StoryBrand Framework: The Ultimate Guide
Our customers are bombarded with information every day and, in general, have very low attention spans.
According to Nielsen Norman Group, when a visitor lands on our website we have ten seconds to capture their attention or they’ll leave.
Contrast that with a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat or a book you simply can’t put down.
Story is the one thing that can captivate a human being’s attention (for hours, even!).
The proven power of story transmutes noise by organizing information in a way that people are compelled to listen.
The best part?
All great stories are about survival—either physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual—and follow a similar storyline we can implement in our own brands.
Enter the StoryBrand framework by Donald Miller.
What’s great about the StoryBrand framework is that it takes a series of random events and distills them into the essence of what really matters, allowing us to be seen, heard, and understood in the marketplace which, in turn, helps us grow our businesses.
Furthermore, StoryBrand empowers us to support our clients in overcoming their challenges and achieving their goals by reiterating powerful messages that “brand” us into their story.
The StoryBrand—and every successful movie plot—framework is simple:
A character who wants something encounters a problem before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a guide steps into their lives, gives them a plan, and calls them to action. That action helps them avoid failure and ends in success.
That’s it! Let’s dive in.
Because the human brain is drawn toward clarity and away from confusion, the simpler and more predictable our messaging, the easier it is for the brain to process.
Story formulas put everything in order so the brain doesn’t have to work to understand what’s going on.
They identify an ambition, define challenges that keep us from achieving it, and provide a plan to help conquer those challenges.
When we define these elements as it relates to our brand, we create a clear roadmap that leads clients down a user journey to booking our services.
StoryBrand Principle 1: the Customer is the Hero, not your Brand
Every story needs a hero. And leaders typically want to make themselves the hero of the story (guilty 🙋♀️).
But we’re not the hero, our clients are.
When we position our clients as the hero and our brand as the guide (with empathy + authority) we’re immediately recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges.
This makes a significant difference in the way they remember us, understand us, and ultimately, engage with our services.
Once we identify who our client is (the character in our story), we have to ask ourselves what they want as it relates to our brand.
The catalyst for any story is that the hero wants something. The rest of the story is a journey about discovering whether the hero will get what they want.
When we clearly define our client’s desires, we inherently bind them to us.
Then, when they view our brand as a trustworthy and reliable guide, they’ll be even more drawn to working with us.
Furthermore, identifying our clients’ desires opens what’s called a “story gap”—a gap between a character and what they want.
Story gaps are essential elements in a well-written story; to understand the power of a story gap is to understand what compels a human brain toward a desire.
The opening and closing of a story gap is a magnetic force that drives much of human behavior.
Opening a story gap highly motivates our clients to contact us because we’ve clearly identified desires that demand resolution.
As business leaders, we must define something simple and relevant our clients want and then become known for delivering on that promise.
Remember, people will always choose a story that helps them survive and thrive.
Clearly defining what our clients want, and connecting it with their desire for survival, opens an enticing story gap.
Examples of “survival” include:
Saving time (opportunity cost)
Building social networks (human beings have a strong desire to nurture and be nurtured)
Gaining status (luxury brands are actually selling an identity associated with power, prestige, and refinement)
Accumulating resources (increased productivity and revenue)
The innate desire to be generous (humans have an enormous potential for generosity; we want other people to survive too!)
The desire for meaning (invite people to participate in something greater than themselves)
When a visitor lands on our website, if we don’t say something (and say something quickly) that helps them survive and thrive, they’ll leave.
Open the story gap and ensure clients know exactly where we want to take them.
Storybrand Principle 2: brands sell solutions to external problems, but customers buy solutions to internal problems
When we talk about the problems and struggles our clients face we inherently strengthen their desire for our services while simultaneously helping them recognize we’re a brand that understands them.
Put simply, the more we talk about the problems our customers experience, the more interest they’ll have in our brand.
Pro tip: every good story needs a villain.
Storytellers use the villain to give conflict a clear point of focus.
According to StoryBrand, the four characteristics that make a good villain are:
A Root Source. Frustration, for example, is not a villain; frustration is what a villain makes us feel. The noise of 10,000 marketing messages a day, rather, is a good example of a villain.
