Building a story brand
Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
Description
In the evolving landscape of marketing, businesses that position their customers as the heroes of their narratives tend to thrive, while those that don't risk being forgotten. The key is to shift the focus from self-promotion to addressing the problems that customers face, thereby sparking their interest in the brand.
This approach can be effectively implemented using the seven-part StoryBrand (SB7) framework, which helps businesses to clarify their message and create compelling, customer-centric stories.
Table of contents
01Why traditional marketing is a money pit
Traditional marketing, which often focuses on the merits of a company and its products, is increasingly seen as a waste of resources. This approach tends to create background noise that confuses customers rather than engaging them. To stand out, it's crucial to clarify your message and articulate how your products or services help customers survive and thrive. The current marketing landscape is challenging due to the overwhelming amount of noise. Advertisers are constantly vying for attention, and many marketers are making two key mistakes. Firstly, they focus on product features instead of how their offerings can help people survive and thrive. The human brain is wired to seek survival, so stories that depict how your product aids survival or fulfills dreams can capture attention. Secondly, marketers often overload customers with information, which is counterproductive as humans tend to tune out when confused.
02Build your own storybrand
To foster growth in your business, distill your message into seven easily digestible points that you can convey effortlessly. Narrate your customer's journey, positioning your brand as a central character in their narrative. Utilize the SB7 framework to construct a compelling storybrand. As Donald Miller suggests, when customers comprehend how your brand can enhance their life story, your business will flourish.
Miller also emphasizes that everyone desires a destination. If your brand doesn't communicate a clear path, customers may turn to competitors. He asserts that the universal language is the language of story, and by employing the SB7 Framework, you'll be communicating in this universal language. Remember, customers are generally more interested in their own stories than yours. Make your customer the protagonist of the narrative, not your brand. This customer-centric approach is a common trait among extraordinarily successful businesses.
A real character:
"A story doesn’t really pick up until the hero needs to disarm a bomb, win someone’s heart, defeat a villain, or fight for their emotional or physical survival. A story starts with a hero who wants something. And then the question becomes: Will the hero get what she wants?" – Donald Miller To get your story rolling, you first have to define something your customer genuinely wants. You want to seed the question in their mind: "Can this brand really help me get what I crave?" To achieve that, you've got to pare everything down to a single focus which is compelling and engaging. For example: A high-end hotel: "Find the luxury and rest you've been looking for". Financial advisor: "A plan for your retirement". Restaurant: "A meal everybody will remember" Bookstore: "A story to get lost in". Real estate agent: "The home you've been dreaming about owning". When you hit the nail on the head, you open a "story gap" between where your customer is now and where they want to be in the future. It's that story gap that makes the quest engaging and interesting. You try and get people guessing how that gap will be closed or in other words how the crusade will play out and be resolved.
Make sure you define one specific desire that you want to become known for helping people achieve. This has to be something simple and relevant. It needs to be a desire that is relevant to the customer's sense of survival. For example: Walmart: "Save Money. Live Better". Leadership expert: "Helping you become the leader everyone loves." Breakfast bars: "A healthy start to your day."
Who gives them a plan:
In the realm of brand storytelling, the villain plays a crucial role. This villain, often a personified problem or challenge, serves as the catalyst that propels the customer, our hero, into action. The villain doesn't necessarily have to be a person; it could be a concept, an inconvenience, or an injustice. For instance, in the context of selling time-management software, distractions could be the villain. The villain should possess four key characteristics: it should be a root source, relatable, standalone, and real. Examples of such villains include high taxes, coffee machines that make bad tasting brews, or financial firms that don't listen to their customers.
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