Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

by Donald Miller

“Water is free,” Jay Z quipped. “Music is $6 but no one wants to pay for music.” He continued, somewhat confusingly, “You should drink free water from the tap—it’s a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist.”4 Social media, especially Twitter, eviscerated Jay Z and Tidal. Thousands reminded him to check with the people who paid his bills to discover water wasn’t actually free. Overnight, an artist who built his career speaking for the people sounded entitled. T...

The crucial mistake: Jay Z failed to answer the one question lingering in the subconscious of every hero customer: How are you helping me win the day? Tidal existed to help the artists win the day, not customers. And so it failed. Always position your customer as th...

The Story Is Not About Us The larger point here is simple: the day we stop losing sleep over the success of our business and start losing sleep over the success of our customers ...

In stories, the hero is never the strongest character. Heroes are often ill-equipped and filled with self-doubt. They don’t know if they have what it takes. They are often reluctant, being thrown into the story rather than willingly engaging the plot. The guide, however, has already “been there and done that” and has conquered the hero’s challenge in their own backstory.

The guide, not the hero, is the one with the most authority. Still, the story is rarely about the guide. The guide simply plays a role. The story must always be focused on the hero, and if a storyteller (or business leader) forgets this, the audience will get confused about who the story is really about and they will lose interest.

This is true in business, in politics, and even in your own family. People are looking for a guide to...

Those who realize the epic story of life is not about them but actually about the people around them somehow win in the end. It’s counterintuitive, but it’s true. In fact, leaders who think the story of life is all about them may achieve temporary succe...

The two things a brand must communicate to position themselves as the guide are Empathy Authority

When Luke Skywalker meets Yoda, he encounters the perfect guide. Yoda is the endearing character who understands Luke’s dilemma and empathetically coaches him to use the Force. This empathy would go nowhere, of course, were it not for Yoda’s authority as a Jedi himself. Yoda understands Luke’s dilemma and has mastered the skills Luke must develop if he is going to win the day.