If you’ve been browsing the internet looking for messaging, copywriting, or marketing assistance chances are you’ve come across the word “StoryBrand.” So what is it? Why should you consider hiring a StoryBrand Certified Guide?
What is StoryBrand?
StoryBrand is a 7-part marketing framework designed by author, speaker, and business owner, Donald Miller. It’s based on the idea that a good story is something universal that everyone can understand. Businesses walk through the framework to clarify their message. The result of this process is that their message should be more compelling to their ideal audience.
Why Story?
If a friend came to you one Friday night and asked if you’d rather watch an infomercial or Star Wars - which would you pick?
Genre preferences aside - you’d probably rather watch Star Wars. And there is an important reason for that!
People don’t tune in to sales messaging. In fact most people tune it out. They do identify with stories. StoryBrand helps you tell a story that people will engage with and that engagement often leads to increased sales.
We have been telling stories since before there were written languages. These days we tell them for entertainment but for thousands of years we told them so that people would remember what the stories taught.
Story is the perfect vehicle for getting information to stick in a person’s head.
In part this is because most stories follow some kind of predictable structure. Good defeats evil. Team wins the big game. That’s how StoryBrand built its “framework.”
It's also because if a story is told well we can imagine ourselves within it. I don’t know about you, but I have never actually been a rebel fighter pilot in outer space. But a part of me still identifies with Luke Skywalker. Luke and I share almost nothing in common - but I can still relate to his journey.
And that’s the essence of StoryBrand: Take people on a journey that transforms them into happier/better/stronger individuals because of what you are offering.
StoryBrand seems like an expensive option. What do you get when you hire a StoryBrand Certified Guide?
On the surface you get the advice and skills of a trained messaging expert who has attended an intense, multi-day training course.
But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that the value lies far beyond the person at that moment in time. That trained messaging expert also has access to:
- Hours and hours of additional onboarding, training, round table discussions, and practical exercises on the most common pain points we find with our clients. (We are expected to continue learning throughout the year, and we do it.)
- Business Made Simple University's library of business-related courses.
- A network full of guides who are eager to help one another out, give advice, and share resources.
Guide Training does not end after the 4-day intensive. If your Guide is doing it right they are honing their skills in a hundred different ways week after week.
A StoryBrand Guide may be a little more expensive than your average copywriter. But the value of their training, continued learning, and ability to draw upon the experience of their expert peers means that you are getting a superior product honed to help you connect with your ideal customers.
If you feel like your messaging could use refreshing and are wondering how StoryBrand might help, get in touch! We’d love to discuss it more.
ABOUT AMY
Amy Mertz is our Creative Director, StoryBrand Certified Guide, and copy writer. When not in the office you can find her chasing down her hilarious toddler, searching the land for great coffee and baked goods, or espousing the current books on her nightstand.