Full Disclosure: I am a proud affiliate for Amazon, meaning if you click a link and make a purchase, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. My recommendations are based on deep experience with and knowledge of the product mentioned and I recommend products only when they are genuinely helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I may receive. Please don’t spend any money on products I recommend unless you genuinely believe they will help you achieve your goals.
Have you ever wondered if there was a better way to optimize your content marketing strategy?
StoryBrand has some amazing benefits. It can help you clarify your value proposition (VP) and clearly communicate to your audience. It’s also a great tool to help you understand your audience’s pain points (and how you can uniquely solve them).
The StoryBrand framework can provide a solid foundation for simple messaging and it’s also a great tool to build killer content for your content marketing strategy.
5 Ways StoryBrand Can Level Up Your Content Marketing Strategy
- Helps you clarify your VP
- Enables you to communicate clearly to your target audience
- Makes it easier to identify your audience’s pain points
- Clarifies how you can uniquely solve your audience’s problem(s)
- Simplifies your message
In this article, I’m going to explain how you can simply use the StoryBrand framework in your content to captivate your audience and get them excited about buying from you.
What is the StoryBrand Framework and What Can it Do for Your Brand?
The famous StoryBrand SB7 framework has been proven to increase sales by up to 400%. Stories captivate us, excite us and enthrall us. They’re incredibly compelling, and it’s for good reason.
Think of any movie you’ve watched or any book you’ve read. It always starts with a hero. Let’s pick an example to play along with: how about the Hunger Games?
Our hero, Katniss, goes on a journey, but she has a big problem: no one in her district has survived the Hunger Games in years.
She meets a guide (Haymitch) who gives her strategies and a plan to win the Hunger Games. He calls her to action and guides her to a path where she’s faced with failure and success. At times, her situation looks grim, but we know that eventually, she succeeds.
The StoryBrand framework outlines the storytelling process. Paired with content marketing, it provides an incredibly compelling reason for your audience to pay attention to YOU.
If we distill this into steps, the StoryBrand framework looks like this:
- Introduce the hero – strengths, flaws, and anything else of relevance to the story
- Explain the hero’s problem – what journey must the hero go on? What problem must they solve?
- Introduce the guide – explain how the guide can help the hero
- The guide gives the hero a plan – one that can help the hero succeed
- The guide calls the hero to action
- The hero’s journey leads to a series of twists, resulting in failure or success
Your Content Marketing Strategy with StoryBrand
Step 1: Introduce the Hero
The hero is the focus of your story. This is the person that we cheer on and truly want to succeed.
In business, the hero is your customer. Your customer is the star of the show (at least we want to make them feel that way).
Hopefully, you know your customer well- after all, they’re the ones keeping you in business!
This is where a story can either shine or flop. Do a good job of identifying your hero and calling out their strengths and weaknesses, and your content will begin to tell a captivating story. On the other hand, if you miss the mark, then you’re going to lose your customer’s interest right from the beginning.
Your content marketing strategy deserves better than that.
Step 2: Explain the Hero’s Problem
It’s not enough to know the customer; you must also understand their problems. After all, if you don’t understand their problems, then how can you be expected to solve them?
Think about how you uniquely solve your audience’s challenges. What are their main pain points? What is the gap preventing them from reaching their goals?
Spell out these pain points clearly to prove to your audience that you understand them and your story will resonate with your audience.
StoryBrand Step 3: Introduce the Guide
This is where you, the brand, finally step in. And no, it’s not before you fully introduce your hero and identify their pain points.
This is usually the easiest step for brands. After all, you probably know yourself. But it’s not just about you.
Even as you introduce yourself, you have to think about what your audience wants to know about you.
Do you provide a unique solution to a supply chain management problem that your hero is currently facing? Outline your experience with similar solutions and how you can solve these kinds of problems. However, keep in mind that this particular hero might not care as much about how you uniquely solved a marketing problem in your prior business.
This is where radical empathy can truly benefit your brand. Mention what matters and trim the rest. While it’s great that you know the 1,000 ways you can help solve various other problems, your hero only wants to know how you can help solve the one (or several) issue(s) they’re currently facing.
Anyone reading your content is always going to want to know WIIFM (what’s in it for me) – even when it’s about you, so you’d be best served to remember this point. This goes for anything in your content marketing strategy.
Step 4: The Guide Gives the Hero a Plan
Finally- this is where you can truly shine! It’s during this step that you tell the hero exactly how you can solve their unique problem.
Don’t be tempted to skip any of the earlier steps and dive immediately into how you can help your customer; that’s a great way to lose your audience.
It’s during this step that you define your offer, services, pricing, or related points that are relevant to your audience and the problem that you help solve.
StoryBrand Step 5: Guide Calls Hero to Action
What action do you want the hero to take after they read your content? Should they book a call, click a ‘buy now’ button, or otherwise?
This step should be absolutely clear. In fact, it might be so clear that you feel like you’re overdoing it (you’re not).
Spell out EXACTLY what action you want your audience to take- don’t make them guess! Remember: a confused mind never buys. Make this step as simple and easy as possible.
The call to action (CTA) often closes a piece of content, but sometimes it makes sense to have the CTA in multiple locations, especially for longer content.
Step 6: The Hero’s Journey- The Result
During this step, you want to outline exactly the result the hero can expect as a result of working with you (success) or not (failure). You want to be very mindful of your audience’s desires, wants, hopes and fears, and convey how your solution can help the hero achieve their dream (a solution to their problem).
I always caution brands about being too negative here. While it’s important to convey the cost of failure (as a result of choosing not to work with you), you don’t want to get too doom and gloom here, otherwise, your audience is going to be thinking too negatively.
Negative minds generally don’t buy, and besides, isn’t it more fun to make people feel upbeat and happy? We want to get people EXCITED about buying from you, not fearful about NOT buying from you.
Conclusion: Your Content Marketing Strategy
The StoryBrand framework can be a total game-changer when it comes to content marketing. It’s a great way to tell a story about your brand, and audiences love stories!
Some of these steps might feel tedious, pointless even, but if you start with later steps then you’re going to lose your audience… and fast. Don’t try to skip, it’s not worth it, trust me!
You need to start by proving to your audience that you understand them and their unique problems, and you do that by stating plainly who they are and what problems they may be facing.
Want to know more about the StoryBrand framework? Check out Donald Miller’s book on Amazon.
I help badass business owners increase their sales with killer strategies and persuasive copy. Want to know more about how I can help your brand grow? Book a free strategy call with me today. You can learn more about me on the about page.
