77 Quotes from Building a StoryBrand By Donald Miller
Those
struggling in business or wanting to learn marketing must read Building
a StoryBrand by Donald Miller. He makes it so easy to craft
a good message for your customers.
Here are the quotes I like:
''What
if the problem wasn’t the product? What if the problem was the way
we talked about the product?''
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
''The
graphic artists and designers we’re hiring to build our websites and brochures
have degrees in design and know everything about Photoshop, but how many of them have read a
single book about writing good
sales copy? How many of them know how to clarify your message so customers
listen? And worse, these companies are glad to take your money, regardless of
whether you see results or not.''
''If
we pay a lot of money to a design agency without first clarifying our message,
we might as well be holding a bullhorn up to a monkey. The only thing a
potential customer will hear is noise.''
''So
what’s your message? Can you say it easily? Is it simple, relevant, and
repeatable? Can your entire team repeat your company’s message in such a way
that it is compelling? Have new hires been given talking points they can use to
describe what the company offers and why every potential customer should buy
it?''
''The
more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain
to digest. Story helps because it is a sense-making mechanism. Essentially,
story formulas put everything in order so the brain doesn’t have to work to
understand what’s going on.”
''Among
the million things the brain is good at, the overriding function of the brain
is to help an individual survive and thrive. Everything the human brain does,
all day, involves helping that person, and the people that person cares about,
get ahead in life.''
''Human
beings are constantly scanning their environment (even advertising) for
information that is going to help them meet their primitive need to survive.
This means that when we ramble on and on about how we have the biggest
manufacturing plant on the West Coast, our customers don’t care. Why? Because
that information isn’t helping them eat, drink, find a mate, fall in love,
build a tribe, experience a deeper sense of meaning, or stockpile weapons in
case barbarians start coming over the hill behind our cul-de-sac.''
''All
great stories are about survival—either physical, emotional, relational, or
spiritual. A story about anything else won’t work to captivate an audience.
Nobody’s interested. This means that if we position our products and services
as anything but an aid in helping people survive, thrive, be accepted, find
love, achieve an aspirational identity, or bond with a tribe that will defend
them physically and socially, good luck selling anything to anybody. These are
the only things people care about. We can take that truth to the bank. Or to bankruptcy
court, should we choose to ignore it as an undeniable fact.''
''When
we start our elevator pitch or keynote address, or when somebody visits our
website, they’re burning calories to process the information we’re sharing. And
if we don’t say something (and say something quickly) they can use to survive
or thrive, they will tune us out.''
''The
key is to make your company’s message about something that helps
the customer survive and to do so in such a way that they can understand it
without burning too many calories.''
''Our
customers have questions burning inside them, and if we aren’t answering those
questions, they’ll move on to another brand. If we haven’t identified what our
customer wants, what problem we are helping them solve, and what life will look
like after they engage our products and services, for example, we can forget
about thriving in the marketplace.''
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
''What
we think we are saying to our customers and what our customers actually
hear are two different things. And customers make buying decisions not based on
what we say but on what they hear.''
''When
storytellers bombard people with too much information, the audience is forced
to burn too many calories organizing the data. As a result, they daydream, walk
out of the theater, or in the case of digital marketing, click to another site
without placing an order. Why do so many brands create noise rather than music?
It’s because they don’t realize they are creating noise. They actually think
people are interested in the random information they’re doling out.''
''When
Jobs returned to the company after running Pixar, Apple became Customer-centric,
compelling, and clear in their communication. The first campaign
he released went from nine pages in the New
York Times to just two words on billboards all over
America: Think Different.''
''People don’t buy the best products; they buy the products they can
understand the fastest. Apple has inserted themselves into their customers’
story like no other technology company, and as a result, they’re not only the
largest technology company, they’re in the top ten largest companies period. If we want our companies to
grow, we should borrow a page from their playbook. We should clarify our
message.''
''Remember,
the greatest enemy our business faces is the same enemy that good stories face:
noise.''