Relatable. When we talk about the villain, our target audience should immediately recognize it as something they scorn.
Singular. When we use more than one villain our story begins to lack of clarity.
Real. Authenticity is key (and we never need to be a fear-monger).
Just like the main character from an Oscar-winning movie, our clients face three levels of problems: external, internal, and philosophical.
The key role a villain plays in any story is that they create an external problem that causes the character to experience an internal frustration that is, quite simply, philosophically wrong.
The problem is, most brands sell solutions to the external struggle when clients are much more motivated to find solutions to their inner conflicts.
Read that again.
What stories teach us is that people’s internal desire to resolve a frustration is a greater motivator than their desire to solve external problems.
When we articulate their frustration and offer to resolve it along with the original external problem, something magical happens.
We connect with clients on a primal level because we’ve identified their deepest desires, firmly bonding them to our brand.
The philosophical problem is about something larger than the story itself. It’s about the question why.
Why does this story matter for the overall trajectory of humanity?
People want to be involved in a story larger than themselves.
Brands that firmly place their clients in a larger narrative add value to their services by giving their clients a deeper sense of meaning.
If we really want to impact our clients’ lives, we can do more than provide them with exceptional services.
We can resolve external, internal, and philosophical problems with every engagement.
Storybrand Principle 3: customers aren’t looking for another hero; they’re looking for a guide
Strong leaders generally want to be seen as the hero.
Especially the jumping-out-of-planes, disarming bombs kind (my not-so-cliche “Army Days” backstory 🪂💣).
But here’s the thing:
Brands that position themselves as heroes unknowingly compete with potential clients.
Moreover, the majority of human beings are on a transformational journey. It’s the common thread that weaves through us all.
Whether consciously or unconsciously, we’re all looking for a guide that can help us transform our lives.
As it relates to stories, the hero is never the strongest character.
Heroes are often under-prepared, filled with self-doubt, and question if they truly have what it takes to be great.
The guide, on the other hand, has already “been there, done that” and successfully overcome the hero’s challenges in their own story.
It’s the guide, not the hero, who has the most authority.
But how do we position ourselves as the guide?
It’s simple, actually.
By expressing empathy + authority.
This one-two combo moves the hero—and the story—forward.
Empathy and authority are the exact characteristics our hero is looking for.
And when she senses them? She knows she’s found her guide!
Empathy
We can easily express empathy by showing we have a clear understanding of our hero’s pain and frustration.
When we empathize with their problems, we create a sense of trust. After all, people tend to trust those who understand them.
Once we’ve identified and articulated our clients’ internal problems, we simply need to communicate we understand and want to help them find a resolution.
The biggest key to success is to make sure we tell our clients how much we care. It sounds cliche, but they won’t know we care until we tell them.
As President Theodore Rosevelt so eloquently stated:
"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Authority
It goes without saying that when looking for a guide, heroes trust someone who knows what they’re doing.
The challenge comes in expressing authority without accidentally stepping into the role of being the hero.
With the StoryBrand framework, we can demonstrate just the right amount of authority in four easy ways:
Testimonials. Three is generally the sweet spot (keep them short!).
Statistics. Show how many projects you’ve completed, how many people you’ve impacted, etc.
Awards. Include small award badges at the bottom of the page.
Logos. When visitors recognize businesses we’ve worked with, it provides social proof we can help them, too.
The best part?
Once we express empathy and demonstrate authority, we position our brand as the guide our clients have been searching for.
This makes a real and significant difference in the way visitors remember us, understand us, and ultimately, book our services.
Storybrand Principle 4: customers trust a guide who has a plan
According to the StoryBrand framework, potential clients need a clear path that removes any confusion about how to do business with us.
When visitors land on our website, and are interested in our services, they’re wondering “what do I do now?”
We must guide visitors by spelling out how easy it is to work with us.
There are two types of plans in the StoryBrand framework: the process plan and the agreement plan.
Every business should have a process plan; agreement plans are an optional addition.
The Process Plan
The process plan is exactly what it sounds like—we spell out our process in three to six simple steps.
These steps may seem overly obvious to us, but they aren’t to our clients.
What we think we’re saying and what people actually hear are to different things. And people make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear.
The process plan can describe the steps clients take to buy our service, the steps they take after buying our service, or a combination of both.
