Who is the author of Building a StoryBrand?

The author of Building a StoryBrand is Donald Miller.

Marketing & Sales

Building a StoryBrand Book Summary - Building a StoryBrand Book explained in key points

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Building a StoryBrand summary

Name: Building a StoryBrand
Rating: 4.7 (418 reviews)
Author: Donald Miller

Donald Miller

Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

4.7 (418 ratings)

22 mins

Brief summary

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller is a practical guide to help entrepreneurs and marketers clarify their message and create compelling stories that engage customers and drive business growth.

Topics

Strategy Marketing

Table of Contents

Building a StoryBrand
Summary of 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Sell your product by harnessing the power of storytelling.

We all like a good story. From the recitation of epic poems in Homer’s time to the modern-day binge-worthy web series, stories have always played a central role in human life. And whether you prefer novels or serialized podcasts, blockbusters or flash fiction, it’s more than likely that stories have, to some extent, shaped the person you are today.

So how can you harness the power of stories if, say, you’re trying to sell a product?

Well, that’s what you’re about to learn. By teaching you how to create your very own StoryBrand, these blinks not only help you stand out amid the competition, they also show you how to forge a meaningful relationship with your customers – and how to situate your product so that it’ll be nigh on impossible to resist.

You’ll also learn

why your company is never the main character;
how to make a problem into a villain; and
why it’s worse to lose money than to win it.

Your marketing message needs to be clear and speak to your customer’s needs.

If you had to come up with an easy way to increase sales, you might think, “Bingo! New website!”

But a new website, no matter how fancy and tricked out, won’t do the job if you don’t use language effectively.

So how can you harness the power of prose? Well, you’ll need to construct a clear message, one that presents your brand with no room for confusion. This message should communicate three things: Who you are. What you’re here to do. And why a customer should choose you instead of someone else.

If your message is a muddle, potential customers will struggle to decipher what you’re offering and quickly take their business elsewhere.

Let’s say you have a house-painting business, and a customer looking to add a new coat to his house visits your website. You could be the Michelangelo of housepainters, with the sleekest site ever, but none of that will matter if your website doesn’t clearly state that you paint houses.

When creating the perfect message, the best things to consider are the survival-related needs of your customers. How will your product or service help them survive and flourish?

To get you in the right frame of mind, let’s turn to psychologist Abraham Maslow. He devised a hierarchy of human needs, arranging them according to their importance to our survival.

First, come food and drink, and then safety and shelter. Third on the list is our need for companionship: we need both friends and people with whom to reproduce. Finally, we look to satisfy greater needs. These include everything from psychology to spirituality.

These needs can be leveraged to hone your message and entice customers. Most of us want to be accepted and find a partner and belong to a tribe, and everyone has to eat and drink – so use that knowledge to explain how your product will help customers satisfy those needs and thrive in life.

So, to take the housepainter example: focus your message on helping customers have their friends over more often – which speaks to their survival-related need for being part of a tribe. If your house looks rundown, people will be reluctant to visit you!

Make your marketing message stick by using the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework.

Have you ever been so engrossed in a novel or film that, without your even realizing it, a handful of hours flitted by in what seemed like minutes?

A good story is like a net; it catches our typically fleeting attention and holds it fast. And, once we’ve been caught by a story, we won’t soon forget it.

Your customers are the heroes of your story, and you should concentrate on one desire.

The most memorable stories have a hero. Star Wars has Luke Skywalker. The Lord of the Rings has Frodo. The Bourne Identity has Jason Bourne. But the hero of your brand story isn’t you – it’s the customer.

As you know, the SB7 Framework’s first module is character. And just as the customer is always right, the customer is also always the character. Your story should focus solely on the needs and wants of your customers; this way, when your customers want something in real life, your story, and thus your product, will quickly come to mind.

Focus on your customer’s “villain,” or internal problems, to engage them further.

Are you an adept problem solver? Some of us are at our sharpest when something needs solving, whether it’s a suboptimal process at work or an unproductive pattern in a romantic relationship. If you’re one of these people, then you’ll enjoy the SB7 Framework’s second module, which pivots on how your product or service solves customer problems.

Funnily enough, just by mentioning your customers’ problems, you’ll engage them with whatever you’re offering. People like to feel understood, and when you communicate that you’re aware that customers face difficulties, you also communicate understanding.

Guide your customers by being both empathic and authoritative.

At some point in pretty much every story, the hero gets into trouble. For instance, Luke Skywalker loses his hand and must grapple with the dark side. And Frodo must bear the horrible weight of the One Ring.

But then, right when things seem hopeless, along comes a guide – someone who imparts wisdom and gives support and puts the hero back on the right path.

To ensure customer purchases, lay out either a process plan or an agreement plan.

Let’s imagine that you’ve done a deft job of establishing yourself as your customers’ guide. They trust both you and your authoritative judgment. But, even if you manage this, there’s still no guarantee that they’ll buy your product.

Committing to purchasing is risky, and so you’ve got to facilitate the process by laying out a plan.

Spur customers toward making a purchase by giving either direct or transitional calls to action.

Congratulations! Your story is almost complete. However, there’s still a touch of work to do before you can relax and watch the clients pour in.

You’ve got to challenge your customers to take action.

Further motivate customers to buy by reminding them of what they’ll lose if they don’t.

It may be true that everybody loves a happy ending; however, it’s the possibility that a movie or a book or a web series will end unhappily that keeps us hooked. We stay glued to the page or the screen precisely because we fear the worst – that everything won’t turn out fine for the hero, that this character we’ve come to care for may fail or perish in the end.

In your brand story, you should capitalize on this fear of failure, because a similar fear guides our purchasing decisions, too.

Show your customers how your product will transform their lives by sharing a vision.

Stories are riveting because there’s always the possibility of a tragic end. But no one wants their own story to end tragically. And that’s why, after dangling the dangers of not purchasing the product before your customers’ eyes, you should lay out the happy ending offered by your product.

That happy ending is success.

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What is Building a StoryBrand about?

Building a StoryBrand (2017) is a practical guide to effectively marketing your company or product. By showing the power of a seven-part story-telling framework, these blinks help you and your company create a clear message that no customer will ignore.

Building a StoryBrand Review

Building a StoryBrand (2017) by Donald Miller is a book that helps businesses clarify their message and connect with customers in a powerful way. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers a step-by-step framework to create a compelling brand story that resonates with customers and drives results.
Through real-world examples and practical exercises, it provides actionable advice to help businesses communicate their value effectively.
The book's emphasis on simplicity and clarity makes it engaging and ensures that readers stay hooked, making it the opposite of boring.

Best quote from Building a StoryBrand

The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest.

—Donald Miller

Who should read Building a StoryBrand?

Marketing people
Storytellers
Leaders and executives

About the Author

Donald Miller is CEO of the marketing agency StoryBrand and a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Blue Like Jazz and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

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