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August 8 - December 12, 2021
The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things. And if we haven’t clarified our message, our customers won’t listen.
Have new hires been given talking points they can use to describe what the company offers and why every potential customer should buy it?
How many sales are we missing out on because customers can’t figure out what our offer is within five seconds of visiting our website?
The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest.
The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive.
This means that if we position our products and services as anything but an aid in helping people survive, thrive, be accepted, find love, achieve an aspirational identity, or bond with a tribe that will defend them physically and socially, good luck selling anything to anybody.
The second mistake brands make is they cause their customers to burn too many calories in an effort to understand their offer.
In other words, there’s a survival mechanism within our customers’ brain that is designed to tune us out should we ever start confusing them.
The key is to make your company’s message about something that helps the customer survive and to do so in such a way that they can understand it without burning too many calories.
he said, story is a sense-making device. It identifies a necessary ambition, defines challenges that are battling to keep us from achieving that ambition, and provides a plan to help us conquer those challenges.
In a story, audiences must always know who the hero is, what the hero wants, who the hero has to defeat to get what they want, what tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win, and what wonderful thing will happen if they do.
If we haven’t identified what our customer wants, what problem we are helping them solve, and what life will look like after they engage our products and services, for example, we can forget about thriving in the marketplace. Whether we’re writing a story or attempting to sell products, our message must be clear. Always.
It was as though he was answering a hundred questions his customers had never asked.
People don’t buy the best products; they buy the products they can understand the fastest.
Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.
This is why indie films, which often break from the formula to gain critical acclaim, fail miserably at the box office. Critics are hungry for something different, yet the masses, who do not study movies professionally, simply want accessible stories.
What does the hero want? 2. Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants? 3. What will the hero’s life look like if she does (or does not) get what she wants?
1. What do you offer? 2. How will it make my life better? 3. What do I need to do to buy it?
position ourselves as their guides.
Brands that position themselves as heroes unknowingly compete with their potential customers.
People are looking for a philosophy they can embody or a series of steps they can take to solve their problems.
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. Without clear calls to action, people will not engage our brand.
Likewise, if there’s nothing at stake in whether or not I buy your product, I’m not going to buy your product.
we must show people the cost of not doing business with us.
for how great a customer’s life could be if they engage your products or services.
go to mystorybrand.com. Because you bought this book, you get free access.
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The idea is that you place a gap between a character and what they want.
As you create a BrandScript for your overall brand, focus on one simple desire and then, as you create campaigns for each division and maybe even each product, you can identify more things your customer wants in the subplots of your overall
At the highest level, the most important challenge for business leaders is to define something simple and relevant their customers want and to become known for delivering on that promise.
Never go down the path of being a fearmonger. There are plenty of actual villains out there to fight.
What was the internal problem Apple identified? It was the sense of intimidation most people felt about computers.
we can identify that frustration, put it into words, and offer to resolve it along with the original external problem, something special happens.
One day, though, I was watching television and a commercial came on for National. It showed a guy walking through the rental office without talking to anybody. The character talked about how he hated having to make conversation with salespeople and how he loved walking straight to his car. I immediately changed rental car companies and have been happy ever since.
Self serve
A philosophical problem can best be talked about using terms like ought and shouldn’t. “Bad people shouldn’t be allowed to win” or “People ought to be treated fairly.”
Is there a deeper story your brand contributes to?
Creating a safer world withiinternet!
there a single villain your brand stands against? And what external problem is that villain causing? How is that external problem making your customers feel? And why is it unjust for people to have to suffer at the hands of this villain?
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
When we empathize with our customers’ dilemma, we create a bond of trust. People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that understand them too.
three things every human being wants most are to be seen, heard, and understood. This is the essence of empathy.
Once we’ve identified our customers’ internal problems, we simply need to let them know we understand and would like to help them find a resolution.
Avoid stacking ten to twenty testimonials;
Three is a great number to start with
avoid rambling testimonials that heap endless praise on your brand. It won’t take long for a customer to trust y...
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How many satisfied customers have you helped? How much money have you helped them save? By what percentage have their businesses grown since they started working with you?
feel free to include small logos or indications of those awards at the bottom of your page.
Once we express empathy and demonstrate authority, we can position our brand as the guide our customer
After potential customers listen to us give a keynote or visit our webpage or read an e-mail blast we’ve sent, they’re all wondering the same thing: What do you want me to do now?
But when we spell out how easy this whole thing is and let them know they can get started in three easy steps, they are more likely to place an order.
Even though these steps may seem obvious, they aren’t obvious to our customers.
THE PROCESS PLAN