''Just
because a tagline sounds great or a picture on a website grabs the eye, that
doesn’t mean it helps us enter into our customers’ story. In every line of copy
we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into
confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.Nobody
remembers a company that makes noise.''
1.
What do you offer?
2.
How will it make my life better?
3.
What do I need to do to buy it?
At
StoryBrand we call this passing the
grunt test. The critical question is this:
‘Could a caveman look at your website and immediately grunt what you offer?’….
Would he be able to grunt an answer to the three questions posed above? If you
were an aspirin company, would he be able to grunt, ‘You sell headache
medicine, me feel better fast, me get
it at Walgreens’? If not, you’re likely losing sales.''
''Alfred Hitchcock defined a good story as ‘life with the dull parts
taken out.’ Good branding is the same. Our companies are complex, for sure, but
a good messaging filter will remove all the stuff that bores our customers and
will bear down on the aspects of our brand that will help them survive and
thrive.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS THE HERO, NOT YOUR BRAND. When we position
our customer as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a
trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges. Positioning the
customer as the hero in the story is more than just good manners; it’s also
good business.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
TWO: COMPANIES TEND TO SELL SOLUTIONS TO
EXTERNAL PROBLEMS, BUT CUSTOMERS BUY SOLUTIONS TO INTERNAL PROBLEMS.
Customers
are attracted to us for the same reason heroes are pulled into stories:
they want to solve a problem that has, in big or small ways, disrupted their
peaceful life. If we sell lawn-care products, they’re coming to us because
they’re embarrassed about their lawn or they simply don’t have time to do the
work. If we sell financial advice, they’re coming to us because they’re worried
about their retirement plan. It may not be as dramatic or sexy as James Bond
going to Q to grab the latest high-tech spy weapons, but the premise is the same:
our customers are in trouble and they need help.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
THREE: CUSTOMERS AREN’T
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HERO; THEY’RE
LOOKING FOR A GUIDE.
Every
human being wakes up each morning and sees the world through the lens of a
protagonist. The world revolves around us,regardless of how altruistic,
generous, and selfless a person we may be. Each day is, quite literally, about
how we encounter
our world. Potential customers feel the same way about themselves. They are the
center of their world.When a brand comes along and positions itself as the
hero, customers remain distant. They hear us talking about how great our
business is and start wondering if we’re competing with them for scarce
resources. Their subconscious thought pattern goes like this: Oh, this is another hero, like me. I wish I had more
time to hear their story, but right now I’m busy looking for a guide.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
FOUR: CUSTOMERS TRUST A GUIDE WHO HAS A PLAN…
Making
a purchase is a huge step, especially if our products or services are
expensive. What customers are looking for, then, is a clear path we’ve laid out
that takes away any confusion they might have about how to do business with us.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
FIVE: CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY
ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION
Characters
only take action after they are challenged by an outside force.This principle
is true in story because it’s true in life. Human beings take action when their
story challenges them to do so.You would be surprised how many companies don’t
create obvious calls to action for their customers. A call to action involves
communicating a clear and direct step our customer can take to overcome their
challenge and return to a peaceful life.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
SIX: EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TRYING TO AVOID A
TRAGIC ENDING…
If
there is nothing at stake in a story, there is no story. Likewise, if there’s
nothing
at stake in whether or not I buy your product, I’m not going to buy your product.
After all, why should I?Simply put, we
must show people the cost of not doing
business with us.''
''Brands
that help customers avoid some kind of negativity in life (and let their
customers know what that negativity is) engage customers for the same reason
good stories captivate an audience: they define what’s at stake.''
''STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE
SEVEN: NEVER ASSUME PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BRAND
CAN CHANGE THEIR LIVES. TELL THEM.
We must tell our customers how great their life can look if they
buy our products and services. Ronald Reagan painted a picture of ‘a
shining city on a hill.’ Bill Clinton offered to help us ‘build a bridge to the
twenty-first century.’ During the dark and dreary Depression, Franklin Roosevelt used the
song ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ as his official campaign song. Likewise, Apple provides
tools that allow us to express ourselves and be heard, Weight Watchers helps us
lose weight and feel great, and Men’s Wearhouse guarantees we will like the way
we look.''
