Overview of the StoryBrand Framework

There are many effective marketing strategies that you can use for your business. However, one of the most popular ones is the StoryBrand framework. Many companies focus on it because it is effective and simple. Keep reading, so you know what it is about.

What Is It

To understand the StoryBrand framework, you need to know what storytelling is. It is an approach used in marketing to engage your customers by using compelling stories.

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Suppose you want to get your clients to buy hamburgers from your restaurant. Without storytelling, you might want to tell your clients how healthy your food is and the reasonable prices it has.

However, if you use storytelling, you must make them imagine the experience of eating one of your hamburgers. That way, they feel connected to your product and want to consume it.

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The StoryBrand framework is a type of storytelling that highlights the customer’s importance. The creator of this approach is Donald Miller. He believed that phenomenal businesses understand the ultimate secret: clients are the brand’s heroes, not the brands themselves.

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework follows very simple steps, but the most important part is understanding the client’s role and yours. You are not going to just sell them a product. You’re also going to help them solve a problem, and they can buy from you as a sign of trust and appreciation.

When you focus on the story instead of the product, your clients can feel connected to what you are selling. Consequently, they want to buy from you. They know you are there to help them, and they gladly want to pay for your assistance.

How to Use It

Donald Miller created a series of easy steps to understand how to use the StoryBrand framework.

Now that so many marketers understand the importance of storytelling, many companies want to understand the StoryBrand approach and apply it to their business. The following steps can help you understand how to use the framework:

Create a Character

In the first part of the framework, you must create an ideal customer. This should be the most perfect client you want to work with. Remember that the person is going to become the hero of the story, so you should describe the customer in detail.

Include a Problem

You could not help your customers if they didn’t have issues that need solving. Therefore, in the second step, you should describe your client’s problem in three categories: external, internal, and philosophical.

For the external issue, you could ask yourself what physical challenges your client is going through. Then, from an internal standpoint, try to determine what feelings your customers experience but can’t express.

Finally, the philosophical area is about how your brand can help the story’s hero conquer injustice.

Hero Meets the Guide

In the third phase, your client meets the guide. It’s that “Eureka!” moment when Luke meets Obi-Wan, or Harry meets Dumbledore. To ensure that your brand is the guide, you should speak with trust and authority.

Therefore, you need to include certifications, diplomas, testimonials, and anything that can guarantee the nature of your knowledge and expertise. However, you should not go too overboard talking about yourself – otherwise, you risk becoming the story’s hero and stealing your client’s spotlight.

The Guide Gives a Plan

When you meet your clients, you should offer a plan to solve their issues. Now that you know their problems, you should include a three to five-step process that shows them what they should do to resolve them.

Call to Action

One of the plan’s most important aspects is that it calls your customers to action. Once you explain what you will do to solve the issue together, you can tell them to “schedule an appointment,” “call you,” and more.

Success!

The sixth step is about helping your clients visualize how their life can look if they get help from you. Telling them, they can improve is not enough. You must make them imagine.

So, walk them through the process and describe how the future can change if you work together.

Avoid Failures

It will not be a story if your hero does not risk something. So, in the seventh and last step, you should make them see what would happen if they did not get help from you.

How the StoryBrand framework Helps Small Businesses

The StoryBrand approach is one of the most useful strategies for small businesses. It is a framework designed to help you connect with customers differently, so it can aid you in improving the client experience, communication skills, and branding.

Small businesses that use the StoryBrand approach can take advantage of the two most basic aspects of human nature: the need to thrive and preserve calories.

When you use the StoryBrand approach, you are directly appealing to your clients’ need to grow. Likewise, you explain the hardships they would endure if they did not work with you and how getting your guidance would help them easily overcome their issue. Therefore, you connect deeply with their primal human instincts and use them to have a successful branding strategy.

How It Is Different from Other Frameworks

The StoryBrand approach is entirely different from other frameworks because it establishes the client as the hero of the story and clearly communicates the message.

Thousands of customers refrain from investing in some of the best products and services that brands offer. In many cases, that is because the businesses use the wrong frameworks to communicate complicated messages.

With the StoryBrand approach, you efficiently communicate the message. That way, your clients understand it, identify with it, and spend money on your products or services.

Final Thoughts

The StoryBrand framework is one of the handiest marketing strategies you can implement in your business. It is a seven-step process where you must make your client the main star of the action. If you use it, you end with your brand being the guide that helps them thrive and have a better future. This is especially important when you are spending money on promoting your products or services. The better your story, the higher the return on your investment on your ads.