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The Definitive Guide To Creating Clear Messaging With The StoryBrand Framework

Your guide to creating clearer marketing messages that engages more customers.

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StoryBrand was founded by author Donald Miller. His marketing agency of the same name adopted a strategy that has helped thousands of companies make millions of dollars by improving their message. And you can do the same for your brand.

StoryBrand created a proven marketing framework to help businesses understand the essence of their brand message. This strategy highlights the benefits over features. This kind of messaging proves to be more effective than the other way around. Businesses that successfully implemented the message have seen incredible results and growth. Some companies have increased revenues or expanded size by more than 40%

Story-based strategies are used to simplify the messaging for your business using a centralized solution that puts the consumer at the center of the story. This framework allows marketers to communicate their value to their ideal customers to increase growth. It's a tool designed to improve your marketing strategy by clarifying your message.

Clear messaging is the only way for you to rise above the noise. Your customers encounter thousands of brand information every day and the key to them finding you is for you to start sending clear signals that resonate with their needs.

All the stories you've loved from your childhood to the movies and shows you love to binge-watch today follow seven common elements. Donald Miller created the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework (SB7) and your brand can implement it on your marketing materials.

Donald Miller constructed these seven steps in this book Building a StoryBrand, not only as a guiding outline for your marketing approach but as principles. Each of these concepts creates a clear path for your customer as they transform from someone who is just browsing solutions to one that picks you as the best option. You can apply these principles to any type of marketing campaign that you launch (a website, an ad campaign, a direct sales campaign) You can even apply it to various aspects of your business if you want to.

The StoryBrand Marketing Framework allows businesses to shift focus from their successes to the real needs of customers. It transforms the customer into The Hero and your company into The Guide. This model speaks directly to your customers' needs and makes it easier for them to share the word about your business.

 

How Can StoryBrand Improve My Business?

 

clarity_icon-1StoryBrand brings clarity and linear understanding to your marketing. If you have a good narrative, you can attract the perfect audience. If you're able to tell a customer-centric story on your website or email and blog, it sends the right message to your customer that you have the solution for the problem they have. A consistent message and a proven strategy are the keys to in a time where the competition for your customer's attention is at its toughest.

Everyone can skip ads or choose to block them out entirely, but when they're on the lookout for brands like yours, you want to present yourself as clearly as possible. Confusing messages will only encourage your customer to leave, and it doesn't take much of an effort to click the X button.

framework_icon-1StoryBrand is a proven marketing framework that gives effective results for your business. It starts with traditional marketing styles and building out a mission into everything that your messaging is focused on. It's not about getting better at technology or building up my ever-growing list of marketing activities. The key to this work is clearness and following a proven framework that produces results in business for you.

Most people think about Marketing as Promotion. They portray their business as the hero when we really need to do quite the opposite. Business practices often rely too heavily on their old marketing tactics - talking about what they have done and boasting about success - not their customer.

Who would want some big-headed company to control his/her life? StoryBrand Marketing helps your business relate to your customer by placing them in the middle of everything you do. Whenever they encounter your marketing message, they will feel special knowing that someone understands what they're going through and that a way to a better life is not only possible but totally doable. It all starts when you get the right StoryBrand Guide or Agency for your business.

 

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Why Your Business Needs a StoryBrand Guide

A StoryBrand Guide is someone who can come up with a clear marketing message using elements of a story to grab your customer's attention and guide them towards making the right purchase decision. They can encourage and advise their clients through this process, acting as both coach or marketing consultant simultaneously. Some guides even help automate some parts of their client's marketing processes, simplifying the overall strategy that they should be focusing on more in-depth when looking for new leads/customers online.

We can even go the extra mile and help you automate your marketing and sales processes! Ultimately, the goal is to simplify your overall marketing strategy, focusing on designing messages that engage more customers and nurture existing clients.

Fine_TUing_iconYour StoryBrand Guide can help you develop an overall marketing strategy fine-tuned to your brand. We are hands-on experts that can help you improve your marketing through a strong, professionally-made brand style guide, and develop user-friendly websites and engaging social media content that converts visitors into customers.

