Building a Story Brand

Donald Miller

📚 GENRE: Business & Finance

📃 PAGES: 240

✅ COMPLETED: November 1, 2021

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Using his StoryBrand framework, Donald Miller explains why the customer is always the hero of the story and the company is the loyal guide. Miller discusses the importance of showing HOW a product or service can help customers survive and thrive by solving their problems.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ The Customer is the Hero — Nobody cares about how your company was founded. Potential customers only care about how your product or service will help them survive and thrive. Your marketing materials need to be 100% focused on how your product or services will HELP THEM solve a problem. If you can show them how they can benefit from your offering, you have a good chance of earning their business.

2️⃣ Less is More — People don’t read websites, they scan them. If you bombard people with a ton of information and text, you will lose them. Keep it simple with short, concise text.

3️⃣ Have a CTA — Always have a Call to Action (CTA). Customers will not take action until they are challenged to do so. Make your CTAs clear and visible.

Favorite Quote

"People don’t read websites, they scan them."

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • This book goes through the StoryBrand 7 Part Framework that shows how you should market a company 
  • Customers don’t care about your story — they care about their own 
    • The customer should be the hero of the story, not your brand
  • Customers will not listen if your message is not CLEAR, regardless of how nice the website or marketing materials look
  • Words sell things. You need to show WHY customers need your product in their life
  • Mistake No.1
    • Most companies have marketing that is too complicated.
    • At their core, people only care about things that will help them survive and thrive.
    • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
  • Mistake No. 2
    • Companies work too hard trying to make the customer understand their offer 
    • The message is too confusing so people tune your message out
    • If you confuse, you lose
  • Goal: Make your message about something that helps the customer survive and do so in a way that they can understand it without burning too many calories.
    • Use stories to accomplish this 
    • Stories are so effective because they organize a lot of information in a way that is clear and makes people compelled to listen.
  • Audiences Must Know
    • Who the hero is
    • What the hero wants
    • Who the hero must defeat to get what they want
    • What will happen if the hero doesn’t win
    • What will happen if the hero wins
  • Steve Jobs is a good example of someone who changed his marketing over time.
    • Prior to leaving Apple the first time, the company released Lisa and Jobs put out a 9-page ad in the New York Times detailing all the specs of the computer. It was terrible.
    • After returning to Apple, he used the story-telling skills he gained while working with Pixar to market Apple better. He focused on the customer. 
  • The StoryBrand Framework:
  • A customer should be able to answer these three questions quickly after looking at your website or marketing materials:
    1. What do you offer?
    2. How will it make my life better?
    3. What do I need to do to buy it?
  • Always let the audience know what’s at stake for NOT doing business with you.

Then tell them how great their life can look WITH your product or service

StoryBook Framework Principle 1: A Character

  • The customer is the hero, not you.
  • It’s important to identify and define something your customer wants so you can show how your brand can help them get it.
    • Ex. Hotel — Find the luxury and rest you’ve been looking for
  • Your products may help a customer in many ways, but you need to first summarize what you do and how you help the customer get what they want in one statement. 
    • This needs to be something related to how you help the customer survive and thrive, our most basic need. 

StoryBrand Framework Principle 2: Has a Problem

  • Identify your customers’ problems. 
  • Identify a customers’ “villain”. Then position your products or services as something a customer can use to defeat their villian.
  • Remember this: Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but people buy solutions to internal problems 
  • For internal problems, focus on identifying and solving a customer’s frustrations.
  • Ask and solve these key questions when creating your brand/marketing materials:
    • Is there a single villain your brand stands against?
    • What external problem is that villain causing?
    • How is that external problem making your customers feel internally?
    • Why is it unjust for people to have to suffer at the hands of the villain?

StoryBrand Framework Principle 3: And Meets a Guide

  • Position yourself as the guide that is helping the hero. The customer is always the hero. 
  • The key to being a good guide:
    • Empathy 
    • Authority 
  • A guide expresses an understanding of the pain and frustration of their hero.
  • People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that understand them too.
  • Empathetic statements:
    • “We understand how it feels to….”
    • “Nobody should have to experience…”
    • “Like you, we are frustrated by…”
  • Show customers that you care about them and you are trying to help them resolve the internal issue they are facing. 
  • To demonstrate authority, use testimonials, statistics, awards, and logos that convey how you have a history of helping customers.
    • When looking for a guide, heroes trust people that know what they’re doing.

StoryBrand Framework Principle 4: Who Gives Them a Plan

  • All effective plans do one of two things:
    • Clarify how somebody can do business with us.
    • Remove the sense of risk somebody might have if they’re considering using our product or service. 
    • These plans have 3-6 steps and are usually in bullet form. 
  • Picture the customer at the edge of a creek. The plan serves as the stones to get across the creek. These stones direct the customer and provide clear directions.
  • Types of plans:
    • Process Plan
      • Designed to alleviate confusion
    • Post-Purchase Plan
      • Designed to alleviate confusion 
    • Agreement Plan
      • Designed to alleviate fears
  • The plan eliminates confusion.
    • Ex. A customer is considering buying a complicated product, they might have questions on how to use it or how to get it set up. The plan outlines the steps in order and gives the custom that clarity and comfort to make the purchase. 
  • Don’t provide too much information. Studies have shown that when you bombard customers with information, buying decreases. 
    • Again, less is more. You don’t want to confuse.
    • Give your plan a title 

StoryBrand Framework Principle 5: And Calls Them to Action

  • Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.
  • You should have a “Buy Now” button in the top right corner of your website at all times.
  • Make calls to action clear and repeat them over and over on the website.
  • Be direct, clear, and bold with your calls to action.
  • Two types of CTA:
    • Direct CTA
      • This is more direct. You ask the customer to buy the product or schedule an appointment or order now or register today.
      • Include direct CTA at the end of all marketing materials.
      • Will you marry me?
    • Transitional CTA
      • This is more passive. You offer the customer a PDF, a webinar, a free video to watch, a white paper — some type of information that could persuade them to buy if they aren’t at that point yet. 
      • These informational pieces can also help establish yourself as competent and an industry leader in the mind of the customer, which allows you to build trust with them. 
      • Give away free samples of your product or a free trial. This helps the customer get familiar with your amazing product or service.
      • Ex. “5 Things Your website should Include” PDF
      • Will you go on a date with me?

