What Designers Should Take Away From “Building a StoryBrand”
Today we want to share with you one of the best (and cheapest) investments we made for our business when first starting out.
You guessed it, it was Building A StoryBrand by Donald Miller.
To be honest with you, when we first started our business, the thought of adding another strategy to our process felt overwhelming and we tried to tune out the StoryBrand philosophy when we heard about it at a conference.
But, when it was mentioned again a few months later by our business coach, we decided to give it a shot. And we are so glad that we did.
StoryBrand helped us to transform our business and our design process, and we’re going to share two key lessons that you can take away from the book to grow your business.
Lesson #1: Position Yourself as a Guide and Your Customer as the Hero
“The day we stop losing sleep over the success of our business and start losing sleep over the success of our customers is the day our business will start growing again.” -Donald Miller
The key to growth and sales- for both you and your clients- is found in knowing how to effectively communicate with your audience.
And this is most powerful when you position your brand as the guide to your customer's story, rather than the hero of their story.A good guide is someone that supports and educates the hero in their journey; they have wisdom and experience and are ready to help their hero succeed.
What does this look like practically? It’s making your marketing and messaging less about what you do and more about how you help your customer solve their problems and achieve their desires
By nature, people love nothing more than feeling heard and having their problems solved. When a customer visits your site they are looking for answers to questions like:
Can you solve their problems with your product or service?
Do you understand and care about how they feel?
Does your company help them get what they truly want?
Answering these questions in clear, easy-to-skim copy and images will help you connect with customers on a whole new level.
Let’s look at an example of how you can position yourself as a guide in a website design from a design we developed for a Holistic Health Coach.
The Tagline
A tagline is the first big statement someone sees when on your website and is a key place to connect with your customer instantly.
To properly utilize this great website real estate, you’ll want to state what you (or your customer does) and what transformation is going to help your audience.
Example: Holistic Health Coaching Programs for Wellness and Personal Health. This statement explains in just a few seconds what our client does and the problem her audience faces.
Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a free gift or download that is given away for the purpose of growing your email list, but it also is a great connection point for your audience that shows them you care and are offering something free to help them in their journey.
Example: Quiz
People love to answer questions about themselves, so quizzes are a great lead magnet option as they help to establish a relationship with your audience by getting to know them more.
Addressing Your Audience’s Problems
Every great salesperson knows that, while they are selling a product or service, what they are really selling is a solution to a problem.
StoryBrand breaks down the customer’s problem into 3 layers: the external, internal, and philosophical problems.
Example: This intro to the about page addresses the audience’s problem of struggling to find the root cause of their health issues.
If you need help identifying the problems your audience (or client’s audience) faces, grab our Strategy Meeting Doc here. It walks you through a list of questions we ask our clients before we begin designing.
Lesson #2: Repetitive CTA’s (call-to-actions)
You may feel like you're being pushy by adding in a repeated call to action. However, without strong, repetitive calls to action, you ARE missing out on sales.
Many clients worry that they are being too “pushy” on their website. But, 99% of the time, small brands are not asking for the sale enough.
Here’s the thing: people aren’t always ready to purchase from you right away. People need time and to build trust with you and your brand first.
For that same reason, you should include a call to action buttons throughout the about page, especially at the end of the page. You never want to leave a dead-end you should prompt audiences to that next step.
By incorporating repetitive call-to-actions to your site, you’re inviting your customers in to make a purchase and making their lives easier for when the time comes and they are ready to purchase.
