Using the power of storytelling in your business
This article is not about getting you to buy new technology or adding MORE to your ever growing list of marketing tasks to grow your business.
It’s all about clarity.
Getting clarity in your business is easy when you’re following a proven framework that can actually get you results.
It all starts with flipping traditional marketing approaches and building a mission into the very core of your business messaging. It’s something called StoryBrand, and it’s a game-changer.
What Is StoryBrand?
In 2017, Donald Miller wrote a book called Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen which I read in late 2018, after which I was hooked.
StoryBrand is a storytelling framework that helps businesses get to the heart of their brand message. It takes the traditional “features vs. benefits” marketing narrative much deeper and instead focuses on bringing true empathy and connection into the heart of your brand message.
How implementing the Storybrand framework can grow your business
Businesses that have implemented that message effectively have seen amazing results and growth— some have doubled in revenue or grown in size by up to 40%.
What is the StoryBrand Framework?
Storytelling is an essential part of human communication. We remember stories and connect with stories. It gives us a framework for understanding the world.
So when you learn to use story effectively in your brand messaging, you create an authentic connection to the audience who benefits from your services and/or programs.
The 7-part StoryBrand framework helps you dive deep into each piece of your brand story.
Here is the outline: A Character has a Problem and meets a Guide who gives them a Plan and calls them to take Action that ends in Success and helps them Avoid Failure.
Side Note:
It’s a format that applies to many stories you’ve read, watched or listened to: Star Wars, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Good Will Hunting, Moana… In fact, once you are trained to identify it in practically every story, it might ruin some of them for you. Or, you might accidentally ruin a story for someone else who is happily watching… (Just warning you!)
How can StoryBrand Grow Your Business?
Here are the key elements to applying StoryBrand to your brand messaging:
• Showing your customers that you believe they are the most important character in the story you’re telling
• Empathizing with them and validating the feelings their problems give them
• Letting them know that your business is here to help and guide them
• Giving them a clear path forward using the products and services you have designed for them
• Letting them know you are aware of the pitfalls they are facing if they don’t take action
• Giving them a clear picture of the success they will experience after working with you
What are the top things to look out for when applying a StoryBrand brandscript?
While the 7-part StoryBrand Framework is beautifully simple, its apparent simplicity can lead people into thinking that it’s easy to implement. But it’s not until you commit to really going through it that you get to experience how confusing and cluttered most of the messages we are used to creating are.
As Donald Miller says, “If you confuse you lose”.
Most people think of marketing as self promotion–where you just talk about how useful your business is, how qualified you are, how much success you’ve had, and all the wonderful things you can do. But truly effective marketing isn’t that at all!
It can be very challenging to make this shift in your approach and your brand voice to put yourself firmly in your customer’s shoes when you sit down to communicate anything about your business.
Which is why most businesses benefit from having a Certified StoryBrand Guide to work through the parts of the process that are hard.
One of the common questions I’ve heard is: “But don’t I have to prove to my clients that I’m the expert in order to guide them?” Which is actually an excellent question because, yes, you do. It’s just that your expertise isn’t the part you lead with. That can be very hard to let go of!
I have also worked with clients convinced they know the problems their customers are facing only to be surprised to discover that they hadn’t delved deep enough. I love walking my clients through that deeper exploration to get them to identify the real, underlying needs that they serve.
That’s where a StoryBrand Guide can help to make the process as simple - and clear - as possible for you. You’ll get a personalized strategy and an actionable plan focused on getting you results.
Are you interested in learning more about storytelling, or ready to see what StoryBrand can do for your business?
I am always delighted to hop on the phone to chat to people about how this works. If you’d like me to do a quick review of your website and give you the top 3 things you can implement right away to see a difference, schedule a 20 minute call with me. I’m here to get you reaching your business goals with confidence.
Nathalie Pincham with Donald Miller, CEO of StoryBrand
