Building a StoryBrand 2.0 Quotes

“Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that understand them too.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“In every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.”
― Donald Miller, Summary of Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

“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.”
― Donald Miller, Summary of Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

“Nearly every human being is looking for a guide (or guides) to help them win the day.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“Oprah Winfrey, an undeniably successful guide to millions, once explained the three things every human being wants most are to be seen, heard, and understood. This is the essence of empathy.”
― Donald Miller, Summary of Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

“Simply put, we must show people the cost of not doing business with us.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“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.”
― Donald Miller, Summary of Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

“pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things.”
― Donald Miller, Summary of Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

“Here are five questions most likely to generate the best response for a customer testimonial:        1.  What was the problem you were having before you discovered our product?        2.  What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?        3.  What was different about our product?        4.  Take us to the moment when you realized our product was actually working to solve your problem.        5.  Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“Every human being wakes up each morning and sees the world through the lens of a protagonist. The world revolves around us, regardless of how altruistic, generous, and selfless a person we may be.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“In business, if we don’t communicate clearly, we shrink.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“ROADMAP TASK FIVE: CREATE A SYSTEM THAT GENERATES REFERRALS”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“Nancy is a great friend! We highly recommend Nancy and her team!” While those are nice words, they do very little in telling a story of transformation.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“One of the best ways we can illustrate how we help our customers transform is through customer testimonials.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“Create reciprocity. I’ve never worried about giving away too much free information. In fact, the more generous a brand is, the more reciprocity they create. All relationships are give-and-take, and the more you give to your customers, the more likely they will be to give something back in the future. Give freely.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“The goal for our branding should be that every potential customer knows exactly where we want to take them:”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“Brands that help customers avoid some kind of negativity in life (and let their customers know what that negativity is) engage customers for the same reason good stories captivate an audience: they define what’s at stake.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“People don’t buy the best products; they buy the products they can understand the fastest.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“This means that when we ramble on and on about how we have the biggest manufacturing plant on the West Coast, our customers don’t care. Why? Because that information isn’t helping them eat, drink, find a mate, fall in love, build a tribe, experience a deeper sense of meaning, or stockpile weapons in case barbarians start coming over the hill behind our cul-de-sac. So what do customers do when we blast a bunch of noise”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“DOES YOUR MARKETING PASS THE GRUNT TEST? Just like there are three questions audiences must be able to answer to engage in a story, there are three questions potential customers must answer if we expect them to engage with our brand. And they should be able to answer these questions within five seconds of looking at our website or marketing material: 1.​What do you offer? 2.​How will it make my life better? 3.​What do I need to do to buy it? At StoryBrand we call this passing the grunt test. The critical question is this: “Could a caveman look at your website and immediately grunt what you offer?” Imagine a guy wearing a bearskin T-shirt, sitting in a cave by a fire, with a laptop across his lap. He’s looking at your website. Would he be able to grunt an answer to the three questions posed above? If you were an aspirin company, would he be able to grunt, “You sell headache medicine, me feel better fast, me get it at Walgreens”? If not, you’re likely losing sales.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“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.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“By talking about the problems our customers face, we deepen their interest in everything we offer.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“1.​What do you offer? 2.​How will it make my life better? 3.​What do I need to do to buy it?”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“If you confuse, you’ll lose.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“But this poses a problem,” Mike continued. “Processing information demands that the brain burn calories. And the burning of too many calories acts against the brain’s primary job: to help us survive and thrive.”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“There are no specific results mentioned or details about what life is like now that the transformation has taken place. If you’re asking customers to write a”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

“And they should be able to answer these questions within five seconds of looking at our website or marketing material:”
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen