, with a complicated piece of software, we might want to spell out the steps or even the phases a customer would take after they make the purchase: (Location 1343)
We get frequent questions about how many steps a process plan should have. The answer varies, of course, but we recommend at least three and no more than six. If (Location 1359)
CarMax rarely advertises the solution to their customers’ external problems, that is, the need for a used car. Instead, they focus on their customers’ internal problem, the fear of interacting with a used-car dealer, and they alleviate this fear with an agreement plan. (Location 1374)
The best way to arrive at an agreement plan is to list all the things your customer might be concerned about as it relates to your product or service and then counter that list with agreements that will alleviate their fears. (Location 1386)
WHAT’S THE PLAN CALLED? Once you create your process or agreement plan (or both), consider giving them a title that will increase the perceived value of your product or service. For instance, your process plan might be called the “easy installation plan” or the “world’s best night’s sleep plan.” Your agreement plan might be titled the “customer satisfaction agreement” or even “our quality guarantee.” (Location 1390)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1400)
StoryBrand Principle Five: Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action. (Location 1415)
Your customers are bombarded with more than three thousand commercial messages per day, and unless we are bold in our calls to action, we will be ignored. (Location 1431)
He’s made millions simply buying companies, creating stronger calls to action, and then selling the company after their revenue increases. One of the biggest hindrances to business success is that we think customers can read our minds. (Location 1437)
There should be a “Buy Now” button in the top right corner of your website, and it shouldn’t be cluttered with a bunch of other buttons. The same call to action should be repeated above the fold and in the center of your website, and again and again as people scroll down the page. (Location 1440)
Two Kinds of Calls to Action At StoryBrand we recommend two kinds of calls to action: direct calls to action and transitional calls to action. They work like two phases of a relationship. (Location 1466)
Direct calls to action include requests like “buy now,” “schedule an appointment,” or “call today.” A direct call to action is something that leads to a sale, or at least is the first step down a path that leads to a sale. Transitional calls to action, however, contain less risk and usually offer a customer something for free. Transitional calls to action can be used to “on-ramp” potential customers to an eventual purchase. Inviting people to watch a webinar or download a PDF are good examples of transitional calls to action. (Location 1472)
The other company’s site wasn’t nearly as beautiful, but it dared to be clear. “If you’re worried about a presentation, we can help you hit a grand slam.” The truth is I was worried, and they spoke to my internal fear. They also painted a picture of a climactic scene: to hit a grand slam. Then they asked me out: they offered a PDF called “5 Things Great Presenters Get Right,” and I was quite curious. I downloaded the PDF and read it in a few minutes. Their transitional call to action earned my trust and positioned them as the guide in my story. They had authority, it seemed. (Location 1498)
Examples of direct calls to action are • Order now • Call today • Schedule an appointment • Register today • Buy now (Location 1511)
Recognizing that most of our clients were using the StoryBrand Framework to fix their websites, we released a free PDF called “5 Things Your Website Should Include,” and thousands of people downloaded it. At the back of the PDF we placed an ad for our StoryBrand Marketing Workshop. In the next twelve months, we doubled revenue without spending a dollar on marketing. A good transitional call to action can do three powerful things for your brand: (Location 1522)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO YOUR CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1572)
StoryBrand Principle Six: Every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending. (Location 1582)
Brands that don’t warn their customers about what could happen if they don’t buy their products fail to answer the “so what” question every customer is secretly asking. (Location 1598)
Blog subjects, e-mail content, and bullet points on our website can all include elements of potential failure to give our customers a sense of urgency when it comes to our products and services. (Location 1622)
WHAT’S THERE TO LOSE? As it relates to our marketing, the obvious question is: What will the customer lose if they don’t buy our products? (Location 1624)
So how do we use messages from the failure category in our marketing? In Dominic Infante, Andrew Rancer, and Deanna Womack’s book Building Communication Theory, they propose a four-step process called a “fear appeal.” (Location 1643)
Essentially, Infante, Rancer, and Womack present a soft way of agitating a fear and then highlight a path that would return readers or listeners to peace and stability. (Location 1655)
What negative consequences are you helping customers avoid? Could customers lose money? Are there health risks if they avoid your services? What about opportunity costs? Could they make or save more money with you than they can with a competitor? Could their quality of life decline if they pass you by? What’s the cost of not doing business with you? If you’re a financial advisor, for example, the list of what you’re helping customers avoid might look like this: (Location 1665)
Here are a few examples of what StoryBrand clients are helping their customers avoid: (Location 1678)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1698)
StoryBrand Principle Seven: Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them. (Location 1707)
Where is your brand taking people? Are you taking them to financial security? To the day when they’ll move into their dream home? To a fun weekend with friends? (Location 1711)
THE ENDING SHOULD BE SPECIFIC AND CLEAR One of the problems we run into with StoryBrand clients is the vision they paint for their customer’s future is too fuzzy. (Location 1723)
