The StoryBrand Framework

Humans are wired to respond to stories. That’s why everyone loves a good movie or book that leaves them wanting more. And that’s why Donald Miller created the StoryBrand Marketing Framework. The framework takes the principles of storytelling and incorporates them into marketing. A Brandscript is part of that framework—it is the “script” that you, your employees, and (hopefully) your customers will use when they talk about your brand. 

Creating a narrative around your brand engages customers and gives them a way to emotionally connect with your brand. But you can’t tell a story without a few words. That’s where your BrandScript comes in. It will act as the guide for how you write your website copy, explain your value stack, and convince potential clients that you’re the answer to their prayers.

What’s In A Brandscript?

Think of your BrandScript as a messaging blueprint. As you follow the guidelines, it will help you create a clear, effective marketing message that appeals to your target audience. They’ll read your story and say to themselves, “Yes! You’re talking about me!” Let’s break down the different parts of a BrandScript. 

The Hero…

First, you need to know the characters in the story. And who is more important than the hero? A hero is a memorable character who (hopefully) wins the day, but before they do that, they need guidance. Think of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, Neo in The Matrix, or Katniss in The Hunger Games. They were the characters we were rooting for from start to finish. 

The hero of your marketing story is your ideal customer. Think about who they are, what matters to them, and what messages will resonate with them most. Are they a mom looking for help during their busy day? Are they a business owner who needs help managing finances? Take the time to really think about who would value your brand the most. Use market research and target personas to help you with this. 

What makes the story interesting is that the hero has a problem. We didn’t go to the movie theater to watch Harry Potter have a good day—we went to see him keep Hogwarts and his friends safe from evil. This is the crux of your brand narrative. It’s the whole reason you exist—to solve that problem. 

…Who Has A Problem…

The next step in your BrandScript is to clearly identify what the issue is. It could be an external problem, internal problem, or even a philosophical problem. A busy mom has tried getting her kids to eat their vegetables, but they just won’t. A college student is stressed out but doesn’t have time to see a traditional counselor. An evil wizard threatens the very existence of a school of magic—you get the idea. 

Odds are if they could solve the problem on their own, they wouldn’t be looking for solutions in the first place.

And Meets A Guide…

This is when the hero meets a guide. Luke meets Ben Kenobi. Neo meets Morpheus. Katniss meets Haymitch. Your customer meets…you! 

You can help the mom get her kids to eat healthier through your kid-friendly subscription meal service. You can help the college student get the counseling they need conveniently online. You can help the boy wizard defeat the evil forces of darkness. 

Now is the time to show your hero that you understand their feelings about their unique problem and maybe even that you’ve been there too. Acknowledge how it negatively affects their life and then confidently tell them you have the answer. You can lead them to a better way of life through your unique solution. All they have to do is follow you!

…Who Gives Them A Plan! 

As intrigued as they may be with your brand, people are unlikely to follow you blindly. That’s why you need to propose a simple plan. Think of it as a series of stepping stones that lead to the solution. You’ll lay out the steps a potential client needs to take to go from facing adversity to thriving. These could be the steps in your sales funnel or steps of the buyer’s journey that end with the client requesting your help.

Your plan should be as simple and clear as possible. StoryBrand recommends a plan that is no more than three steps. An example might be, 1) Enroll at Hogwarts, 2) Get your wand, 3) Become the hero of all mankind. See? That simple. 

And Calls Them to Action

It’s time to put on your bossy pants. Okay, not bossy…but definitely assertive. Now is the part in the story where you have to tell your character what to do. You’ve shown them the path out of their troubles and convinced them you’re the right choice, so it’s time for a clear call to action (CTA). 

Whether it’s in the form of a CTA button, a link in an email, or an ad on social media, your CTA needs to be clear, concise, and easy to execute. People shouldn’t have any doubt about how to move forward with your brand. 

It’s also important not to forget the “action” part of call to action. CTAs like “check out our website” or “learn more on our service page” provide more information, but don’t require a commitment. Instead, try things like “Schedule a consultation” or “Choose your plan” that encourages them to take action with your business and initiate a relationship.

The Guide Helps the Hero Avoid Failure 

The final part of your BrandScript is to remind the hero what they’re avoiding. Show them what it would look like to fail. Mom has to continue making mac n’ cheese for her picky kids instead of introducing them to healthy, tasty foods. The college student remains too stressed out to enjoy time with their friends. Things will simply not go the way your hero wants them to go. 

Now you illustrate how you help them avoid failure. Show them what it looks like to win the day! Demonstrate how much better their life will be with you in it and how your solution will benefit them. Think about the end of commercials when the characters who were upset and shown in grayscale in the beginning are now excited and colorful because they have the product in hand. 

Showing success leaves the hero feeling confident in their choice to work with you. They feel like you’ve saved them from a grumpy grayscale life and made the world colorful again.

StoryBrand BrandScript Examples

To help put all of this into perspective, we’ve created a few examples of BrandScripts. We list out the components of each BrandScript so you can see how they all weave together into one great StoryBrand message. 

Organic Meal Prep Business

The Elements

• The character: A mom who wants her and her family to eat healthier. 
• The problem: They don’t have time in their busy schedules to shop for and cook healthy meals. 
• The guide: You know how tough it can be to eat healthy, especially in today’s busy world full of fast food. In fact, your business was born from a desire to help people eat better by doing the hard parts for them.
• The plan: Determine your goals, choose your meal plan, and enjoy tasty meals every night!
• CTA: “Select a meal plan to start your journey to a healthier, happier you.”
• Success and failure: With organic meals delivered, you always have a healthy meal option at your fingertips. Without it, you’re back to stressing out over what to buy, how to cook it, and when in the world you’ll ever have time to go to the grocery store. When you don’t have healthy options readily available, you’re more likely to cheat and grab something that will make you feel worse. 

