“Customer should be the hero of the story,
not your brand”.

GOSPEL TRUTH
“Pretty websites don’t sell things. WORDS sell things.”
“You need to get your brand message SIMPLE and STRAIGHT.”
“Human brain is drawn towards CLARITY, away from confusion.”

Things to Keep in Mind while Creating Brand Message
 Can you say your message easily?
 Is it simple, relevant and repeatable?
 Can the entire team repeat company’s message in a compelling manner?
“The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to
digest!”

Importance of Message Clarity
 When you craft a brand message focus on the aspects of the offers that help people
survive and thrive.
 When a prospect comes to your website or looks at any of your marketing material, they
should be able to figure out three things within the first five seconds.
 What you offer
 How it will make their lives better
 What they need to do in order to buy it

Mistakes that brands commit
 Fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive.
 Giving out too much of random information to people to process.
“When you confuse you lose!”

Solution - Use Story
 Create story that identifies a necessary ambition.
 Defines challenges that are battling to keep us from achieving that ambition.
 Provides a plan to help us conquer those challenges.
“Use story because it is a sense making device.”

Story in a Nutshell

The Simple SB7 Framework
 Principle 1: A Character
The customer is the hero, not your brand.
 Principle 2: Has a Problem
Companies tend to sell solutions to external problems, but
customers buy solutions to internal problems.
 Principle 3: Meets a Guide
Customers aren’t looking for another hero, they’re looking for a
guide.

The Simple SB7 Framework
 Principle 4: Who Gives Them a Plan
Customer trust a guide who has a plan.
 Principle 5: And Calls Them to Action
Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take
action.
 Principle 6: That Helps Them Avoid Failure
Every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending.
 Principle 7: And ends in a success
Never assume people understand how your brand can change their
lives. Tell them.

Principle 1
A Character

The Customer is the Hero, Not Your Brand
The most important business challenge for you is to define something simple and relevant to
your customers and become known for delivering on that.
There are a few things you need to get right at this stage:
 Open up a story gap
 Choose a single focus
 Choose a desire relevant to your customers’ survival
Principle 1

Open Up a Story Gap
 The first thing that all great stories do is open up a gap between where the hero is right
now and where they want to go. Once that happens, the brain starts working on filling in
that gap.
 When we define something that our prospects and customers want, we create a story gap in
their mind with them wondering if you can fill the gap for them.
Principle 1

Choose a Single Focus
 Never focus on multiple things.
 Your brand needs to be known for one story, and one story only!
Principle 1

Choose a Desire Relevant to Their Survival
It's not enough to create any old desire, it needs to be something that is relevant to the
customers’ survival, which these days means things like:
 Conserving financial resources;
 Considering time;
 Building social networks;
 Gaining status;
 Accumulating resources;
 The innate desire to be generous; or
 The desire for meaning
Principle 1

Principle 2
Has a Problem

Customers Buy Solutions To Internal Problems
All great stories include problems that the hero must overcome. When we clearly identify these
problems we increase the customer's interest in the story we are telling.
Principle 2

Every Story Needs a Villain
Every great story includes a villain that needs to be defeated. There are four characteristics of
a great one:
 The villain should be a root problem. For instance, frustration isn't a villain - the high taxes
that make us frustrated, are.
 The villain should be relatable - your customers should immediately recognize it as
something they hate.
 The villain should be singular - too many villains and a story falls apart.
 The villain should be real - don't invent a villain that doesn't exist.
Principle 2

Principle 3
Meets a Guide

Customers Are Looking For A Guide
 If the heroes in the story could solve their own problems, they wouldn't ever get in trouble in
the first place. That's why they need a guide and how your brand can become the Yoda to
your customer's Luke SkyWalker.
 There are two things that you must do to position your brand as a guide.
 Express Empathy
 Demonstrate Authority
“We either position the customer as the hero and the brand as the guide, or we die.”
Principle 3

Principle 4
Who Gives Them a Plan

Customers Trust a Guide Who Has a Plan
 Imagine your customers standing at the side of a rushing creek they want to cross. They
hear a waterfall downstream and start to wonder what might happen if they fell in and went
over the falls.
 In order to help your customers feel confident in buying your solution, you need to place
large stones in the creek that they can use to get across safely.
 Basically, they need a step-by-step plan on how to use your product or service to solve their
problem. There are two plans that you should consider creating.
 The Process Plan
 The Agreement Plan
Principle 4

