StoryBrand 7-Part Framework: The Complete Overview (With Examples)

If you’re having trouble with your marketing – prospects aren’t listening, sales are down, this blog post is for you. We’re going over the StoryBrand Framework, which will help you get people to listen to your message and close more deals – using the power of story.

What Is StoryBrand

The StoryBrand Framework?is a messaging tool designed to improve your business' marketing strategy by clarifying your message and making it more customer-centric. The framework was created by Donald Miller, the author of the book Building a StoryBrand. In the book, Miller outlines a 7-step process for creating a messaging strategy that will quickly resonate with customers.

The StoryBrand Framework is based on the idea of the?"hero's journey,"?which is a narrative structure that has been used in stories for centuries. In the hero's journey, the protagonist (in this case, the customer) is positioned as the hero. They have a problem to solve and must overcome obstacles to reach their goal. And spoiler – your company is going to guide them to success.

The StoryBrand Framework helps businesses tell their story in a relatable and persuasive way to customers. By using the framework, businesses can create messaging that is clear, customer-focused, and likely to lead to conversions.

Does StoryBrand Work?

The idea behind Storybrand is to focus your message on your customer, speak their language, and do it in a stupid simple way. Simplicity is key here. The more simple your explanation – the faster your customer will understand.

"If you confuse, you lose" – Donald Miller

When most people get into marketing for the first time they want to plan some elaborate campaign that seems exciting and clever. But when we're competing with an endless amount of advertising messages every day – the faster someone understands what you're saying and how your product can help them, the faster you can convert them into a customer. Don't make someone solve a puzzle to figure out what you're trying to sell.

In theory, this makes sense. If you're not following the StoryBrand methodology, confusing your customers, and speaking a totally different language,?of course you'll be fighting an uphill battle to make sales.

But does following Storybrand, in reality, allow you to convert more customers and rake in some fat cash?

Storybrand has worked with some huge brands out there – Intel, Charity Water, and Chick-fil-A are just a few. And personally, I've helped over 50 businesses transform their message with Storybrand and when it's implemented correctly there are some huge positive shifts.

So yeah, it works.

The StoryBrand 7-Part Framework

So at its core, Storybrand is basically just a framework that you can work through to clarify your message and connect with your customers. There are 7 (really 8) steps to work through, and we'll give a quick overview of these and also link some more resources if you'd like to dive deeper.

Important Note: The main thing to keep in mind going forward is that Storybrand is intended to shift your message onto your customer. We're going to make the customer the hero of your company's story. You get to be the Gandalf to their Frodo – guiding them towards success. Generally, people only care about themselves and their problems – so if we talk about?their?problems and tell them that we can solve them, they are much more likely to listen.

To summarize: You: Gandalf, Obi-Wan, Doc Brown Your Customer: Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Marty McFly

Step 0 – The Aspirational Identity

Before we get into crafting your customer's journey – we need to map out where they're going personally– who they're going to be. We get to decide their aspirational identity.

What this means is we get to pinpoint who they are going to before and after their "journey" – before and after they use their product. People only buy things to make their lives better, so it's best we talk about where they are now and show them where they could be with your product.

Are they going from a frustrated homeowner to the king of the neighborhood? Are they going from a marketing novice to a marketing ninja?

Everyone likes a story of transformation. Decide who your customer is going to be after they use your product/service.

You'll use this to show them how great their life will be after they become your customer.

Step 1 – A Character

Now that we've decided where the overall story is going – let's get into the actual meat of the story.

In this step, we'll?define what your customer wants?as it pertains to your product or service. A lot of times, this is basically just what you offer.

Let's say you're a Lawn Care Company – your customers want a clean and tidy yard that's going to wow their neighbors.

Or let's say you're a Tax Accountant, your customers want a stress-free tax season (and maybe some money in the bank when it's all said and done).

So, step one: decide what your customers want when it comes to your product or service.

Step 2 – Has a Problem

A story doesn't happen unless there's a problem.

Frodo doesn't go anywhere until the ring shows up. Luke Skywalker doesn't join the rebellion until the Empire comes uproots his life.

In this step, determine what's in the way of your customers getting what they want?

