StoryBrand Podcast #38: BIG NEWS—Introducing The StoryBrand Podcast

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 The way most people talk about their businesses, it isn't working. Most companies, if I go to your website,

spk_0 I cannot tell what problem you solve. You're talking about a bunch of stuff I don't care about.

spk_0 You're making a lot of mistakes. And so listen, this is the key to phenomenal growth in your business.

spk_0 By the end of the next hour, I want to give you a framework you're going to invite customers into a story

spk_0 in which they use your product to win the day in their life. And you are going to help the hero win.

spk_0 Hey, it's podcast producer Bobby Richards and I've got a quick question for you. When it comes to your marketing,

spk_0 is it actually cutting through all the noise or is it just adding to it?

spk_0 I ask this because if it's not literally telling your customers how you can solve their problem, they will not buy from them.

spk_0 But don't worry because this is exactly why we created Story Brand Your Business.

spk_0 It's a brand new hands-on live marketing workshop taught by Donald Miller himself,

spk_0 happening January 28th and 29th here in National Tennessee. At the event, Don will personally teach you

spk_0 the proven Story Brand Framework that's helped thousands of businesses clarify their message.

spk_0 Plus, his brand new messaging campaign framework that's designed to help you compete in today's AI-driven market.

spk_0 And you won't just learn the frameworks, you'll learn how to implement them into your business right away.

spk_0 You'll craft a controlling idea that drives every piece of your marketing, create survival sound bites,

spk_0 your customers actually remember, and build a complete messaging campaign that works.

spk_0 And throughout it all, you won't be doing it alone. You'll be part of a small group of business owners just like you

spk_0 and receive live coaching from Story Brand Certified Guides who are in the room with you.

spk_0 But tickets are limited, so register now at Story Brand Your Business.com.

spk_0 You don't have to stay stuck trying to figure out how to make your marketing and messaging work for your business.

spk_0 Join us at the Story Brand Your Business live event with Donald Miller and walk away with a clear message

spk_0 and a plan you can immediately implement to grow your business.

spk_0 You can't wait to see you there, so go register right now at Story Brand Your Business.com.

spk_0 Kyle Reed here and welcome to the very first episode of the new Story Brand Podcast.

spk_0 If you've been listening and following us through why that worked, first off, thank you so much.

spk_0 Don and I loved unpacking what made ideas, messages, and viral moments stick,

spk_0 while other ideas seemed to fade away. But here's the thing. On each episode as Don and I would dig deeper into why something worked,

spk_0 we kept coming back to the same thing. Clear messaging wins, confusing messaging loses.

spk_0 It really all came back to the Story Brand Framework. That's why it isn't just a name change for us, it's a reset.

spk_0 This is returning back to the thing that actually works, and that's exactly what the Story Brand Podcast is here to help you do.

spk_0 Master the most important skills in your business, inviting customers into a story where they're the hero and you're the guide

spk_0 all while building marketing and messaging around how your product or service clearly solves their problem.

spk_0 So in this inaugural episode, we're providing you with what might be the most complete deep dive

spk_0 at the Story Brand Framework from Donald Miller himself. This is pulled from a talk he gave earlier in the year,

spk_0 where he goes deep into the Story Brand Framework and gives you a master overview of every single step.

spk_0 If you've ever felt stuck explaining what you do or frustrated that your marketing just isn't landing, this is your reset.

spk_0 Don and I could not be more excited to walk with you through what's next because when your messaging is clear, everything else starts falling into place.

spk_0 This isn't just a podcast about why things work. This is a podcast that helps you create messaging that works. Also, you can grow your business with clarity and confidence.

spk_0 Welcome to the new Story Brand Podcast. Let's get started.

spk_0 If you have a great product and you have really good people and you've got really great procedures to sell those products, but you're capped, you're stalled.

spk_0 You need the fourth P. The fourth P is positioning. How have you positioned your product in the marketplace so that people understand why they need it?

spk_0 Are the words you are using giving value to the products that you sell? Here's the reality. People buy products after they hear or read words that make them want to buy those products. It's all about the words.

spk_0 Think about the last thing that you bought on say Amazon.com. Probably almost everybody watching this is bought something in the last week. I bought something today on Amazon.

