TwosWrite things down

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

by Parker · 374 things on Twos

Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
Introduction
Customers don't generally care about your story; they care about their own.
Read the book and understand the SB7 Framework.
Filter your message through the framework.
Clarify your message so more customers listen.
Businesses that invite their customers into a heroic story grow.
Section 1: Why Most Marketing Is A Money Pit
Chapter 1: The Key To Being Seen, Heard, And Understood
Human brains are drawn toward clarity and away from confusion.
Story formulas put everything in order so the brain doesn't have to work to understand what is going on.
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs:
Eat and drink and survive physically
Have a job and dependable income.
Safety
Roof over our heads and a sense of well-being and power that keeps us from being vulnerable.
Relationships
Reproducing in a sexual relationship, being nurtured in a romantic relationship, creating friendship in case of social threats.
Psychological
Physiological
Spiritual
Information must help them eat, drink, find a mate, fall in love, build a tribe, experience a deeper sense of meaning.
If we don't say something they can use to survive or thrive, they will tune us out.
Chapter 2: The Secret Weapon That Will Grow Your Business
Story is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen.
Storytellers have filters to cut out the noise. If a character or scene doesn’t serve the plot, it has to go.
Apple's steps to story:
Identifying what their customers wanted (to be seen and heard).
Identifying their customers’ challenge (that people didn’t recognize their hidden genius).
Offering their customers a tool they could use to express themselves (computers and smartphones).
The story of Apple isn’t about Apple; it’s about you. You’re the hero in the story, and they play a role more like Q in the James Bond movies.
Apple likely doesn’t make the best computers or phones. “Best” is subjective, of course. Whether Apple has the best technology, though, is debatable.
People don’t buy the best products; they buy the products they can understand the fastest.
Story in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.
A Character
Has a Problem
And meets a Guide
Who gives them a Plan
And calls them to Action
That helps them avoid Failure
That ends in a Success
Questions we should always be able to answer
What does the hero want?
Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants?
What will the hero's life look like if she does (does not) get what she wants?
Questions a potential customer should be able to answer within 5 seconds of looking at our website or marketing material:
What do you offer?
How will it make my life better?
What do I need to do to buy it?
“You sell headache medicine, me feel better fast, me get it at Walgreens.”
Highlight the aspects that help your customers survive and thrive (build stronger tribes, strengthen family connections, and connect more deeply with life's greater meaning).
Chapter 3: The Simple SB7 Framework
The Storybrand Framework
A Character
The customer is the hero, not your brand.
When giving a speech, position yourself as Yoda and your audience as Luke Skywalker.
We are the leader providing wisdom, products, and services our audience needs in order to thrive.
What does the customer want?
Has a Problem
Customers buy solutions to internal problems.
By talking about the problems our customers face, we deepen their interest in everything we offer.
The three levels of problems a customer encounters: external, internal, and phisophical.
And Meets a Guide
Customers are looking for a guide.
Nearly every human being is looking for a guide (or guides) to help them win the day.
Who Gives Them a Plan
Customers trust a guide who has a plan.
Customers are looking for a clear path we've laid out that takes away any confusion about how to do business with us.
And Calls Them to Action
Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.
A call to action involves communicating a clear and direct step our customers can take to overcome their challenge and return to a peaceful life.
Until we call our customers to action, they simply watch us, but when we call them to action (the right way), they will engage.
That Helps Them Avoid Failure
Every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending.
What's at stake?
The story needs stakes.
And Ends in a Success
Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.
Offer a vision for how great a customer's life could be if they engage your products or services.
Simple, clear messages that are relevant to your customers result in sales.
Section 2: Building Your Storybrand
Chapter 4: A Character
StoryBrand Principle One: The customer is the hero, not your brand
It's important to define something your customer wants.
The customer will then think "can this brand really help me get what I want?"
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.
Identifying a potential desire for your customer opens what’s sometimes called a story gap.
Moviegoers pay attention when there’s a story gap because they wonder if and how that gap is going to be closed.
The most important challenge for business leaders is to define something simple and relevant their customers want and to become known for delivering on that promise.
If you define a desire that is so vague, potential customers can’t figure out why they need it in the first place.
“Inhale knowledge, exhale success,” -> “Helping you become everyone’s favorite leader.”
People will always choose a story that helps them survive and thrive.
Survival is the primitive desire we all have to be safe, healthy, happy, and strong.
Survival simply means we have the economic and social resources to eat, drink, reproduce, and fend off foes.
Conserving financial resources: save money.
Conserving time.
Building social networks: find community, stay safe, nurture and be nurtured.
Gaining status: projects abundance, power, prestige, and refinement.
Accumulating resources: make money, increase productivity, increase revenue, decrease waste.
The innate desire to be generous: we want others to survive, we are empathetic, caring, we sacrifice for the well-being of others, especially those who have not been given the opportunities we enjoy.
The desire for meaning: meaning > pleasure, man is most tempted to distract himself with pleasure when his life is void of meaning, give your customers an opportunity to be generous, invite them to participate in a moment greater than themselves, a valiant fight against a real villain.
Customers want to know where you can take them. Unless you identify something they want, it's doubtful they will listen.
The goal for our branding should be that every potential customer knows exactly where we want to take them: a luxury resort where they can get some rest, to become the leader everybody loves, or to save money and live better.
