Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

by Donald Miller

Almost all companies try to sell solutions to external problems, but as we unfold the StoryBrand Framework, you’ll see why customers are much more motivated to resolve their inner frustrations.

What are their internal and philosophical problems?

Understanding and addressing the three levels of problems our customers face will help us create a brand promise that will connect with customers on a primitive level and at their deepest point of need.

3. And Meets a Guide STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE THREE: CUSTOMERS AREN’T LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HERO; THEY’RE LOOKING FOR A GUIDE.

It’s no accident that guides show up in almost every movie. Nearly every human being is looking for a guide (or guides) to help them win the day. Brands that position themselves as heroes unknowingly compete with their potential customers.

When a brand comes along and positions itself as the hero, customers remain distant. They hear us talking about how great our business is and start wondering if we’re competing with them for scarce resources. Their subconscious thought pattern goes like this: Oh, this is another hero, like me. I wish I had more time to hear their story, but right now I’m busy looking for a guide.

4. Who Gives Them a Plan STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FOUR: CUSTOMERS TRUST A GUIDE WHO HAS A PLAN.

At this point we’ve identified what the customer wants, defined three levels of problems they’re encountering, and positioned ourselves as their guide. And our customers love us for the effort. But they still aren’t going to make a purchase. Why? Because we haven’t laid out a simple plan of action they can take.

In the Star Wars movies, Yoda tells Luke to trust the Force and then trains Luke on how to wield this power. People are looking for a philosophy they can embody or a series of steps they can take to solve their problems.

And Calls Them to Action STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FIVE: CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION.

Human beings take action when their story challenges them to do so. You would be surprised how many companies don’t create obvious calls to action for their customers. A call to action involves communicating a clear and direct step our customer can take to overcome their challenge and return to a peaceful life.

In the fifth part of the StoryBrand Framework, I’ll show you two calls to action that have worked for thousands of our clients. One call to action is direct, asking the customer for a purchase or to schedule an appointment. The other is a transitional call to action, furthering our relationship with the customer.

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 STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SIX: EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TRYING TO AVOID A TRAGIC ENDING.

Stories live and die on a single question: What’s at stake? If nothing can be gained or lost, nobody cares.

Will the hero disarm the bomb, or will people be killed? Will the guy get the girl, or will he be lonely and filled with self-doubt? These are the kinds of questions in the minds of a story-hungry audience.

If there is nothing at stake in a story, there is no story. Likewise, if there’s nothing at stake in whether or not I buy your product, I’m not going to buy your product. After all, why should I? Simply put, we...

7. And Ends in a Success STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SEVEN: NEVER ASSUME PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BRAND CAN CHANGE THEIR LIVES. TELL THEM.

We must tell our customers how great their life can look if they buy our products and services.

Everybody wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell people where we’re taking them, they’ll engage another brand. In the seventh part of the StoryBrand Framework, I’ll elaborate on what is perhaps the most important element of your messaging strategy: offering a vision for how great a customer’s life could be if they engage your products or services.

The first project I’d like you to BrandScript is the one that represents your overall brand. Next you’ll want to create a BrandScript for each division of your company, and after that, each product within each division. If you like, you can even create a BrandScript for each segment of your customer base. The uses of a StoryBrand BrandScript are endless.

Again, to create a BrandScript you can save, edit, and come back to over and over, go to mystorybrand.com. Because you bought this book, you get free access. Your StoryBrand BrandScript will be a powerful resource helping you organize and simplify your message, and you’ll use it again and again. With the StoryBrand BrandScript tool, you will be able to see your brand narrative on a single page, which, again, will translate into a clear message you can use to grow your business.

Star

As you walk through the seven parts of the StoryBrand Framework, simply follow these three steps: 1. Read each of the next seven chapters. 2. After you read each chapter, brainstorm potential messages you might use to populate your BrandScript. 3. Carefully look at your brainstorm and then decide on a specific message to use in each section of your BrandScript. Once you complete your BrandScript at mystorybrand.com, you will have the basic messages to employ the SB7 Framework on your websites, in keynotes, in elevator pitches, and in all manner of marketing and messaging collateral. This means your messages will be simple, relevant, and repeatable. And remember: simple, clear messages that are relevant to your customers result in sales.