Pro Tip: Always talk about your customer's problems. When you stop talking about their problems, they stop listening.

If you're the Lawn Care Company – Your customers are saying I want a beautiful yard, but my yard is a huge mess.

If you're the Tax Accountant – I want a stress-free tax season, but taxes are complicated and stressful.

To give you more talking points, there are a few layers to your customer's problem:

External: What's physically in the way Internal: How that makes them feel Philosophical: The injustice that's taking place here

Step 3 – And Meets a Guide

Here's where you come into the story.

Your customer wants something, but they can't have it...or so they think. Luckily for them, you're here and you have the antidote to their problems (your product/serivce).

Meet your new business identity: the Guide.

You get to guide your customers out of their problems and into success with your product/service.

To be a guide you have to demonstrate a couple things: empathy and authority.

• Show them that you understand and care (empathy)
• Show them that you know without a shadow of a doubt to help them.

Step 4 – Who Gives them a Plan

So to review: your customer wants something and something is in the way, but now they know you can help them.

So stop leaving them on the edge of their seats and tell them how!

In this step, tell your customers how they can have what they want. But here's the catch: do it in three steps or less.

Why? Because anything more than 3 or 4 steps overwhelms people.

Take buying a hamburger for instance.

If I tell you to get in your car, go to the end of your road, take a left to get to the restaurant, pull up to the drive through, read the menu, think about it carefully, greet the drive-thru attendant, tell them kindly you don't want to try their new fast food abomination, order the burger, drive around to the payment window but find its closed because it always is (why do they even have that?), drive up to the second window, pay for the food, wait, and then you'll get your hamburger – you probably only read the first three or four directions and remember even less than that.

Instead: I could just say

1. Order Your Burger
2. Pay for your burger
3. Blast off to burger bliss

So even if there's 50+ steps to your product or service let's determine the 3 biggest steps your customers have to take to win the day.

Step 5 – And Calls them to Action

So now that you've told you customer how to get what they want...it's time to tell them to actually go do it.

There's some psychology behind this (Emails with a CTA boosted sales up to 1617%, and no that's not a typo)

If you never tell your customers what to do, they won't do it. So in this step, what is the first thing your customers have to do to do business with you?

Here's some examples:

Lawn Care Company – Call Us Now Tax Accountant – Schedule a Call Software Company – Buy Now

Some businesses are worried about being too pushy – don't. You're here to sell, and your customers aren't under any illusion that you're not. Tell your customers how to buy from you!

Step 6 – That Ends In Success

In this stage, we get to determine what success looks like for your customers.

Paint the picture of success. Have them imagine how good their life is going to be once they buy your product/service. If they can see it in their head – then they're much more likely to pull the trigger on buying.

Try to get at least 6 or 7 success points.

For example in our Lawn Care Company example:

• Have a beautiful yard
• Feel proud every time you look out from your window
• Impress your neighbors

Step 7 – And Helps Them Avoid Failure

Finally, we get to determine what it looks like if our character decides NOT to do business with you.

In this step, we'll show them how their life is going to be worse without your product or service.

If Frodo doesn't take the ring to Mordor, the Shire will be destroyed, he will lose all his friends, and the world will end – so yeah, he's going to Mordor.

Here's a quick example for our Lawn Care Company:

• Keep being disappointed by the state of your house
• Feel embarrassed
• Be looked down on by your neighbors

Pro-Tip: Talk about success a lot, and failure a little bit. Too much failure can be overwhelming for people.

Putting It All Together

And that's it! The last step is to put it all together into one cohesive piece.

The final piece is what's called a BrandScript, and luckily StoryBrand has provided a free tool just for that!

You can check that out here.

Your BrandScript will be the foundation of all your messaging moving forward. You can always return to these talking points whenever you're doing any kind of marketing to make sure you're on point and connecting with your customers.

Pro-Tip: No message is ever 100% perfect. Tweak it over it time as you find what works/resonates with your audience and what doesn't.

More Resources

If you're looking for more resources on StoryBrand you can check out our other articles?here. And you can always go straight to the horses mouth and check out the?Building a StoryBrand book, their?online courses, as well as their?live workshops.