spk_0 I had to buy a little an RCA connector to go and do a headphone jack. What I did was I went, they had 25 different versions of it. I read a review of the one. I checked the price. Amazon said overall pick and so I bought it.

spk_0 Notice I read the review. I read the price. I read the words overall pick and I bought it. It was the words that I read that made me want to buy it. When we think about branding, we often think about our color scheme, our logo, our tagline, things like that. I promise you it's the words that you use.

spk_0 Amazon.com, everybody here is bought something on Amazon. Probably today if not this week. That is an ugly website with ugly colors. We've just proven that it doesn't have to be beautiful in order for you to make money in order for you to do well in business. It's the words that you use.

spk_0 I want to introduce you to a framework that is going to help you use short, simple, repeatable sound bites in order to take market share in whatever it is that you do. It doesn't matter if you're business to business. It doesn't matter if you're a business to consumer. It doesn't matter if you're a nonprofit. The words that you will use, the words that you will use, will help your business grow.

spk_0 Before we get into the framework, let me explain why the story brand framework works so well. Building a story brand sold over a million copies. The new version, building a story brand 2.0 came out into the world. It's doing very well. But that many people have bought that book because that book helped them come up with seven short sound bites that grew their business.

spk_0 We've heard 10x, we've heard 100x increase in sales when people started using the right words. So we want to use the right words. Now why does the framework work? Why are people so attracted to the right words? Well, here's what. There's two things that the human brain is always trying to do. The first thing that the human brain is always trying to do is survive and thrive. That is the job of the human brain. It is to survive and thrive.

spk_0 Your job, your brain's job is to keep you alive and keep you on the planet. When you go to Cross of Street, your brain says, look left and right because a bus could be coming, right?

spk_0 Well, all the time your brain is scanning the environment for threats and it's trying to mitigate those threats and navigate the world in such a way that you stay alive first. Now in a first world country, we have food and shelter, we have all that kind of stuff.

spk_0 So your brain moves to more sophisticated realms in terms of survival. It'll look for people to associate with. It'll look for products that give me more comfort, peace of mind. I'm looking for better sleep. I'm looking for better health. I'm looking for better connection with my children. I'm looking for a better marriage. I'm looking for really good friends. I'm looking for things that deal with my emotional health, my psychological health, my physical health.

spk_0 Well, much higher levels of survival, but your brain is always looking for the next level of survival. Always. That is the job of the human brain. Now, why do you need to know that to stay in business? This is why.

spk_0 The only reason people buy things is to survive to somehow increase their chance of survival. Again, in a first world country, it's not all about living and staying alive. It's about thriving and having more resources in order to stay alive in order to mitigate threats or defend myself against threats.

spk_0 And so what you have to do in order to sell your products is very very very important.

spk_0 So, the second thing that the human brain is always trying to do after you help people survive and thrive, the second thing that the human brain is always trying to do is conserve calories. Your brain does not want to spend a lot of calories thinking.

spk_0 In fact, your brain really doesn't want to think at all. And here's why. You burn between six and 800 calories a day, just processing the information out in the world. Just taking in information saying, should I turn left and right, where am I going?

spk_0 And I got to enter into this in the GPS and I don't like this radio station. I want to listen to it. And I got to call for my daughter. I got to remember to go by the bakery on the way home. Six to 800 calories, just processing the day.

spk_0 So you don't have a whole lot of time to think about anything. And your brain says, you know what? So much information is being thrown at us. So many people want our attention. Over 5,000 commercial messages a day are being thrown at the average American. That's incredible.

spk_0 So tons and tons of calories. And we think about this. We think about this. We think about this. So a brain that needs to survive is going to say one thing. I need to know what to think about and what not to think about.

spk_0 And so automatically you have a filter. It's a subconscious filter in your brain that says, I want you to think about this. I don't want you to think about that. Now, hear me out. If you did not have this filter, your life would be entirely and completely unmanageable. What do I mean by that?

spk_0 You would have walked into a Starbucks this morning. You would have picked up a pound of coffee. And you would have said, this is kind of interesting. It feels like metal, but it moves around with the texture of paper. And look, I think it may be glued on the top. That's a glue seal. No, maybe that's a stitch.