Thousands of companies shut their doors every year, not because they don’t have a great product, but because potential customers can’t figure out how that product will make their lives better.

If we don’t closely analyze each element of our customers’ story, they’ll sense we don’t care and move on to a competing brand that took the time to do the work.

Before knowing what the hero wants, the audience has little interest in her fate. This is why screenwriters have to define the character’s ambition within the first nine or so minutes of a film getting started. Will the underdog get the promotion? Will the runner finish the marathon? Will the team win the championship? These are the questions that keep an audience engaged for two hours.

As a brand it’s important to define something your customer wants, because as soon as we define something our customer wants, we posit a story question in the mind of the customer: Can this brand really help me get what I want?

Recently a high-end resort hired us to help them clarify their message. Like many companies, they were experiencing an identity crisis. Their marketing collateral featured images of their restaurant, front desk, and staff. It all looked nice, but unless they were trying to sell their buildings, they weren’t exactly inviting customers into a story. What their customers wanted most, actually, was a luxurious, restful experience. After StoryBranding their resort, they changed the text on their website from long stories about themselves (which positioned them as the hero) to images of a warm bath, plush towels and robes, someone getting a massage in the spa, and a looping clip of a back-porch rocking chair against the backdrop of trees blowing in the wind along a golf course. They replaced the text on their main page with short and powerful copy: “Find the luxury and rest you’ve been looking for.” That became the mantra for the entire staff. This phrase was posted on their office walls, and to this day you can stop any team member from the sous chef to the groundskeeper and they will ...

When we identify something our customer wants and communicate it simply, the story we are inviting them into is given definition and direction.

Here are some more examples from companies we’ve worked with: Financial Advisor: “A Plan for Your Retirement” College Alumni Association: “Leave a Meaningful Legacy” Fine-Dining Restaurant: “A Meal Everybody Will Remember” Real Estate Agent: “The Home You’ve Dreamed About” Bookstore: “A Story to Get Lost In” Breakfast Bars: “A Healthy Start to Your Day”

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 an...

OPEN A STORY GAP In story terms, identifying a potential desire for your customer opens what’s sometimes called a story gap. The idea is that you place a gap between a character and what they want. Moviegoers pay attention when there’s a story g...

Jason Bourne is a spy who has amnesia, and we wonder if he’ll find anyone to help him. When he meets a young woman named Marie, that gap closes, only for another to open. Bourne and Marie have to flee the country. When they escape, that gap closes for yet another one to open. The cycle goes on an...

To understand the power of a story gap is to understand what compels a human brain toward a desire. Even classical music follows this formula. Many classical sonatas can be broken into three sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation. The final section, recapitulation, is simply an altered version of the exposition that brings a sense of resolve. If that doesn’t make sense, try singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” without singing the final note on the word are. It will bother you to no end. We also see this at work in poetry. When our ears hear Lord Byron’s first line “She walks in beauty, like the night,” a story gap has been opened. We are waiting to hear a word that rhymes with night and closes the open gap in our minds. Once we hear “Of ...

Arousal is the opening of a story gap and sexual fulfillment brings its closing. Hunger is the opening of a story gap and a meal ushers its closing. There is little action in life that can’t be expla...

When we fail to define something our customer wants, we fail to open a story gap. When we don’t open a story gap in our customers’ mind, they have no motivation to engage us, because there is no question that demands resolution. Defining something our customer wa...

“Wait, we provide about twenty-seven things our customers want. Can’t we mention all of them?” The answer is no, at least not yet. Until we’ve defined a specific desire and become known for helping people achieve it, we shouldn’t add too many conflicting story gaps to our StoryBrand BrandScript.