If you randomly asked a potential customer where your brand wants to take them, would they be able to answer?
Chapter 5: Has a Problem
StoryBrand Principle Two: Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but customers buy solutions to internal problems.
How do you increase your customers interest in your brand? You talk about the problems your customers face.
The problem is the "hook" of the story.
"Readers want to fret." - James Scott Bell
If we're selling time-management software, we might vilify the idea of distractions. Distractions are what's deluding our customers' potential, wrecking their families, stealing their sanity, and costing them enormous amounts of time and money
Four characteristics that make for a good villain:
The villain should be a root source
The villain should be relatable
The villain should be singular
The villain should be real
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 relatable
Can your products be positioned as tools your customers can use to fight back against something that ought not be?
Twos:
Villain: Forgetting things
External: I need to write something down
Internal: I need to remember something
Philosophical: Important things out to be remembered
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?
Chapter 6: And Meets A Guide
StoryBrand Principle Three: Customers aren’t looking for another hero; they’re looking for a guide.
If a hero solves her own problem in a story, the audience will tune out. Why? Because we intuitively know if she could solve her own problem, she wouldn’t have gotten into trouble in the first place. Storytellers use the guide character to encourage the hero and equip them to win the day
A brand that positions itself as the hero is destined to lose
Tidal failed because it positioned Jay-Z and artists as the heroes. He needed to position the customer as the hero
How are you helping me win the day? Tidal existed to help the artists win the day, not customers. And so it failed.
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
A brand must communicate empathy and authority to position themselves as the guide
When we empathize with our customers’ dilemma, we create a bond of trust. People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that understand them too.
Oprah says the three things every human being wants most are to be seen, heard, and understood
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 . . .
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.
Real empathy means letting customers know we see them as we see ourselves. Customers look for brands they have something in common with.
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.
Nobody likes a know-it-all and nobody wants to be preached at. Brands that lord their expertise over the masses turn people off.
4 easy ways to add just the right amount of authority to your marketing:
Testimonials
Let others do the talking for you
Testimonials give potential customers the gift of going second.
They know others have worked with you and attained success
Three is a great number to start with and will serve the need most customers have to make sure you know what you are doing
Statistics
How many satisfied customers have you helped?
How much money have you helped them save?
Awards
Feel free to include small logos or indications of those awards at the bottom of your page
Logos
When they recognize another business you’ve worked with, it provides social proof you have the ability to help them win the day.
Answer: “Does this brand know what they’re doing? Is investing my time and money going to be worth it? Can they really help me solve my problem?”
Two questions people subconsciously ask when meeting someone new: “Can I trust this person?” and “Can I respect this person?”
Chapter 7: Who Gives Them A Plan
StoryBrand Principle Four: Customers trust a guide who has a plan.
Making a purchase isn’t a characteristic of a casual relationship; it’s a characteristic of a commitment
Effective plans do one of two things:
They clarify how somebody can do business with us
They remove the sense of risk somebody might have if they’re considering investing in our products or services.
If you confuse, you lose
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?
If we don’t guide them, they experience a little bit of confusion, and they use that confusion as an excuse not to do business with us.
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
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.
The key to the success of any plan is to alleviate confusion for our customers
What steps do they need to take to do business with you?
Break your process down to 3-6 steps
Studies show when you bombard customers with information, buying decreases
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.
Titling your plan will frame it in the customer’s mind and increases the perceived value of all that your brand offer
Chapter 8: And Calls Them to Action
StoryBrand Principle Five: Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.
Human beings do not make major life decisions unless something challenges them to do so
Unless we are bold in our calls to action, we will be ignored
The fastest way to grow a company is to make the calls to action clear and then repeat them over and over
When we sell passively, we communicate a lack of belief in our product
When we don't ask clearly for the sale, the customer senses weakness
Customers are looking for brands that have solutions to their problems
There should be one obvious button to press on your website, different color, larger, bolder text and repeat the button as they scroll down
A good transitional call to action can do 3 things for your brand:
Stake a claim to your territory
Be known as the leader in a certain territory
Create a PDF, a video series, or anything that positions you as the expert to establish authority
Create reciprocity
The more generous you are, the more reciprocity you create
The more you give to your customers, the more likely they will be to give something back in the future
Give freely
Position yourself as the guide
When you help your customers solve a problem, even for free, you position yourself as the guide
The next time they encounter a problem in that area of their lives, they will look to you for help
Types of transitional calls to action:
Free information: white paper, PDF, educational videos, podcasts, webinars, and even live events
Testimonials: create a video or PDF including testimonials from happy customers
When they see others experience a successful ending to their story, they will want the same ending for themselves
Samples: give them a test-drive or taste
Free trial: risk-removal policy that helps to on-ramp your customers
Chapter 9: That Helps Them Avoid Failure
StoryBrand Principle Six: Every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending.
The storyteller must clearly let the audience know what no-good, terrible, awful thing might befall their hero unless she overcomes her challenge