StoryBrand Framework Principle 6: And Helps Them Avoid Failure

  • What’s at stake for the hero/customer?
  • You need to define the stakes and what the customer will lose by NOT buying your product or service.
  • People are very risk averse. Daniel Kanehman explained this in Thinking Fast and Slow. 
    • People are more motivated to avoid loss than they are to achieve gain. In other words, people hate losing $100 more than they enjoy winning $100.
    • Kanehman calls this Prospect Theory.
  • Allstate’s “Mayhem” commercials are a great example. Mayhem represents everyday accidents that could happen and why you should have insurance.
  • To get this right, ask yourself: What negative consequences are we helping our customer avoid?
  • Don’t overdo this. Reminding the customer of the consequences shouldn’t be excessive. 

StoryBrand Framework Principle 7: And Ends in a Success

  • Never assume people understand how your brand can change their life. Tell them. 
  • Where is your brand taking people? Answer that.
  • What problem are you resolving in your customers’ lives? And what does that resolution look like?
    • We need to show repeatedly how our product or service can make somebody’s life better.
  • Successful brands, like successful people, make it clear what life will look like if a customer engages with their products and services. 
  • Show customers what their life will look like AFTER deciding to buy your product or service.
    • Also focus on how the resolution to their problem will make them FEEL. 
  • The three dominant ways storytellers end stories:
    1. Winning Power and Position
    • The need for status 
    • Offer Access
    • Create Scarcity
    • Offer a Premium
    • Offer Identity Association 
    1. Union that Makes the Hero Whole
      • Reduced Anxiety
      • Reduced Workload
      • More Time
      • If your product or service helps the customer achieve these, talk about it in your marketing.
    2.  Ultimate Self-Realization
      • The need to reach our full potential

Helping Customers Transform

  • People want your brand to participate in THEIR TRANSFORMATION
  • Behind nearly every decision we make is the driving force of change. We want to change and transform to be better. How will your product or service help the customer do that?
  • People want to become better versions of themselves. They are looking for ways to do that.
  • What does our customer want to become?
    • What kind of person do they want to be?
    • What identity do they want to associate with? 
  • Ex. Gerber Knives = Tough, Adventurous, Courageous person
  • Once you determine WHO your customers want to be, you have language you can use in your blog posts, emails, and other marketing materials.
  • Ex. Cambridge
    • From: Trapped, Restricted, Frustrated
    • To: Free, Relieved, In Control, Leader, Confident, In Charge, Calling the Shots, Defining Your Path, Building Your Legacy
  • In today’s world, less is more when it comes to information on your website.
    • Quote: “People don’t read websites, they scan them.” 
    • Don’t bombard customers with info! They will burn too many calories trying to understand everything. 
    • Keep it simple. 

5 Things Your Website Should Have

  1. An Offer Above the Fold
    • People are drawn to the top half of your website. Have clear buttons, text, and language that tells them what you offer them or what you do.
      • Ex. SquareSpace — We Help You Make Beautiful Websites
  2. Obvious Calls to Action
    • If you don’t ask people to place an order, they won’t.
    • Always have a “Buy Now” type button on all pages in the top right corner.
    • Logo in the top left corner
    • “Buy Now” button should be bright and a different color than anything else on the website. 
    • The transitional CTA (PDF link, video link, etc.) should be a less bright button but can be placed next to a direct CTA button. See image.

3. Images of Success

  • Have images of happy people having a pleasurable experience on your website.

4. A Bite-Sized Breakdown of Your Revenue Streams

  • If you have multiple different services or products, create an umbrella message for the home page that summarizes it all.
  • Then, have different web pages that lead to the different products or services customers can click on as they scroll down. 

5. Very Few Words 

  • People don’t read websites, they scan them.
  • If there is a paragraph of text above the fold (above the halfway point of the page), it is not being read. Guaranteed.
  • Write text in “Morse Code”, which means write copy that is brief, punchy, and relevant to the customer.
    • Ex. People don’t care that Cambridge was founded in 1981 by Eric Schwartz. There’s a time and place for that text, but not above the fold on a webpage. 
  • Most companies have far too much text on their website. 
    • Some of the most effective websites have 10 or less sentences on the page.
    • If you do want to use a lot of text to explain something, have a little “read more” link at the end of the first or second sentence in the paragraph that allows the user to expand the paragraph and see the whole thing. 
      • Instead of long paragraphs of text, use bullet points that summarize what you would say in a paragraph. 
    • The fewer words you use the more likely people will read them. 

Final Thoughts

  • Email marketing is incredibly effective
  • It involves giving out information (like a PDF, webinar, etc) in exchange for the user’s email.
    • This is called a lead generator
  • Best lead generators:
    • Downloadable guide
    • Online course or webinar
    • Software demos or a free trial
    • Free sample
    • Live event
  • Then, once you have a database of emails, send automated emails with prewritten content.
    • 20% open rate is standard
  • Start with a Nurturing Campaign, where you send 3 nurturing emails that contain value (like a brief PDF article on a common question about your industry) and then a sales email asking for the customer’s business.
  • The idea is that the customer may not be able to buy now, but, when they do need the thing that you sell, they’ll think of you. 
  • In the offer email, be direct.