CHOOSE A DESIRE RELEVANT TO THEIR SURVIVAL

Once a brand defines what their customer wants, they are often guilty of making the second mistake—what they’ve defined isn’t related to the customer’s sense of survival. In their desire to cast a wide net, they define a blob of a desire that is so vague, potential customers can’t figure out why they need it in the first place. A leadership expert recently asked for feedback on his brand. As I reviewed his marketing material, I noticed he was making a critical mistake: in defining what his customer wanted, he was vague. The idea behind his brand is that he imparts knowledge to potential leaders. He saw himself as a storehouse of leadership resources and wanted to be the go-to guy for achieving excellence. In fact, his tagline was “Inhale knowledge, exhale success.” Seems clear enough, but is it? What does exhaling success even mean? He was making potential customers burn too many mental calories to figure out how he was going to help them survive and thrive. I recommended he make an edit to his message. Instead of saying, “Inhale knowledge, exhale success,” simply say, “Helping you become everyone’s favorite leader.” Becoming everyone’s favorite leader means the customer would be more respected and better connected to a tribe, they’d have greater social and career opportunities, and much more. Exhaling success sounded nice, but thriving as the leader of a tribe is directly connected to survival. People will always choose a story that helps them survive and thrive.

Conserving financial resources. In order to survive and thrive, your customers may need to conserve resources. In simple terms, this means they may need to save money. If your brand can help them save money, you’ve tapped into a survival mechanism.

Walmart has built their brand on the promise of everyday low prices. Their tagline “Save Money. Live Better” further communicates savings and value and thus taps into a basic function of survival, the conservation of resources.

Conserving time. In developed countries, most of our customers have thankfully moved beyond the hunter-gatherer stage of survival. They are familiar, then, with the notion of opportunity costs. Can your housecleaning service give your customers more time to work on other ...

Building social networks. If our brand can help us find community, we’ve tapped into yet another survival mechanism. We only think we’re being nice when we bring our coworkers coffee, but what if we’re actually being nice because our primitive brains want to make sure we are connected to a tribe in case the bad guys come knocking at the door? Add this to the fact that human beings h...

Gaining status. Luxury brands like Mercedes and Rolex don’t make much practical sense in terms of survival, right? In fact, spending lots of money buying a luxury car when a more common brand would do the trick seems counter to our survival, doesn’t it? Not when you consider the importance of status. Status, in any tribe, is a survival mechanism. It projects a sense of abundance that may attract powerful allies, repel potential foes (like a lion with a loud roar), and if we’re into shallow companions, might even help us secure a mate. Rolex, Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, and...

Accumulating resources. If the products and services you offer help people make money or accumulate much-needed resources, that will quickly translate into a person’s desire for survival. With more money, our customers will have more opportun...

The innate desire to be generous.

Achieving an aspirational identity of being sacrificial actually helps us survive (fends off foes, decreases outside criticism, helps earn trust in our tribe, and so on),

The desire for meaning. Viktor Frankl was right when he contended with Sigmund Freud, insinuating that the chief desire of man is not pleasure but meaning. In fact, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl argued convincingly that man was actually most tempted to distract himself with pleasure when his life was void of meaning.1 So how do we offer potential customers a sense of meaning? Not unlike giving our customers the opportunity to be generous, we invite them to participate in something greater than themselves. A movement. A cause to champion. A valiant fight against a real villain, be that villain flesh and blood or a harmful philosophy.

In business, if we don’t communicate clearly, we shrink. When we’re motivating a team, convincing shareholders, or engaging customers, we must define a desire our customers have or we will have failed to open a story gap and our audience will ignore us. Remember, customers want to know where you can take them. Unless you identify something they want, it’s doubtful they will listen.

Imagine your customer is a hitchhiker. You pull over to give him a ride, and the one burning question on his mind is simply Where are you going? But as he approaches, you roll down the window and start talking about your mission statement, or how your grandfather built this car with his bare hands, or how your road-trip playlist is all 1980s alternative. This person doesn’t care. All he wants to do is get to San Francisco with a flower in his hair!