The point of a process plan is to take the confusion out of the customer journey and guide them to the next step.
The Agreement Plan
While we put process plans in place to alleviate confusion, we use agreement plans to alleviate fears.
An agreement plan is what you can guarantee (promise) your clients when they do business with you.
Process plans are spelled out directly on the homepage; agreement plans tend to run in the background.
As customers get to know our brand, they’ll sense a deeper level to our services. When they read our agreement plan (branded as “Our Guarantee”) they tend to realize why.
Whether we use a process plan or a process plan AND an agreement plan, our plan must be clear. Always.
“If we confuse, we lose.”
Storybrand Principle five: customers do not take action unless they are challenged to take action
In a good story, characters take action after they’re challenged by an outside force.
Therefore, we need to clearly invite visitors to take a journey with us by calling them to take action (or they won’t).
There are two kinds of calls to action: direct calls to action and transitional calls to action.
Direct Calls to Action
Direct calls to action contain language such as “Schedule Consultation," “Call Today,” or “Register Now.”
To be the most effective, include direct calls to action using prominent buttons in the following places:
Top right corner of the website
Above the fold, centered
After the process plan
At the bottom of the page
Having direct calls to action isn’t enough; we must also include transitional calls to action.
Transitional Calls to Action
Transitional calls to action honor visitors who are interested in our business but aren’t fully ready to take that next step.
In order to capture these visitors and deepen the relationship they have with our brand, we can offer them a complimentary, in-depth resource in exchange for their email (also referred to as a lead magnet).
Once we have their email we can then “on-ramp” potential clients by funneling them through a sequence of emails that earn their trust and position our brand as the guide in their story.
After all, it’s our job to pursue our clients.
It’s important for them to get to know us and vice-versa, but we need to take the initiative.
Whether directly or indirectly, it’s imperative we send visitors down a clear user journey that gets them to take action.
StoryBrand Principle six: every human being is trying to avoid a tragic ending
Excellent story writers know their work lives and dies on a single question—what’s at stake?
By defining what’s at stake we captivate our audience and hold their attention.
Alternatively, if nothing can be gained or lost, people lose interest.
Quickly.
Therefore, we must show potential clients the cost of not doing business with us.
Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Memorial Prize winner, founded the Prospect Theory which states people are more likely to be dissatisfied with a loss than they are satisfied with a gain.
In other words, loss aversion can be a greater motivator for buying decisions than potential gains.
At Be Aligned, radical positivity is a core value but by briefly stating what we help clients avoid we trigger their loss aversion while simultaneously giving the overall story we’re telling a sense of completeness and urgency.
What’s the cost of not doing business with your brand?
When we help clients avoid negative ramifications in life (and clearly spell out what those are) we engage visitors on a higher level.
If the StoryBrand framework was a recipe, fear would be the salt; we don’t want to add too much, just a pinch will do.
StoryBrand principle 7: never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.
We must tell our clients how great their life can be when they work with us.
Over and over again.
This is because we all want to be taken somewhere. If we don’t clearly outline where we’re taking someone, they’ll choose another brand.
It’s as simple as that.
By defining a “compelling image of an achievable future” we captivate the imaginations of our audience and give them what they want most—a happy ending to their story.
In a good story, we must clearly define the resolution so the audience knows exactly what to hope for. Being specific matters.
The same goes for our branding.
Casting a vision for how our services will transform a client’s life is one of the most important elements our messaging strategy can offer.
Ultimately, we must show what our clients’ lives will look like externally when we help resolve their problem, how that resolution feels internally, and then consider why the resolution has made the world a more just place to live in.
What problems are we solving in our clients’ lives?
What does that resolution look like?
Write out basic answers to these questions and then take a deep dive into the levels of problems your brand resolves.
In conclusion,
At Be Aligned, we believe that small businesses can—and will—change the world.
As conscious business owners and leaders, our brands help clients become better versions of themselves.
Therefore, being the guide is more than a marketing strategy; it’s a position of the heart.
When we commit to helping our clients resolve their external, internal, and philosophical problems, and inspire them along the way, we do more than sell services—we change lives.
And leaders who care more about changing lives than they do about making a profit tend to do a great deal of both.
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