spk_0 I don't know. It's got these metal things off. You put them up. They kind of look like a cat. I wonder if there's some shift on a boat from somewhere. I wonder if you would be thinking about things that you don't need to think about.

spk_0 But instead, that is not how you walked into Starbucks. You walked into Starbucks. You avoided the coffee because you don't need that. And you walked up the county place in order. You waited till they called your name. And you went up to your cup with your misspelled name on it.

spk_0 You walked out the door and you got some caffeine, which you need to give you a boost of mental focus so you could go to work and make money that day. In other words, of all the things that you could pay attention to in Starbucks, you pay attention to only the things that help you survive.

spk_0 So you see what I'm getting at. If I go to your website, if I go to your landing page, if you send me a text message, if you email me, if you're giving a keynote presentation at a workshop, if you're doing a live stream or a webinar, if you're talking to somebody on the phone as a sales rep trying to sell your product, the people that you're talking to are wondering one thing and one thing alone. How will you help me survive?

spk_0 And that's it. And you need to answer that question fast. When you do, you will find that people lean in. Tell me more about that. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. You said that this could actually remove the wrinkles from around my eyes, making me look younger and more vibrant so that people are more drawn to me, which is a way that I can survive better.

spk_0 Oh, that's amazing. Wait, you said that I could get better sleep and be able to focus better and be a better parent and be less moody, but better sleep sounds good. That can help me survive. But that's not how most of us talk. When we talk about our businesses, that's not what we do. When people say, what do you do? We say, well, you know, it's complicated. Wait, think about what you just said. Well, it's complicated. You know what you might as well told me? Well, you're going to have to burn a ton of calories to understand what I'm about to say.

spk_0 And by the way, you don't even know if it's connected to your survival or not. So why don't you give me 200 of those calories that you were that you don't want to use today so that I can say a bunch of gibberish about how my grandmother started this company 75 years ago. No, not interested.

spk_0 So whenever somebody says, tell me about your company and your business. Here's what I want you to do. Now, if you have to go to sleep, remember this. This is the one thing I want you to remember. If somebody asked about your business, I want you to say, you know, I got tired of seeing people struggle with X.

spk_0 I knew it was hurting them. I knew it was crushing them. So I created why? And I sell them why in order to solve that problem. And what have you just said? You've just said, I am somebody who helps people survive. And if people are struggling with this and it's it's sapping their survival, I come in and I stop that.

spk_0 People who help us survive are very important to us. People who tell us about their lives, we can give or take that we can pass it. It doesn't matter. We value people who help us solve problems so that we can survive.

spk_0 Therefore, because the brain is always trying to survive and thrive and always trying to conserve calories, what you need to do is create a framework of messages which you talk about your products, short, simple sound bites that help people understand how you help them survive.

spk_0 And you need to do so in such a way that don't have to burn any calories to understand. We have a mantra around my office and it's this, if you confuse, you will lose. If you confuse people, you will lose. Never ever confuse them. Now listen, I've met some people who I would consider amateur business marketers and messengers. And they say, Don, you know, I like being mysterious.

spk_0 I like making people curious about what I do and I like it when they ask me and they want to know. And you know what I say to them? You must also like being poor. You must also like bankruptcy. Because if you confuse, you will lose. It happens every time. People cannot be confused about what you do. You must explain it very clearly. All right. Now you understand how the mind works.

spk_0 So let's introduce a framework that helps you come up with the sound bites that will help people understand how you can help them win the day. And in order to do that, we're going to use an age old formula that comes from story, story, structure. Now before we get into it, story is very formulaic.

spk_0 Screenwriters, novelists, they've been using stories for ages, for ages in order to invite people into an entertaining day. You know, what's the last movie you saw on the theater? What's the last movie that you saw? Last night, I watched that old Walt Disney movie Miracle about the 1980, I think it was 1980 Olympic team, the hockey team that won the gold medal and beat the Soviets. Great movie.

spk_0 And I thought, no, I'm not going to go to sleep. I mean, I am going to go to sleep. I'm just going to watch 10 minutes of it. But the story sucked me in, right? And I ended up staying up a little later than I wanted to finishing this movie.

spk_0 You know, here's what's interesting about the power of narrative structures and the power of story. The average brain burns 800 calories, right? But it also spends 30% of its time day dreaming.

