University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Building a StoryBrand
Book

Building a StoryBrand

Clarify Your Message so Customers Will Listen

Donald Miller
HarperCollins Leadership, 2017
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Well Structured
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Run your marketing message through Donald Miller’s framework to create a superstar narrative. His approach casts your brand in the fundamentally human language of a story. He offers a sharp, clear process for finding a story to tell about your product or service that centers on your customer as the hero – not on your offering. Miller’s advice can be somewhat self-promotional, but he provides marketers and entrepreneurs with solid advice and valuable ideas for implementing an engaging tale. His applicable, practical guidance teaches you how to view your message from your customer’s perspective.

Summary

Revitalize your marketing plan by creating a story with the “StoryBrand 7-Part Framework.”

The human brain is hardwired for stories, which is why storytelling conveys marketing messages so well. A good story gives your customers a “map” that makes intuitive sense and helps them engage with your brand. A story guides them through the noise, including the noise you may inadvertently mix in with your current marketing. However, if your story doesn’t engage people within their hierarchy of needs, they won’t care about your message. 

For your story to reach your customers, it has to pass the “Grunt Test.” That is, if a caveman read your story, would he grunt yes that he knows what you’re selling, sees how it could improve his life and knows where to buy it? If so, it passes the grunt test. 

The most important thing in telling your story is what your customers hear – not what you’re trying to say. The ideal communication framework breaks down into seven messages in seven categories that constitute the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework (SB7). Its structure follows the seven crucial...

About the Author

StoryBrand CEO Donald Miller hosts the Building a StoryBrand podcast. His other books include the bestseller Blue Like Jazz, Scary Close and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He offers a story brand template at MyStoryBrand.com.

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