I have just finished an audiobook by Donald Miller, a New York Times best-selling author and marketing expert, where he discusses the power of the Story Brand Framework. The framework transforms the way you talk about the unique value you bring to your customers and helps to shape your narrative in a way so that customers want to engage with your product.
Honestly, there is no eye-opening for those who have been already doing marketing for a while. Great brands broadly use storytelling to make their messaging and branding simpler yet more appealing and compelling.
However, since I liked the structured way of the author’s thoughts I decided to share with you some key takeaways you can apply to your business today.
It's applicable in both cases, whether you are building your brand messaging from scratch or revisiting your ongoing marketing efforts to make it better.
Also, this framework applies to all sorts of businesses, from mom-and-pop businesses to billion-dollar brands.
Brand Story Framework:
#1 Hero. It's Your Customer Who Is a Hero, Not Your Brand.
Identify your customers' potential desires they want to fulfill. Or you’ll fail. Customers won’t have the motivation to engage with you if no question demands resolution.
Keep the focus on the specific desire. Don't produce conflicting story tracks - don't bring complexity and confusion to the customer’s life. They have enough of them. Help them.
Prevent your message from being vague. Don't burn mental calories of your customers who are trying to understand what you offer. What do you really offer? Remember: People are drawn to clarity and away from confusion.
Human beings' fundamental desires are to survive and to thrive. This means to be safe, healthy, happy, strong, conserve resources (time, money), build social bonds, gain status, increase productivity, increase revenue, decrease waste, and have a sense of meaning. Think of it when you reach your customers with your offer.
#2 Problem. The Problem Is the Hook of Your Brand Story.
Every story needs a villain to give a story a clear point of focus. Think of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. A good villain is a chief source of conflict. It should be singular (again, keep it simple), relatable and real (literal or metaphorical).
The solution should appeal to customers' external, internal and philosophical (why does it matter in the ethic of humanity) problems. Usually, brands sell solutions to external problems but customers buy solutions to internal problems. Tackle three of them and it will increase the perceived (and actual) value of your product.
Tesla example: The villain - gas-guzzling inferior technology. External problem - a need for a car. Internal - a desire to be an early adopter of new technology. Philosophical - this choice will help save the environment.
Don't offer a solution too quickly (the story lasts some time). The more you talk about the villain the more customers will want a tool to defeat it.
#3 Guide. A Hero (your customer) Needs a Guide (you) Who Will Help Him to Complete his Mission.
Every human being is on a transformational journey. And we need a guide to encourage us, equip us and help us along the way. Think of Luke Skywalker and Yoda. Always position your customer as a hero and your brand as a guide. The story is not about us. Customers don’t look for another hero, they are looking for a guide.
In stories, the hero is never the strongest character. They are usually filled with self-doubt, they don’t know if they have what it takes. The guide, however, has already been there and done that and has conquered the hero’s challenge in their backstory. The guide, not a hero, is the one with the most authority. Still, the story is rarely about the guide.
Two characteristics of a guide: are empathy and authority. To make a good first impression: “Can I trust this person?” (empathy) and “Can I respect this person?” (competency and authority).
Express empathy. When we emphasize the customers’ dilemma we create a bond of trust. People trust brands that understand them. The three things every human being wants the most are: (1) to be seen, (2) to be heard, and (3) to be understood. This is the essence of empathy.
“We understand how it feels…”, “Nobody should have to experience…”, “Like you, we are frustrated by…”
Customers won’t know that you care until you tell them. Customers are looking for brands they have something in common with.
Demonstrate authority. Demonstrating authority ≠ bragging about ourselves. Demonstrate competence. A hero trusts a guide who knows what he is doing. A guide doesn’t need to be perfect but he needs to have serious experience to help a hero win the day.
Testimonials. Let others do the talking for you. 3-5 will be enough to start with. Keep it brief.
Statistics. How many satisfied customers have you helped? How much money do you help them to save? By what % has their business grown since they started working with you?
Awards. Small icons included in the button of the website will be enough.
Logos. Customers wanna know you helped other businesses overcome the same challenge.
#4 Plan. The Guide Needs to Provide a Simple Plan of Action for a Hero to Get the Job Done.
To where your brand wants to take a customer. A path of hope that will lead to resolution.
