Building a STORY BRAND

#book_review

Building a STORY BRAND by Donald Miller

I try to pick the point the point that's touching me personally.

Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

1. What do you offer?

2. How will it make my life better?

3. What do I need to do to buy it?

At StoryBrand we call this passing the grunt test. The critical question is this:

“Could a caveman look at you website and immediately grunt what you offer?”

When customers finally understand how you can help them live a wonderful story, your company will grow.

?? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS THE HERO, NOT YOUR BRAND.

Conserving financial resources. In order to survive and thrive, your customers may need to conserve resources. In simple terms, this means they may need to save money. If your brand can help them save money, you’ve tapped into a survival mechanism.

Conserving time. In developed countries, most of our customers have thankfully moved beyond the hunter gatherer stage of survival. They are familiar, then, with

the notion of opportunity costs.

Building social networks. If our brand can help us find community, we’ve tapped into yet another survival mechanism.

Gaining status. Luxury brands like Mercedes and Rolex don’t make much practical sense in terms of survival, right? In fact, spending lots of money buying a luxury car when

Accumulating resources. If the products and services you offer help people make money or accumulate much needed resources, that will quickly translate into a

person’s desire for survival. With more money, our customers will have more opportunity to secure many of the other survival resources they may need.

?? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE TWO: COMPANIES TEND TO SELL SOLUTIONS TO EXTERNAL PROBLEMS, BUT CUSTOMERS BUY SOLUTIONS TO INTERNAL PROBLEMS.

Every Story Needs a Villain

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.

? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE THREE: CUSTOMERS AREN’T LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HERO; THEY’RE LOOKING FOR A GUIDE.

Always position your customer as the hero and your brand as the guide. Always. If you don’t, you will die.

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.

There are four easy ways to add just the right amount of authority to our marketing.

1. Testimonials: Let others do the talking for you. If you have satisfied customers, place a few testimonials on your website. Testimonials give potential customers the gift of going second.?

2. Statistics: How many satisfied customers have you helped? How much money have you helped them save? By what percentage have their businesses grown since they started working with you?

3. Awards: If you’ve won a few awards for your work, feel free to include small logos or indications of those awards at the bottom of your page.

4. Logos: If you provide a business-to-business product or service, place logos of known businesses you’ve worked with in your marketing collateral.

? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FOUR: CUSTOMERS TRUST A GUIDE WHO HAS A PLAN

What fears do your customers have related to your?industry? What agreements could you make with them that would alleviate those fears?

?Do you share unique values with your customers?

?Can those values be spelled out in an agreement plan?

?? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FIVE: CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION.

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

?? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SIX: EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TRYING TO AVOID A TRAGIC ENDING.

? STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SEVEN: NEVER ASSUME PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BRAND CAN CHANGE THEIR LIVES. TELL THEM.

Everybody wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell people where we’re taking them, they’ll engage another brand. In the seventh part of the StoryBrand Framework, I’ll elaborate on what is perhaps the most important element of your messaging strategy: offering a vision for how great a customer’s life could be if they engage your products or services.

?Have you thought about who you want your customer to become? Participating in your customer’s transformation can give new life and meaning to your business. 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. Spend some time thinking about who you want your customers to become. How can you improve the way they see themselves? How can your brand participate in your customer’s transformational journey

WHEN YOU FEEL CONFUSED, CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE

your messages will be simple, relevant, and repeatable. And remember: simple, clear messages that are relevant to your customers result in sales.

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. If we don’t closely analyze each element of our customers’ story, they’ll sense we don’t care and move on to a competing brand that took the time to do the work.

When you define something your customer wants, the customer is invited to alter their story in your direction. If they see your brand as a trustworthy and reliable guide, they will likely engage.

OPEN A STORY GAP

In story terms, identifying a potential desire for your customer opens what’s sometimes called a story gap.

The reality is when we try to sell passively, we communicate a lack of belief in our product. When we don’t ask clearly for the sale, the customer senses weakness. They sense we’re asking for charity rather than to change their lives. Customers aren’t looking for brands that are filled with doubt and want affirmation; they’re looking for brands that have solutions to their problems.

Transitional calls to action come in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few ideas to create transitional calls to action of your own:

?? Free information: Create a white paper or free PDF educating customers about your field of expertise. This will position you as a guide in your customer’s story and create?reciprocity.?Educational videos, podcasts, webinars, and even live events are great transitional calls to action that on-ramp customers toward a purchase.

?? Testimonials: Creating a video or PDF including testimonials from happy clients creates a story map in the minds of potential customers. When they see others experience a successful ending to their story, they will want that same ending for themselves.

?? Samples: If you can give away free samples of your product, do it. Offering a customer the ability to test drive a car, taste your seasoning, sample your music, or read a few pages of your book are great ways to introduce potential customers to your products.

?? Free trial: Offering a limited-time free trial works as a?risk-removal policy that helps to on-ramp your customers. Once they try your product, they may not be able to live without it.

?? READY TO GET YOUR COMPANY ON MISSION?

A true mission isn’t a statement; it’s a way of living and being. A mission is more than token rituals that make momentary reference to the things your employees should care about. A mission is a story you reinforce through every department strategy, every operational detail, and every customer experience. That’s what it means to be a company on mission.

What are the five (almost free) things you can do to grow?your business?

1. Create a One-liner:

2. Create a Lead Generator and Collect E-mail Addresses.?

3. Create an Automated E-Mail Drip Campaign.

4. Collect and Tell Stories of Transformation.

5. Create a System That Generates Referrals.

Getting up every day to grow your company is difficult work. I know how it feels to lose sleep wondering how you’re going to make the bottom line so you don’t have to let anybody go. The StoryBrand Framework was created to reduce this stress. It was created so you would be heard in the marketplace, grow your business, and transform your customers’ lives. I’m grateful for the work you’re doing. Your work is important.

It’s true: if you confuse, you’ll lose. But if you clarify your message, customers will listen. Here’s to helping the good guys win. Because in a good story, they always do.

https://storybrand.com/