A clear, engaging message that resonates with your audience directly impacts your brand’s marketing success. However, crafting a compelling story that inspires your customers to take action can prove easier said than done, especially when you’re trying to balance running your business and marketing it.
This is where a StoryBrand Certified Guide can help.
If you’re considering new ways to enhance the messaging in your marketing efforts, this guide is for you. Today, we will discuss everything you need to know about working with a StoryBrand Certified Guide and provide you with some tips to get the most out of your investment in taking your strategy to the next level.
What is StoryBrand?
StoryBrand is a marketing messaging framework developed by New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller. Its goal is to assist businesses in creating a clear message that resonates with their customers by combining marketing strategy with enduring principles of storytelling. By merging these two aspects, a Certified Guide can help you create a compelling narrative that connects with your audience and compels them to take further action and convert.
The StoryBrand framework is built around a series of seven elements that form a story structure. These elements include:
- The Character – Your potential customer that has a problem they need to solve.
- The Problem – Your potential customer is searching for a product or service to overcome a challenge they’re facing.
- The Guide – Your business provides the means to solve the problem.
- A Plan – The problem-solving means itself, such as a product or service.
- A Call to Action – The directions for following the plan, like visiting a specific website or taking advantage of a sale.
- A Failure – Your customer’s problem could worsen if they ignore the plan that you provide.
- …or Success – The plan succeeds, and it solves the problem for the Character.
Let’s illustrate this through a real-world example. Pretend that you own a cleaning products company called “Clean Co.”
Your ideal customers (the Characters) have a specific problem: They need to clean messes in their homes quickly and with minimal effort. As the Guide (Clean Co.), you want to educate them about your fast-acting, all-purpose cleaning spray.
As you’re crafting your message, you can start to resonate with your target Characters with a statement like “Say goodbye to stubborn messes and time-consuming cleanups.” This single sentence addresses the Character, highlights the problem they are experiencing, and hints at a Plan.
From there, the Guide introduces the Plan: “Introducing the Clean Co. Fast-Clean Formula.”
At this point, you can emphasize some specific features or benefits that differentiate your Plan from competitors. These could include examples such as eco-friendly ingredients, skin-safe formulas, and the ability to clean even the most stubborn, stuck-on messes.
To call your Characters to action, you can provide directions to where they can purchase the Clean Co. Fast-Clean Formula. If you’re asking the customer to visit your website, you could also offer an incentive like a 15% off coupon for first-time orders to motivate them to act sooner.
Once the Character purchases the cleaning product and tests it at home, they will either experience failure or success. In this illustration, the cleaning product will either fail to clean the mess or succeed in living up to the claims in your marketing messages.
Benefits of using a StoryBrand Certified Guide
Working with a StoryBrand Guide can provide a range of benefits for your business. Here are some of the most significant advantages:
Clarity in Messaging
One of the most significant benefits of working with a StoryBrand Certified Guide is that they can help you create a clear and concise message that proves effective with your audience. By understanding your business’s unique selling points and the exact needs of your target audience, you can construct a compelling narrative that communicates your message in a way that is easy to understand.
Increased Conversions
Another benefit of working with a StoryBrand Certified Guide is that they can help you increase conversions. By creating a clear and compelling message, you can motivate your audience to take action. Whether you want them to sign up for your email list or purchase your product, a StoryBrand Certified Guide can help you inspire customers to complete a desired task like purchasing a product or filling out a contact form.
Better Customer Engagement
When customers feel heard, understood, and empathized with, they are more likely to engage with your business. Additionally, engagement can last past the success and failure stages of the StoryBrand framework through further actions like leaving positive reviews of your products online.
Increased Brand Loyalty
When customers can clearly understand what you are telling them, they often feel more secure and trusting in choosing your products or services. In turn, this increases brand loyalty, which leads to other desired conversions like repeat purchases.
Improved communication and collaboration within the team
Finally, a StoryBrand Certified Guide can also help improve communication and collaboration within your team. By creating a clear message, everyone in your organization can understand what your business is all about and what you’re trying to achieve. This can help align everyone’s efforts and make sure that everyone is working towards the same goal.
What does a StoryBrand Certified Guide do?
A StoryBrand Certified Guide can help you at every stage of the messaging process. Here are some of the services that a StoryBrand Certified Guide can provide:
Conducts a blueprint session
During a blueprint session, a StoryBrand Certified Guide will work with you to understand your business, your target audience, and your goals. This will help them create a messaging strategy that is tailored to your business.
Develops a brand script
A brand script is the core of your messaging strategy. It’s a document that outlines the key elements of your story and how you want to communicate them. A StoryBrand Certified Guide will help you develop a brand script that communicates your message in a clear and compelling way.
Creates a customer persona
Understanding your target audience is critical to creating a message that resonates with them. A StoryBrand Certified Guide will assist you in creating a customer persona, which is a detailed profile of your ideal Character. With these insights, you can more accurately tailor your message to reach these individuals through your marketing campaigns.
Develops a messaging strategy
Once you have a brand script and a customer persona, a StoryBrand Certified Guide will help you develop a messaging strategy. This will include identifying the channels that you will use to communicate your message, creating a content calendar, and defining the key metrics that you will use to measure success.
Assists in implementing the strategy
Finally, a StoryBrand Certified Guide will assist you in implementing your messaging strategy. This may include creating content, designing your website, and developing social media campaigns. A StoryBrand Certified Guide can also help you measure the success of your strategy and make adjustments as needed.
How to choose the right StoryBrand Certified Guide for your business
Choosing the right StoryBrand Certified Guide is critical to the success of your messaging strategy. Here are some important factors to consider when selecting a guide:
Certification and Experience
Make sure that the guide you choose is certified by StoryBrand and has the experience necessary to help you achieve your goals. Look for certified Guides that have a deep understanding of the StoryBrand framework and have worked with businesses of all sizes and messaging needs.
Communication Skills
Your StoryBrand Certified Guide should have excellent communication skills and be able to explain complex concepts in a concise, simple fashion. They should also be able to translate their ideas and strategies into an actionable plan that you and your team can follow.
Collaboration Skills
Your StoryBrand Certified Guide should be able to work collaboratively with your team and other stakeholders in your organization. Look for guides that have experience working with teams and can facilitate collaboration.
Cost
Finally, consider the cost of working with a StoryBrand Certified Guide. While it’s important to choose a guide that fits within your budget, remember that the cost of not investing in a clear messaging strategy can be much higher in the long run.
Work with a StoryBrand Certified Guide to Bring Your Message to Life
At Business Builders, we’re proud StoryBrand Certified Guides that passionately advocate for clear and effective messaging. Through a 3-pronged Plan, Produce, and Promote strategy, we can assist you in developing the message that you need to connect with your audience and inspire them to take the right actions to accomplish your business goals.
To learn more about how we can assist you in taking your messaging to a new level, request a quote today.
