Understanding Donald Miller's 7-Part StoryBrand Framework
Simply put, your company needs to tell its story. The best way to tell the story of your business is to start with how you helped make your customer successful.
In his book, Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller provides a 7-part story brand framework (The SB7) that will help you stay on track each step of the way. The SB7 is a proven system that reveals the secret to helping your customers understand how you can solve their problems.
It’s simple, but not easy. However, if you follow this system, 80% of your marketing will be done for you. You’ll speak with a single, clear voice about what makes you unique and how you can help your customers, voters and non profit participants. And, it will be so compelling that word of mouth will spread naturally.
The SB7 identifies the seven essential components of your customer's success story, and shows you how to weave that with your organization's compelling narrative:
1. Your customer wants something.
2. The customer encounters a problem; external, internal or philosophical.
3. The hero (the customer) needs help from the guide (your organization) while you show empathy and authority.
4. The guide (your organization) has a plan to help your customer fix the problem.
5. The customer must act on this plan, and it’s not easy!
6. There are consequences if your customer does or doesn’t act now which can result in success or failure.
7. If the customer acts, that get what they want, a transformation. But if they don't, something worse happens.
As a marketing automation agency, Brand You's job is to help you tell your story online. We work closely with our clients to help them craft their message for their customers and prospects.
Putting The StoryBrand Framework into Action with Your Website
If you want people to buy from you, you need to build a relationship with them. You can't just place an ad or blast out an email and expect the customer to come flocking to your store. That's not how it works.
This is the hardest part for most businesses, because they've been taught that business is about numbers and sales. But, what's more important than sales is trust. And if you have trust, you have a relationship.
1. Build a Connection with your Customer
What’s the best way to build a relationship with your customers so they keep coming back? The same way you create relationships with people in real life: by being honest.
It’s a simple concept, but it’s surprisingly difficult to practice. We all want to believe that we are worthy of trust, and as a result we tend to downplay our mistakes, gloss over negative information and leave out anything that could make us look bad.
In order to build a relationship with your customer, you need to engage them at every level. You have to understand their pain points, their desires, and where they are in the buying process.
The goal is not just to bring them back to you, but to convert them into a happy customer who will sing your praises online.
Chances are your website has too much on it. It's very difficult to design a website that doesn't have a lot going on, as most people want the wow-factor. They want the bells and whistles.
Instead of focusing on creating a flashy website, focus on your buyer's success story.
What do they really want?
What is their goal?
How can you help them get there?
Design your website around helping them achieve their goals. The more you can help people get what they want, the more likely you are to keep them returning again and again for more of what you provide.
Not only that, but when they refer you to their friends & family, they'll know exactly why they're referring you (people share with people who offer solutions). This is the foundation of trust building. And trust is everything in business.
2. Words of Your Story are What Sell
Your website is a story told through text, imagery, and calls to action. The goal for your branding should be that every potential customer knows exactly where we want to take them.
When visitors arrive at your website, they should feel like they’ve been told a story that matches their situation and needs. A good story doesn’t just keep the visitor engaged. It makes them care about the characters and want to know what happens next.
The words you use on your website can either attract or repel potential customers. If you randomly asked a potential customer where your brand wants to take them, would they be able to answer?
Your brand will almost certainly grow when you define a desire for your customers. No matter what industry you're in, it's likely that some people will understand exactly what you do and others won't have a clue.
But how do you explain your offering in clear, concise language? Website copy is notoriously difficult to write. How do you say enough to explain your complex offerings without cluttering up a website with too much text?
1. Write clear copy that tells the story of your business and its offerings without leaving anything out.
2. Keep your language simple and straightforward to avoid confusing customers with jargon or complicated sales tactics.
3. Make sure your calls-to-action match what customers are looking for — not what you want them to do — by testing different variations of your CTAs until you find the best wording possible.
Creating a memorable and shareable message is a key part of any successful Digital Strategy. The words you use to communicate with customers, prospects and partners can make or break your website, social media accounts and other online platforms is essential to nearly every aspect of your business.
When it comes to websites, you should see everything as a test. Try it, gather data, and make it better.
3. Say Less. Eliminate Unnecessary Words and Fluff
You want to make sure visitors can quickly answer three questions:
What does your company offer?
How can it make their life better?
How can they get it?