A good plan either (1) clarifies how someone can do business with you (the process plan) or (2) remove a sense of risk somebody might have if investing in your products or services (the agreement plan).
The process plan - describes the steps a customer should take to buy a product or how to use a product after they buy, or both. The goal is to alleviate confusion among your customers. A 3 to 6-step plan will be sufficient.
The agreement plan’s goal is to alleviate fears. List all the concerns your customer may have about your product or service and populate that list with agreements from your side.
Consider giving titles to both plans you have created, e.g. “Easy Installation Plan”, “Customer Satisfaction Agreement” or “Our quality guarantee”.
#5 CTA. A Customer Will Not Take Any Action Until They Are Challenged to Do So.
Direct CTAs lead to a sale. “Buy Now”, “Call Today”. It should stand out in your marketing collaterals.
Transitional CTAs allow deepening your relationship with customers who are not ready yet to place an order. Usually, something for free is offered with these CTAs. “Download a PDF”, “Watch a Webinar”. Transitional CTAs help to (1) stake claim to your territory, position yourself as an expert, and establish authority, (2) create reciprocity (be generous in giving to your customers), and (3) position yourself as a guide.
#6 Potential Failure. Show the Cost of Not Doing Business with You.
The only motivation a hero has in the story is to escape something bad or to experience something good. If a storyteller doesn't clearly let the audience know what terrible things might happen unless he overcomes his challenge, the story will have no stakes. The story without stakes is boring and flat.
Blog subjects, email content, and bullet points on the website can include pitfalls a customer might encounter if they are not doing business with you. This will give a customer a sense of urgency, “What’s there to lose?”. Fact: People hate losing $100 more than winning $100. In some cases, people are 2-3 times more motivated to avoid the loss than to achieve a gain.
Crafting an alert message: (1) let your reader know they are vulnerable to a threat, (2) that’s why they should take an action to reduce their vulnerability, (3) present your offer that protects them from the risk, (4) challenge them with a specific CTA to take an action.
Fear should be added moderately to your messages as salt to a recipe. Too much and a customer will resist and block you. Too little and a customer won’t even understand why your product matters.
#7 End with success. What Life Will Look Like for a Customer After Engaging with Your Product?
Everyone wants to be taken somewhere. Nike brings inspiration and innovation to every athlete. Where are you taking your customers? To financial security, to the day they are moving to their dream home, to a fun weekend with friends?
Never assume people understand how your brand will change their lives. Tell them. People want to have a happy ending to their stories. And they want it to be specific and clear. Don’t be vague.
Tell your customers how you envision their future with your product on your website, email blasts, keynotes, and everywhere else. Use images to show people happily engaging with your product.
Ultimately, the success module of your brand script should simply be a list of resolutions to your customers’ problems (3 types of them).
What gives an audience a sense of satisfaction with their desires:
Win some sort of power or position - the need for status, to make your customers more esteemed, respected, and appealing in a social context.
Give access, create scarcity, offer a premium, and offer identity association.
Be unified with somebody or something external that makes them whole.
Reduce anxiety, reduce workload, and free up their time.
Experience some kind of self-realization that also makes them whole - the need to reach their full potential, self-acceptance, and inner peace.
Inspiration, acceptence, transcendence.
At the beginning of the story, the hero is usually filled with doubt. The guide aids him on the journey. The conflict changes the character of the hero. In the end, he develops the skills needed to defeat a villain. The story has transformed him.
Does your brand participate in a customer transformation?
Great brands are obsessed with helping their customers to become a better version of themselves. They define an aspirational identity and invite customers to step in into it. To become wiser, more physically fit, more equipped, and more in peace.
Do your customers understand why they should choose you to guide them on their transformational journey?
The essence of branding is to create simple, clear, compelling, and relevant messages you can repeat over and over so you brand yourself into the public consciousness.
The story puts everything in order so the brain doesn't have to work hard to understand what's going on. A good story cuts off the noise and distills what really matters.
Can your website visitors within 5 sec clearly understand what your offer is and how it will make their life better?
I hope you enjoyed this summary and you've found something useful in it. Feel free to share your feedback in the comments below.
P.S. If you want to dive deeper into it and see how to apply this to your business, please reach out to me. Would be happy to help.
All the best,
Elena
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