We will ensure your brand is consistent throughout all of the different places people can engage with you online. Your overall messaging and social media content should reflect your overall business goals, while still staying true to your overall style guide. We will work with you to establish the overall feel and tone of your brand.

A good StoryBrand guide will learn about your business inside and out and develop close one on one working relationships with you and your team. Looking to find a portfolio to read, calling a reference, or conducting a trial period can be time-consuming. Plus, even if you have previously worked independently of an individual contractor you'll have noticed the wide quality gap. You will never know exactly how it will go until you start working together so get in touch with a good teacher. The ideal StoryBrand Guide is one person who can't do anything at once. It would be good for your business if you sought a guide to the Storybrand Process.

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StoryBrand guides help businesses of all sizes clarify their messaging, from Fortune 500 companies to small organizations and nonprofits. Your Storybrand guide follows the storybrand framework so that they can better communicate what makes them unique - whether it is a large or small business. Storybrand guides are also highly trained marketing professionals, so you can be sure that they will have the marketing insight to help you effectively communicate your unique message to current and prospective customers.

To attract a potential customer, your brand message should be clear. Having an unclear or confusing message can make people second-guess themselves and wonder if you are the right solution to their problem. If customers don't understand what you do, they will not invest in what you're offering because it is too risky for them. To stand out in your customer's eyes, make the message about what they want and need.

What Is The StoryBrand Framework?

The framework is a tool brands can use to create and communicate your story. This is the primary tool of a StoryBrand Certified marketer. It consists of seven key components that are critical for any clear and compelling narrative. It's not enough to tell a story, it has to be the kind that calls them to action.

This framework outlines a company's desired relationship with their customer and gives them a plan to get connected. Let's break them all down and learn how you can capture your customers with your story.

There are 7 parts to making a great marketing message that resonates with your customers:

hero_of_the_storyThe Hero Of The Story
The hero of the story is not you or your brand, it is the customer. The story should focus more on the struggles and needs of your customers.

thepproblem-v1The Problem
In stories, the hero almost always has problems they need to solve or challenges they need to overcome. It is your duty to offer solutions to these problems and deepen their interest in your products or services.

the_guide-1The Guide
Your customers are not looking for another hero, they are looking for a guide. Your brand has to be the guide that helps them win in life and save the day.

the_planThe Plan
A guide with a plan ensures customers that they are not going into a journey blindly. The plan offers customers a clear path to stability and greatly increases the chance of them making a purchase.

thecall to actionThe Call To Action
Heroes don’t take action unless they are challenged to do so. This is done by either urging them to make a purchase, schedule an appointment, or keep in touch with your brand until they are ready to take action.

the storyfailureThe Story Of Failure
Failure brings great stakes into a story because everyone is trying to avoid a tragic ending. You must tell your customers how doing business with you can keep from experiencing failure in life.

The Success StoryThe Success Story
You must let the hero know that you are leading them to success. Offer a vision that shows your customers how great their life would be if they do business with you.

 

How To Tell a Story With Your Brand

A brand, in its simplest form, is a promise. Yet people write mission statements that read like freeze-dried mottos. They sound so stiff and forced they might as well be saying, "We are committed to providing excellent customer service with an unwavering commitment to excellence."

Most brand messages fail because they lack stories. Stories don't just grab our attention; they keep it—as long as the story is about them. When you're trying to sell something, your brand message must be about them. When telling these stories, however, marketers get caught up in themselves. The end result - their marketing copy sounds stiff and confined when it should sound raw and wild.

A great story connects to the human brain unlike any other. In a world where a lot of new information wants to be absorbed, a story takes away the complications of creating new thought patterns. When you take the elements of the story into your web copy, landing pages, or any marketing material, the information you present follows a beaten path, making your pitch feel familiar.

Most stories have seven elements that carry the narrative and help us make sense of what's happening. Take the Star Wars saga as an example. The original trilogy follows a story of a hero wanting to achieve freedom through a righteous yet rebellious struggle. When Luke Skywalker bumps into Yoda, the path toward their success suddenly makes sense.

Most businesses talk about their products and services first instead of the problem they're offering to solve. If we want our customers to finally pay attention to what we're selling, we have to focus on the problem they're trying to solve. People won't remember the clever tagline you spent two hours making. They associate your brand with the problem you fix.