The Process Plan
 This is the plan that tells your customer how to buy your product, how to use your product,
or both. These plans are about eliminating confusion.
 How many steps should the process have?
 It varies, but as per the author there are at least three, but no more than six.
Principle 4

The Agreement Plan
 This is a list of agreements you make with your customers to help them overcome the fear
of doing business with you.
 The best way to do this is to list all the things that your customer might be concerned about
around your product or service and then address each of those with an agreement that
eliminates the fear.
 Consider giving this plan a name so that it increases the perceived value of everything your
brand offers.
Principle 4

Principle 5
And Calls Them to Action

Customers Do Not Take Action Unless The Are Challenged To Take
Action
 Simply put, you need to ask your customer to take whatever action you need in order to
advance the sale.
 There are two different kinds of calls to action.
 Direct Calls To Action
 Transitional Calls To Action
Principle 5

Direct Calls To Action
 Direct calls to action include things like "buy now" or "schedule an appointment" - it's the
ultimate step you want them to take while they are on your website.
 Miller suggests that you place a "Buy Now" button in the top right corner of your website and
that you should repeat above the fold and then again as people scroll down your website.
Principle 5

Transitional Calls To Action
 These are the intermediary steps you can ask your customer to take before they purchase.
They contain less risk for the customer and are usually free. Some examples include asking
people to watch a webinar, download a pdf, or take a free trial.
 They do three powerful things for your brand:
 They stake a claim to your territory. If you want to be a leader in a certain territory,
stake a claim before your competition beats you to it.
 They create reciprocity. The more generous you are in giving away free information,
the more likely your customers will purchase from you in the future.
 They position your brand as the guide.
Principle 5

Principle 6
That Helps Them Avoid Failure

Every Human Being Is Trying To Avoid A Tragic Ending
 Every great story includes what's at stake. They always tell you the terrible things that will
happen to the hero if they don't succeed.
 In your case, the question you need to answer is what the customer will lose if they don't
use your product or service.
 Most people struggle with this because they don't want to be perceived as a fear monger,
but the reality is that 99.9 percent of brands don't focus on the negative stakes
enough.
Principle 6

 There is delicate balance. Ratchet up the fear factor too high and people start to block out
the fear. Too little and there's no motivation to solve the problem.
 This part of the process asks you to identify the top few things that your customers should
be trying to avoid.
 For instance, if you were a used car business you might consider using the fears of
 getting ripped off by a used car salesman
 being stuck with a lemon
 feeling taken advantage of
Principle 6

Principle 7
And ends in a success

Never Assume People Understand How Your Brand Can Change Their
Lives. Tell Them
 The ending to the story should be specific and clear.
 You need to make it crystal clear what your customers lives will be like if they use your
product or service.
 There are three main ways that storytellers end a story
 Winning Power and Position (The Need for Status)
 Union That Makes The Hero Whole (The Need for Something External to Create
Completeness)
 Ultimate Self-Realisation or Acceptance (The Need to Reach Our Potential)
Principle 7

Winning Power and Position
(The Need for Status)
 If your brand can help your customer feel more esteemed and respected and appealing in a
social context, you are offering something they want.
 Brands like Mercedes and Rolex sell status as much as they do luxury.

Union That Makes The Hero Whole
(The Need for Something External to Create Completeness)
 The idea here is that the hero is rescued by somebody or something else that they needed
in order to be made complete. Things that fall into this category include a reduced workload
(your tool helps them do more with less) and more time (your tool helps them "fit it all in").

Ultimate Self-Realisation or Acceptance
(The Need to Reach Our Potential)
 We all feel the need to reach our potential. At the core of this need is the desire for self-
acceptance. Some of the ways you can do this include inspiration (connecting your brand to
inspirational feats), acceptance (helping people accept themselves as they are) and
transcendence (inviting customers to participate in a movement).

Conclusion
 The process of creating a StoryBrand is simple, but it's not easy.
 Clearly communicating how your company can participate in the transformation of your
customer not only helps you sell more to everybody who hears about you, it also helps you
create brand evangelists.
 It is the most powerful marketing tool of all.
“In the end, it's worth its weight in gold. Until next time...”

References
Vectors graphics designed by , www.freepik.com, www.Vecteezy.com
https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/044531297/supervillain-team.html
https://storybrand.com/log-in-course-or-brandscript/
https://storybrand.com/bonuses/

Thank-You
Mehakdeep Grewal
mdgrewal25@gmail.com