spk_0 The average brain spends 30% of its time day dreaming unless you sit down and watch a movie or you open a book called Harry Potter. When you do that, your brain does not day dream. It just pays attention. And it'll pay attention for hours.

spk_0 In fact, it will keep you up later than you want to be up because you want to know how this story ends. Story is the only tool known to man that can get a person to not daydream for a long period of time.

spk_0 That's why those of you who've ever been to church and you're daydreaming and you have no idea what that guy up there is saying. As soon as he says, let me tell you a story about how this affected me and my wife. You start paying attention.

spk_0 The second that somebody starts telling a story everybody clues in. And so what we want to do is we want to say, okay, what are these formulas that these screenwriters have been using for centuries in order to compel people?

spk_0 Screenwriters haven't been using the percentories, but novelists have storytellers have playwrights like Shakespeare centuries and centuries have been captivating people with these stories.

spk_0 So let's ask ourselves, what are these formulas? How do they work? And how can we use them to get people to pay attention to us? All right. Now, one caveat that's going to happen. I'm going to explain to you how stories work. And this is what's going to happen to you for the rest of your life.

spk_0 You're going to see it. You're going to be watching a movie and you're going to say, oh my word. That's what the hero wants. And that guy's the guide and that guy's the villain. And he's leading people to believe they have an external problem, which causes an internal problem.

spk_0 Which causes a philosophical problem and an act to part three. This is the climactic scene, which leads to the result either of tragedy. You're going to see it all.

spk_0 Now that I explained to you how story works. Let me show you an ancient story structure that has never, ever, ever stopped working. And we're talking about thousands of years since Plato wrote poetics. Right.

spk_0 This structure has been working. All right. Here we go. The first thing that you got to have, if you want to tell a story, is a character. A hero has to show up on screen.

spk_0 And that hero has to want something. They have to want something and it has to be crystal clear and defined what it is that they want.

spk_0 If we're riding a romcom, that hero walked into a coffee shop, met a young woman, maybe he spilled his coffee. There was all sorts of chemistry between them.

spk_0 Everybody in the movie going, audience says, this is the cutest couple ever. They've got to get together. And now we know what this movie is about.

spk_0 This movie is about that guy and that girl getting together and somehow getting married or something because we know that's what they want. Now listen, there are two mistakes that amateur screenwriters make and their big, giant mistakes that will sink a movie and calls the audience to stop paying attention.

spk_0 These same two mistakes are the same two mistakes that business owners and business leaders make when they talk about their companies, when they talk about their products.

spk_0 Mistake number one, you're too vague. If what the movie is about is vague and what the hero wants is vague, you are causing me to burn too many calories to follow this plot.

spk_0 For instance, if I said, hey, let's not watch the rest of my lecture. It's kind of boring. I want to show you a new movie that I saw about a guy looking for fulfillment.

spk_0 Are you interested in that movie? No, you're not interested. Why? Because a guy looking for fulfillment is too elusive and vague for me to get my head around what the entertainment offer actually is.

spk_0 But if I said to you, hey, I want to show you a new movie. Another one of Liam Neeson's daughters has been kidnapped. All of a sudden you're going, okay, yeah, yeah, I've seen this before.

spk_0 I don't say this is going to be entertaining. Maybe you're in when your customer can't quite understand how you can change their lives.

spk_0 They're going to do business with somebody else. You cannot be vague. If I go and analyze your website, if I look at your website and on the top header of the website is something like, trust is the commodity we exchange.

spk_0 Right? Trust is the commodity we exchange. I'm not going to do business with you. That sounds really professional. It sounds kind of poetic.

spk_0 It sounds like something nice about your brand, but it doesn't help me understand what problem you solve for me. People do not want to know about your brand.

spk_0 They want to know what problem you solve for me. That's what they want to know. You want to talk about yourself. I want you to talk about the customer's problem because that's the hook.

spk_0 We can't make mistakes like that. I see it all over the place. There's literally a billboard across the street from my studio. The billboard says, sitting on the fence, call a cowboy.

spk_0 The word cowboy is spelled with a K. Then there's a picture of a guy with a cowboy hat on. That's it. Sitting on the fence, call a cowboy with a word cowboy misspelled and a guy with a cowboy hat.