Unnecessary words and fluff are one of the biggest reasons a prospect will move on. If you’re spending ad dollars to bring people to a website or landing page that doesn’t resonate or is hard to understand, you’re wasting your money.
No insider jargon your audience doesn’t understand or have time for. And ,no marketing-speak (we’re not all that “solution-oriented”). Only use words that contribute to genuine understanding and action.
If you think of your site as a real conversation with a potential customer, you’ll be less likely to spew meaningless buzzwords. This may sound really basic, but it’s a good reminder to make sure the words on your site are clear and on point.
Think of your site as talking to a caveman who only has 10 seconds to figure out what you do, why they should care and how they can buy from you.
4. Talk to Your Clients Like You Care: Empathy and Authority
With your storytelling, you have to have a foundation of empathy. You have to imagine what it’s like to be in your customer’s shoes, and how you can make their lives better with your product or service.
Empathy is a universal principle in business, but it is often misunderstood. Empathy is not sympathy or pity, nor does it involve agreeing with someone. It is the ability to relate to another person's feelings, point of view and perspective.
Your empathy allows you to understand what it's like to be in a similar situation, so you can help your customer find an appropriate solution for them. At the same time, you want them to feel like they’re getting the inside scoop on something exclusive that only they can benefit from.
That’s where authority comes in–you want to position yourself as an expert. Authority shows that you have the competence and vision to guide your customer to a solution. You've done this before, and your expertise is well established.
Keep in mind that empathy and authority are not opposites. In fact, they go hand in hand.
You also want to show some social proof by showing off what other people are saying about you–testimonials are a great way to do this, but even just a few professional recommendations will go far in giving customers confidence that you know what you’re talking about.
Finally, sharing some well-written reviews of your product or service is a great way to bring everything together by showing off both your authority and your empathy–your customer can see that other people are saying good things about you, but the reviews also give them insight into what those people are actually going through and how they were helped by whatever it is that you sell.
5. Guide Your Customer to Success and Show them What Failure Looks Like
It’s not enough to just tell your customers what you do. You need to tell them how you make their lives better, healthier and more fulfilling.
This language is positive, and hopefully inspiring. Identifying your customer’s aspirational identity is a great way to make sure that you are appealing to the right audience because it gives customers hope that they can be happy in the future.
As long as your customer is able to imagine a world where your product is helping them become someone new and different, they are likely to feel compelled to take action and purchase from you. This positive attitude toward the future will stay with them even after they purchase your product.
You should use language that shows them the contrast between where they are now and where they aspire to be. The important thing is that your customer knows exactly what he or she wants in the future and how your product can help them get there.
There are a lot of things to consider when you're trying to create a great brand, but one of the most important ones is to define what it means for someone to own your product.
This is called "transformation".
There are two kinds of transformation that matter here:
Failure: Negative stakes are the bad things that will happen to the customer if she doesn't buy your product. These could be anything from mild inconveniences to bigger problems like losing money or being socially ostracized.
A good example of this might be a liquor manufacturer making claims about how its products will allow you to be more confident and attractive in social settings, meaning that if you don't drink its products you might be missing out in those two areas.
Success: Positive stakes are the wonderful things that will happen to a customer if she buys your product and uses it to solve her problem.
In addition to making her life easier or more fun, these should also have status value -- showing your customers that they are cool and popular because they use your product.
A good example might be a luxury skin-care line that promises not only will its products make you look younger, but you'll also be envied by your circle of friends.
Build the Website That Answers Your Customers Questions
Any business that wants to ensure a long-term successful Digital Strategy needs to learn how to use its business website as a sales tool that both tells their company's customer success stories, as well as providing a well-designed online help center as your portal to answering customer's questions.
This is one of the best ways to build trust with your audience and provide the authority that you’re known for. Treat your website as you would any other product that you are selling, and start making the lives of your customers easier today.
A website is ever-evolving, always changing and improving. The goal is to develop a website that truly answers your customer’s questions while telling your business story.
The more information you collect about your customers, the clearer it will be to provide the exact products or services your customers need and to grow and scale your business.
Today’s customer is especially impatient and seeks instant gratification. Once your messaging is in place, you must simply repeat the process with new customers and prospects with marketing automation.
In the end, all the effort you put into creating and optimizing your website will result in better sales and a more satisfied customer base.
Need Help?
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