 

What is a BrandScript?

StoryBrand BrandScripts are the blueprints of your company's marketing messages. It has helped well-known brands like Pantene, Intel, and charity: water clarify their message and capture the focus of more people. StoryBrand founder, Donald Miller introduced us to the BrandScript, which follows the StoryBrand Framework, a roadmap inspired by the greatest stories ever told. This framework outlines seven elements found in all great stories in which your customer is the hero of the story and your brand is the guide.

A StoryBrand BrandScript is more detailed than corporate mission statements because they communicate to employees everything they need to know about the company's goals. It also helps companies optimize their marketing messages so that they can tell a story that resonates with their target audience.

Let's Create a BrandScript For Your Business

When your brand is sending a clear message, it engages your target market, unifies your company internally, and makes your story easier to share.
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BrandScript Examples You Can Use For Your Business Today

Every good story has a hero that wants something. Your business has to define what your clients want or what's causing them to call you. Identify your hero's wants and be sure to relate them to your product or service.

Knowing your customer also helps you narrow down your brand message. Many businesses fail because they don't know who they're talking to, really. They end up creating a website that looks all over the place, a message that feels all too general, or social media posts that are super easy to ignore.

Your customer's story is different from yours and their point of view is way more important than your company's accomplishments, so start by identifying what they want. Don't assume they have the same worldview as you do. Remember, you're there to help them - not the other way around.

If you're an interior designer, you can say:

My clients want to feel more comfortable in their space. They want to live in a place that feels like their own definition of home.

If you're a marketing agency, you can say:

Our clients want to reach more customers and to place their products/services in front of people who need them.

If you're a nonprofit organization, you can say:

We want to help bring clean and safe water to every person on the planet.

This last example is straight out of charity: water's website, an organization that uses the help of StoryBrand Certified Guides to get its message across. The StoryBrand Framework can be applied to businesses and organizations of any size. It can help businesses like yours to thrive.

 

Simple One-Liners That You Can Use To Engage More Customers

Everybody has one-liners that they use in marketing materials. You've heard them all before, "the best marketing agency on the market", "we offer one of the greatest business cards available today", etc. While one-liners are often great shortcuts to convey a message quickly, they're also worn out and no longer express how you truly feel about yourself or your product.

Everyone uses one-liners because they are easy to remember and better than writing a story loop. They sound good, so many business owners tend to use them again and again. But what happens when everyone is using one-liners? Think back to all of the marketing materials you've ever seen.

A StoryBrand One-Liner is an impressively concise introduction to your business. It should be between 2 and 3 statements, but not too much more than that - too much would be too complicated and oh so easy to ignore!

You can start creating yours with one swift sentence: "I'm ____, and we do ___." If filling in those blanks doesn't come easy for you, then check out these examples from our recent clients:

In a nutshell, unlike other business one-liners, a StoryBrand one-liner helps businesses clarify their message with simple sentences that resonate with their clients. It will explain how your service solves their problem, and how you can bring the desired end result.

Tell Your Brand's Story And Engage More Customers

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Get Started on Your StoryBrand BrandScript

StoryBrand has lots of worksheets that can help you clarify your message, but in this article, we'll dive into one - the BrandScript.

The BrandScript follows Donald Miller's StoryBrand Framework, which takes the elements of a story and incorporates them into your brand's messaging. Before you can tell a story with your marketing message, Miller teaches us to build the foundations first with the BrandScript.

Your BrandScript can be your brand's guide whenever you're creating copy, a website, emails, or simply interacting with your customer in any medium.

What the BrandScript does is peel off the proverbial layers in your marketing, ask the questions that matter to your business' growth, and make your messaging simple.
Have you ever tried to read bad pitches about marketing approaches? You know, those articles or pamphlets or flyers are supposed to make your marketing campaign more understandable and relatable.

If the marketing materials look long, detailed, and boring, you probably either tossed it in the trash without finishing, or you crammed it in your briefcase thinking you'll get to it later.

Unlike those unnecessarily long marketing approaches, your BrandScript will help you create marketing messages that are clear, concise, and easy to understand. It uses a story structure so customers understand it and want to know more!

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