''Everybody
wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell people where we’re taking them,
they’ll engage another brand.''
''As
a brand it’s important to define something your customer wants, because as soon
as we define something our customer wants, we posit a story question in the
mind of the customer: Can this brand really help me get
what I want?''
''One
university we worked with defined their customer’s desire as ‘a hasslefree MBA
you can complete after work.’ A landscaping company humorously defined their
customer’s ambition as ‘a yard that looks better than your neighbor’s.’ A
caterer we worked with in Los Angeles defined his customer’s desire as ‘a
mobile fine-dining experience in the environment of your choice.’ When we
identify something our customer wants and communicate it simply, the story we
are inviting them into is given definition and direction.''
''This
can be frustrating if your products and services fulfill many desires. The
reality of a diverse brand, though, brings the same challenge many amateur
screenwriters succumb to: they clutter the story by diluting their hero’s
desire with too many ambitions. As you create a BrandScript for your overall
brand, focus on one simple desire and then, as you create campaigns for each
division and maybe even each product, you can identify more things your
customer wants in the subplots of your overall brand.''
''A
leadership expert recently asked for feedback on his brand….
his
tagline was ‘Inhale knowledge,exhale success.’Seems clear enough, but is it?
What does exhaling success even mean? He was making potential customers burn
too many mental calories to figure out how he
was going to help them survive and thrive.I recommended he make an edit to his
message. Instead of saying, ‘Inhale knowledge, exhale success,’ simply say, ‘Helping
you become everyone’s favorite leader.’ ''
''In
order to survive and thrive, your customers may need to conserve resources…If
your brand can help them save money,you’ve tapped into a survival mechanism.
Walmart has built their brand on the promise of everyday low prices. Their
tagline ‘Save Money. Live Better’ further communicates savings and value and
thus taps into a basic function of survival, the conservation of resources.''
''In
developed countries, most of our customers have thankfully moved beyond the
hunter-gatherer stage of survival. They are familiar, then, with the notion of
opportunity costs. Can your housecleaning service give your customers more time
to work on other things or more time to spend with family? Then they might be
interested.''
''Status,
in any tribe, is a survival mechanism. It projects a sense of abundance that
may attract powerful allies, repel potential foes (like a lion with a loud
roar), and if we’re into shallow companions, might even help us secure a mate.
Rolex, Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, and other luxury brands are truly selling more
than just cars and watches; they’re selling an identity associated with power,
prestige, and refinement.''
''If
we want our customers’ ears to perk up when we talk about our products and
services, we should position those products and services as weapons they can
use to defeat a villain. And the villain should be dastardly.The villain
doesn’t have to be a person, but without question it should have personified
characteristics. If we’re selling time-management software, for instance, we
might vilify the idea of distractions.
Could we offer our product as a weapon
customers could use to stop distractions in their tracks? Sounds kind of
dramatic, right? And yet distractions are what’s deluding our customers’
potential, wrecking their families, stealing their sanity, and costing them enormous
amounts of time and money. Distractions, then, make for great little villains.''
''What
stories teach us is that people’s internal desire to resolve a frustration is a
greater motivator than their desire to solve an external problem.''
''The
only reason our customers buy from us is because the external problem we solve
is frustrating them in some way. If we can identify that frustration, put it
into words, and offer to resolve it along with the original external problem,
something special happens. We bond with our customers because we’ve positioned
ourselves more deeply into their narrative. For example, if we own a
house-painting business, our customer’s external problem might be an unsightly home.
The internal problem, however, may involve a sense of embarrassment about
having the ugliest home on the street. Knowing this, our marketing could offer ‘Paint
That Will Make Your Neighbors Jealous.’ ''
''Human
beings experience three levels of problems in their everyday lives. They aren’t
just looking for a resolution to one level of problem; they’re hoping for a
resolution to all three.If we really want our business to grow, we should
position our products as the resolution to an external, internal, and philosophical
problem and frame the ‘Buy Now’ button as the action a customer must take to
create closure in their story.''
