Our world of ideas is relentlessly noisy. Because we’re constantly bombarded with messages, it’s harder than ever for business owners to cut through the clamor to reach their customers.
Donald Miller and his team at StoryBrands believe they have a solution. And apparently so do more than a million brands that are following their counsel.
Are you the marketing hotshot at a multibillion-dollar company? Miller says he can help. Are you a small business owner, a politician running for office, or an author promoting you book? Ditto.
Miller’s previous book Building a StoryBrand was a New York Times bestseller. He and his team have revised and updated it to StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customer Will Learn.
In a nutshell, what differentiates the StoryBrand framework from most other approaches to marketing?
“Most marketing campaigns get ignored,” Miller says. “StoryBrand positions the customer as the hero of the story and the brand as the guide helping the hero win. This approach is much more interesting to potential customers because all human beings see themselves as the hero of their own story. They’re looking for a guide who can help them win. This is the primary differentiator in our approach compared to other marketing strategies.”
Miller holds the view that “pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things. Because that’s demonstrably true, why do so many well-intentioned marketing people fail to recognize that reality?
“I honestly think it’s because most marketers don’t study words, they study brand colors and create style guides,” Miller says. “While style is important, it’s not as important as the words we use to sell our products. Marketing shouldn’t make people think, it should think for them. What I mean is, marketing needs to be short, simple, and clear. Most marketers fail because they try to be too clever. Clever is often just confusing. We say ‘don’t be clever, be clear.’”
What are the most common mistakes made by marketers?
Miller says the biggest mistake is confusing the customer by making the story about the company instead of the customer. Other common mistakes include:
- Too much information. Customers don’t have time to process complexity. Simplicity wins.
- Information that is confusing. Marketers often talk over their customers’ heads, assuming they know more about their area of expertise than they really do.
- No clear problem identification. If you don’t articulate the problem your product solves, customers won’t see the value.
So, what is it about stories that’s so compelling to the human brain?
“Stories keep our interest because they ask interesting questions and then dangle the answer out in front of us to make us want to stick around to find out what happens,” Miller says. “Will the guy marry the girl? Will the hero disarm the bomb? Will the team win the championship? In a good story, you have a clear story question and at the end of the story the question is answered. It’s kind of like telling a joke. There’s the setup and the punch line. In marketing, then, the message is the set up and the purchasing of the product is the only way to close the story loop.”
Steve Jobs made Apple customer-centric. What can we learn by how he did it?
“Jobs understood that customers don’t care about specs, they care about how a product improves their lives,” Miller says. “Instead of saying, ‘This iPod has 5GB of storage,’ Jobs said, ‘1,000 songs in your pocket.’ That’s customer-centric messaging—clear, simple, and emotionally engaging. Apple also mastered the role of the guide in the customer’s journey, making their users feel creative, powerful, and ahead of the curve.”
In Miller’s view, empathy plays a significant role in an effective marketing campaign.
“Empathy shows customers that you understand their struggles,” he says”. People trust businesses that acknowledge their pain and frustrations. When your marketing says, ‘We know what you’re going through, and we can help,’ you build a connection. But empathy alone isn’t enough. You also need authority. That’s why the StoryBrand framework combines empathy (‘we understand your problem’) with competence (‘we know how to solve it’).
Miller says human beings are motivated by loss aversion. Some may call this FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). What advice can he offer for identifying what customers (perhaps even unconsciously) wish to avoid?
“People are more motivated by avoiding loss than by gaining something new,” he says. “The key is to identify what’s at stake if they don’t take action. Ask: What problem will persist if they don’t buy? What frustration will they keep experiencing? What opportunities will they miss?”
Then, he advises, weave that into your messaging. “For example, instead of just saying ‘Our software improves productivity,’ say, ‘Stop wasting hours on manual tasks. Get your time back with our software.’ Frame your message around the pain they want to escape.”
Miller offers help with messaging and marketing campaigns at StoryBrand.AI. He explains what’s available at that site.
“At StoryBrand.AI, we provide businesses with tools to create clear messaging without hiring an expensive marketing team,” he says. You’ll find:
- A guided process for crafting your BrandScript
- Messaging templates based on the StoryBrand framework
- Automated marketing tools to clarify and execute your message
- Resources for building an effective sales funnel
Miller says this is a way for businesses to get StoryBrand-level clarity in their marketing—without needing to become an expert themselves.