In a simple grid, Ryan allows us to see how our customers’ lives will look after they engage us, how they will feel, what their average day will look like, and what kind of new status they will enjoy. (Location 1734)
The three dominant ways storytellers end a story is by allowing the hero to (Location 1751)
Let’s explore the three desires more closely: (Location 1759)
So how can our brand offer status? There are many ways: (Location 1770)
So what are some of the ways we can offer external help for customers looking to become complete or whole? Here are a few examples: (Location 1795)
are all about heroes who face great odds in their journey to prove themselves. (Location 1811)
human: the desire for self-acceptance. How can a brand offer a sense of ultimate self-realization or self-acceptance? Here are a few ideas: (Location 1824)
KEEP IT SIMPLE Offering to close a story loop is much more simple than you think. Even the inclusion of smiley, happy people on your website is a strong way to offer the closing of a story loop. People want to be happy, and those images promise your product will deliver. (Location 1844)
What problem are you resolving in your customer’s life, and what does that resolution look like? Stick to basic answers because basic answers really do work. Then, when you get good, start diving deeper into the levels of problems your brand resolves. (Location 1849)
CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE SO CUSTOMERS LISTEN (Location 1854)
SMART BRANDS DEFINE AN ASPIRIATIONAL IDENTITY (Location 1888)
The best way to identify an aspirational identity that our customers may be attracted to is to consider how they want their friends to talk about them. (Location 1924)
GREAT BRANDS OBSESS ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATION OF THEIR CUSTOMERS (Location 1956)
After the climactic scene (the debt-free scream), the guide comes back to affirm the transformation of the hero. (Location 1958)
The audience needs to be told very clearly how far the hero has come, especially since the hero usually struggles with crippling doubt right up until the end and they don’t even realize how much they have changed. A hero needs somebody else to step into the story to tell them they’re different, they’re better. That somebody is the guide. That somebody is you. (Location 1963)
IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION In the foundational module of your StoryBrand BrandScript, we’ve included a section that will allow you to define an identity transformation your customer may experience as they relate to your brand. Who does your customer want to become as they relate to your products and services? (Location 1970)
EXAMPLES OF IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION (Location 1982)
When your team realizes that they sell more than products, that they guide people toward a stronger belief in themselves, then their work will have greater meaning. (Location 1993)
The BrandScript you’ve put together has to show up on websites, in e-mail campaigns, elevator pitches, and sales scripts. You must edit existing marketing materials and create new and better materials, then get those materials in the hands of potential customers. (Location 2013)
When they get to our website, their “hopes need to be confirmed,” and they need to be convinced we have a solution to their problem. In short, we need a website that passes the grunt test and converts browsers into buyers. (Location 2025)
The customer simply needs to know that you have something they want and you can be trusted to deliver whatever that is. (Location 2032)
THE FIVE THINGS YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD INCLUDE (Location 2037)
BINGO! Betsy said it. She said the very words that needed to be printed above the fold on their website: (Location 2055)
clutter. I recently went to the website for Squarespace and it simply said, “We Help You Make Beautiful Websites.” Perfect. (Location 2062)
Above the fold, make sure the images and text you use meet one of the following criteria: (Location 2065)
Take a look at your website and make sure it’s obvious what you can offer a customer. (Location 2078)
That’s all nice and sweet, but J. K. Rowling didn’t start her first Harry Potter novel with “My name is J. K. Rowling and for a long time I’ve wanted to write a book . . (Location 2080)
There are two main places we want to place a direct call to action. The first is at the top right of our website and the second is in the center of the screen, above the fold. Your customer’s eye moves quickly in a Z pattern across your website, (Location 2089)
For best results the “Buy Now” buttons should be a different color from any other button on the site (preferably brighter so it stands out), and both buttons should look exactly the same. I know this sounds like overkill, but remember, people don’t read websites, they scan them. (Location 2094)
We believe images of smiling, happy people who have had a pleasurable experience (closed an open story loop) by engaging your brand should be featured on your website. (Location 2105)
Above the fold on their website, we recommended the text “The Key to Success Is a Customized Plan” over an image of a facilitator mapping out a plan on a whiteboard for a satisfied client. As potential customers scrolled down the page, they would see two sections to choose from, personal life plans and corporate strategy plans. (Location 2120)
People don’t read websites anymore; they scan them. If there is a paragraph above the fold on your website, it’s being passed over, I promise. (Location 2130)
Some of the most effective websites I’ve reviewed have used ten sentences or less on the entire page. (Location 2139)
As an experiment, let’s see if you can cut half the words out of your website. Can you replace some of your text with images? Can you reduce whole paragraphs into three or four bullet points? Can you summarize sentences into bite-sized soundbites? If so, make those changes soon. The rule is this: the fewer words you use, the more likely it is that people will read them. (Location 2143)
Your BrandScript can also be leveraged to transform employee engagement. And that has enormous implications for your company culture. (Location 2157)