''Let’s
look at how some successful brands we all know about have positioned the
purchasing of their products as the resolution to external, internal, and philosophical
problems:
TESLA MOTOR CARS:
Villain: Gas
guzzling, inferior technology
External: I
need a car.
Internal: I
want to be an early adopter of new technology.
Philosophical: My
choice of car ought to help save the environment.''
''When we empathize with our customers’ dilemma, we create a bond of
trust. People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that
understand them too.''
''Expressing
empathy isn’t difficult. Once we’ve identified our customers’ internal
problems, we simply need to let them know we understand and would like to help
them find a resolution. Scan your marketing material and make sure you’ve told
your customers that you care. Customers won’t know you care until you tell
them.''
''There are four easy ways to add just the right amount of authority
to our marketing.
1. TESTIMONIALS: Let others do the talking for you. If you have satisfied customers, place a few testimonials on your website…
2. STATISTICS: How many satisfied customers have you helped? How much money have
you helped them save? By what percentage have their businesses grown since they
started working with you? …
3. AWARDS: If you’ve won a few awards for your work, feel free to include small logos or indications of those awards at the bottom of your
page…
4. LOGOS: If you provide a business-to-business product or service, place
logos of known businesses you’ve worked with in your marketing collateral. Customers want to know you’ve helped other businesses overcome their same challenges.''
''A
process plan can describe the steps a customer needs to take to buy our
product, or the steps the customer needs to take to use our product after they
buy it, or a mixture of both.For instance, if you’re selling an expensive
product, you might break down the steps like this:
1.
Schedule an appointment.
2.
Allow us to create a customized plan.
3.
Let’s execute the plan together.
A
process plan takes the confusion out of our customer’s journey and guides them
in the next steps.''
''A
post-purchase process plan is best used when our customers might have problems
imagining how they would use our product after they buy it. For instance, with
a complicated piece of software, we might want to spell
out the steps or even the phases a customer would take after they make the
purchase:
1.
Download the software.
2.
Integrate your database into our system.
3.
Revolutionize your customer interaction.''
''A
process plan can also combine the pre- and post-purchase steps. For instance:
1.
Test-drive a car.
2.
Purchase the car.
3.
Enjoy free maintenance for life.''
''Companies
that don’t make their calls to action clear remind me of my dating days before
I met my wife. Instead of clearly asking a girl out, I’d say something like, ‘Coffee
is nice, isn’t it? Do you like coffee?’ What
in the world is a woman supposed to do with a question like that?That’s
just not how you make a baby.''
''People
…can’t read our minds and they don’t know what we want, even if it seems
obvious. We have to clearly invite customers to take a journey with us or they
won’t.''
''As
a brand, it’s our job to pursue our customers. We want to get to know them
and for them to get to know us, but we are the ones who need to take the
initiative.''
''People
are drawn to clarity and away from confusion. Having clear calls to action
means customers aren’t confused about the actions they need to take to do
business with you.''
''So how do we use messages from the failure category in our
marketing?
FIRST, we must make a reader (or listener) know they are vulnerable to a threat. For example:
‘Nearly 30 percent of all homes have evidence of termite
infestation.’
SECOND, we should let the reader know that since they’re vulnerable, they
should take action to reduce their vulnerability.
‘Since nobody wants termites, you should do something about it to
protect your home.’
THIRD, we should let them know about a specific call to
action that protects them from the risk.
‘We offer a complete home treatment that will insure your house is
free of termites.’
FOURTH, we should challenge people to take this specific action.
‘Call us today and schedule your home treatment.’ ''
''So
how can our brand offer status? There are many ways:
OFFER ACCESS: My wife loves
using her Starbucks membership card because it gains her points, which gains
her status and the occasional free latte.
CREATE SCARCITY: Offering a
limited number of a specific item creates scarcity,
and owning something that is scarce is often seen as a status symbol.