The BrandScript

You know fast food isn’t good for you, but when you need food fast, there aren’t many healthy options out there. Between meetings at work, picking up kids from school and managing your workout routine, there’s no time left to go to the grocery store, much less cook a healthy meal for the whole family. 

At GreenWheels, we feel your pain. In fact, that’s exactly why our business exists. As a mom of three, the founder of GreenWheels struggled to find time to feed her family healthy meals during the week. She didn’t want to eat fast food, but cooking a full meal just wasn’t an option. When she learned many of her friends were in the same boat, she decided to do something about it.

We can help you and your family eat better (and feel better) by preparing and delivering fresh, organic, easy-to-prepare meals each week. So you never have to worry about finding time for the grocery store again. We’ve helped 500 families (and counting) turn their diets around and get back to a nutritious lifestyle with our meal delivery service.

Getting started with us is easy! All you have to do is:

1. Choose your own customizable meal plan.
2. Get healthy food delivered right to your door. 
3. Enjoy tasty meals every night of the week!

Don’t let stress continue fueling your bad eating habits. The sooner you start eating healthy, the better you’ll feel! Let us take the hassle out of being healthy by preparing and delivering fresh meals each week, so all you have to do is eat!

Financial Advisor

The Elements

• The character: A couple nearing retirement age.  
• The problem: Transitioning to retirement can be scary, and they aren’t sure how to manage their money once they stop working.
• The guide: You know how stressful it can be to make this big life change, and you’re here to help ease the transition and coach them on the best decision for their situation.
• The plan: Schedule a consultation, review your accounts, set a retirement goal.
• CTA: “Schedule a consultation today to start planning your retirement.”
• Success and failure: If you try to change your lifestyle cold turkey, you could run into cash flow problems. This might even mean you have to return to the workforce to shore up your accounts. Creating a detailed plan for transitioning to retirement will make the process smooth and easy so you don’t have to worry about having enough money. 

The BrandScript

We all work toward retirement, but when the time comes to transition from your full-time career to some full-time hobbies, it can be scary. You feel uncertain that you’ve saved enough money; you don’t understand how to withdraw cash from your retirement accounts; and you’re worried you’ll have a restricted lifestyle if you aren’t actively earning income. You know others have retired comfortably, but how can you know if you can?

At Fullers Financial, we understand that transitioning to retirement is stressful. It’s a big life change. To help you approach it confidently, our expert advisors are here to create a plan that works for you. They are all licensed financial advisors with specialized experience in retirement planning. We use proven methods to help you set savings goals and meet benchmarks in your retirement accounts so you can rest assured you’ll be financially set when the time comes. 

A comfortable retirement takes careful planning, which is why we have a comprehensive process to help our clients assess their situation, set their goals, and reach them. The process is simple:

1. Schedule your free consultation.
2. Meet with an advisor to review your accounts.
3. Retire with confidence. 

Leaving your career and hoping you have enough money in the bank to sustain your new lifestyle can often put you back in the workforce within a few years. When you retire, you want to enjoy owning your time for the rest of your life. Creating a detailed plan for transitioning to retirement will make the process smooth and easy so you don’t ever have to worry about not having enough money.

Schedule your free consultation today to start planning a retirement you can enjoy!

IT Management Company

The Elements

• The character: A small business owner with a mid-sized IT network
• The problem: Small business owners have trouble managing their IT because they aren’t experts, but their business isn’t large enough to hire an in-house IT staff.
• The guide: You have a team of IT experts ready to tackle any problem remotely, so small and medium businesses can rest assured their network is in good hands.
• The plan: Schedule a call with a customer representative. Choose your plan or customize your services. Run your business smoothly. 
• CTA: “It’s time to bring your business to the next level. Call us today.”
• Success and failure: When you’re constantly fighting IT issues, it forces downtime and makes it harder for your team to do their jobs. But with a secure network and devices that always work, your team can be more productive and make your business more profitable. 

The BrandScript

There’s nothing more frustrating than tech issues that halt all business functions. Network errors, too little storage, and even a simple internet outage can lose your business thousands of dollars in the time it takes to repair. You wish you had someone in-house to keep everything up and running, but your business just doesn’t have that kind of bottom line. 

If this sounds all too familiar, then outsourced IT might be the solution. At BizWiz IT, we manage all aspects of small business remotely, so you never have to worry about downtime cutting into your productivity again. 

We have a team of IT experts that are at your disposal to tackle any problem you might encounter. Each team member specializes in a different area of business IT so you always have access to qualified assistance. Our team undergoes comprehensive training before they start working with clients, and we keep up with the latest trends through continued education initiatives in an effort to provide our clients with the most recent technological solutions.

Getting started is easy:

1. Call our customer representatives to assess your needs.
2. Choose your plan or customize your services.
3. Run your business without IT headaches!

Don’t let network outages and time-consuming updates prevent your business from reaching new heights. With BizWiz IT, you get all the benefits of an in-house IT team at a fraction of the cost. It’s time to bring your business to the next level. Call us today.

Partner with an Expert

There’s a certain craft when it comes to building a StoryBrand and writing your BrandScript. While we’ve presented you with the general framework, we also know that there’s value in leveling up your BrandScript game. It takes time to discover your audience and hone your vision (and that’s all before you even start writing). A professional can take all of those ideas and go beyond the formula to create something truly special. 

As a StoryBrand Certified Agency, our team at Hughes Integrated specializes in helping businesses create winning BrandScripts that draw clients into a story. Let us put you on the path to growth. Call today for your free consultation.