OFFER A PREMIUM: Most
companies earn 70 percent or more of their revenue from a small percentage of
their clients. Few, though, identify those clients and offer them a title such
as ‘Preferred’ or ‘Diamond Member.’
OFFER IDENTITY ASSOCIATION: Premium
brands like Mercedes and Rolex sell status
as much as they do luxury. Is it worth it? Depends on who you ask.Status really
does open doors, and by associating their brand, and thus their customers, with
success and refinement, they offer them status.''
''The
best way to identify an aspirational identity that our customers may be
attracted to is to consider how they want their friends to talk about them.
Think about it. When others talk about you, what do you want them to say? How
we answer that question reveals who it is we’d like to be. It’s the same for
our customers. As it relates to your brand, how does your customer want to be
perceived by their friends? And can you help them become that kind of person?
Can you participate in their identity transformation? If you offer executive
coaching, your clients may want to be seen as competent, generous, and
disciplined. If you sell sports equipment, your customers likely want to be
perceived as active, fit, and successful in their athletic pursuits.''
''Brands
that realize their customers are human, filled with emotion, driven to
transform, and in need of help truly do more than sell products; they change
people. Dave Ramsey changes people. Starbucks changes people. Apple changes
people. Tom’s Shoes changes people. Gerber Knives changes people. It’s no
wonder brands like these have such passionate fans and do so well in the
marketplace.''
''Your
website is likely the first impression a potential customer will receive about
your company. It’s almost like a first date. The customer simply needs to know
that you have something they want and you can be trusted to deliver whatever
that is.''
''What
are the five (almost free) things you can do to grow your business?
Here
they are:
1.
Create a
One-liner.
2.
Create a
Lead Generator and Collect E-mail Addresses.
3.
Create an
Automated E-Mail Drip Campaign.
4.
Collect
and Tell Stories of Transformation.
5.
Create a
System That Generates Referrals.''
''Consider
your first one-liner a rough draft. Write it down and test it repeatedly.
Run it by your friends, spouse, potential customers, even strangers standing in
line at Starbucks. Do people look interested? Do they completely understand
what you offer? If so, you’re on the right track. When they start asking for
your business card or for more information, you’ve really dialed it in.''
''Once
you’ve created your one-liner, use it liberally. Here are a few ways to put it
to work:
1.
Memorize
your one-liner and repeat it over and over. .
2.
Have your
team memorize the one-liner.
3.
Include it
on your website.
4.
Repeat
your one-liner in every piece of marketing collateral possible.''
''E-mail
is the most valuable and effective way you can spread the word about your
business, especially if your company revenue is under $5 million and you don’t
have a large marketing budget… So how do we get people to join our e-mail list?
We offer them something valuable in return, something more valuable than the
vague offer of a newsletter. This ‘something’ is a lead generator, a resource
that magnetically attracts people to our businesses and invites them to take
action.''
''In
order to combat noise in today’s marketplace, your lead generator must do two
things:
1.
Provide enormous value for your customer
2.
Establish you as an authority in your field.''
''Five Types of Lead Generators
for All Types of Businesses
1.
Downloadable
Guide:
2.
Online
Course or Webinar
3.
Software
Demos or a Free Trial
4.
Free
Samples
5.
Live
Events ''
''Like
farming a field, building a healthy and engaged e-mail list takes time,but it’s
time well spent. Start today. A year from now, you’ll be glad you did.''
― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
''If
you’re asking customers to write a testimonial for you, it’s likely they are
(1) too busy to give deep thought to writing the testimonial or (2) subpar
writers or communicators.
Here
are five questions most likely to generate the best response for a
customer
testimonial:
1.
What was the problem you were having before you discovered our product?
2.
What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?
3.
What was different about our product?
4.
Take us to the moment when you realized our product was actually working
to solve your problem.
5.
Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved? ''
''If
you really want to prime the pump, offer a reward to existing clients who refer
their friends….You can offer your customers a 10 percent commission on the
orders they bring to you. This system has generated millions of dollars for
thousands of companies. A good affiliate program can do the work of an
expensive sales force if you structure the percentages
well.''
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