spk_0 What in God's name is that billboard trying to sell? Well, it turns out it's a company that can put up a fence around your backyard. But what they did with that billboard is they tried to get cute sitting the fence. That's cute.

spk_0 Not sure who to hire to build your fence. Then there's a picture of a cowboy and then call a cowboy and then there's a phone number. Do you realize how much money they're losing with that stupid billboard that says nothing?

spk_0 They literally think people are going to pull their car over, get out, sit on the hood and study that billboard like it's a puzzle. Then they're going to call them to buy the fence.

spk_0 I guarantee you that that billboard has sold zero fences. Now let's change that. Let's make it really clear. Right. Let's get that cowboy out there with the cowboy hat. Let's be cute. We'll do the cowboy theme. I'm with you there and have them out there working really hard on a fence.

spk_0 And then it just said hire a cowboy to build your fence with the phone number. That's it.

spk_0 hire a cowboy to build your fence with the phone number does not make people think. Listen to me. I love you. I want your business to grow. You got to listen to me on this. It's really important. Stop making people think. Please stop making people think.

spk_0 You're not going to be able to make people think. But we got a problem. And here's the problem. You are so close to your products and services. There's so much about them that you understand that you are projecting your knowledge onto people who know nothing.

spk_0 And so you are speaking in what feels very like very clear language to you because you've done this all your life. You've done this a million times. You know the product inside. Now you're speaking. You think you're speaking clearly.

spk_0 But nobody understands what you're talking about. You got to go all the way back and come up with sound bites. The first mistake that people make in creating their brand message is they are too vague and elusive at explaining,

spk_0 at offering people something that they want. They haven't defined something really, really clear that people want that people can understand.

spk_0 Need a new fence hire a cowboy. How many calories did you have to burn to figure out what I was trying to say? None. None.

spk_0 So don't be vague. Don't be elusive. Don't be cute. Don't be clever. Be clear. Be clear. I believe you can do it. In fact, often when I'm talking to somebody about their business, they'll tell me about their business. And then I'll say this little magical question.

spk_0 I'll say, what did you mean by that? And then the next words out of their mouth will be crystal clear. And I'm like, say the clear part, not the clever part. And you'll do more business.

spk_0 All right. First mistake people make when they're talking about their brands, they're too vague. They're too elusive. Second mistake people make. They talk about too many things. They make the story about too many things. Now this is a little complicated. I want to explain it to you because I think it's worth it.

spk_0 Your brand can be known for one thing. And that's it. Your brand will not be known for two things. Your brand will not be known for three things. Now the further you get from your brand, the more true what I just said is. Right? If you know your brand is about five or seven things, your spouse knows it's about three or four things.

spk_0 Your good friends know it's about two things and everybody outside of them only knows you for one thing. And so what you want to do is you want to figure out the one thing that your brand is known for and make that the whole thing. Right? If I said to you, what is Chick-fil-A known for you might say eat more chicken. They're known for chicken. They own chicken. They dominate chicken. They don't do anything else. It's just chicken.

spk_0 That is really, really smart. Really, really smart. If you can get your brand to be known for one thing, I think it's great. Now you say, we don't just sell one thing.

spk_0 Apple is probably known for really cool user friendly devices, phones, computers, iPads. They're known for really cool, easy to use technology. All right. So they own that.

spk_0 All in on and on. I am known for creating clear messages. And I've known that way because for seven or eight years now, I've talked about it endlessly.

spk_0 Endlessly. It's almost all I'll talk about if you put a camera on me. Right? If I'm walking down the street and the news comes up and says, man, what are you thinking this snowstorm coming? Are you prepared? I'll say, yeah, I'm prepared for the snowstorm because I clarified my message.

spk_0 And it's really important that you clarify your message. So call me. My name is Don Miller. I can help you clarify your message. Good luck with the snowstorm. I mean, I'm just like, I got my sound bites down and I repeat them over and over. And I don't care who I'm talking to. And that's how you do it.

spk_0 Every good marketing effort is an exercise in memorization. And what I mean by that is once you have your sound bites down, you need to say them so clearly, so effectively and repeat them so often that everybody you talk to can memorize them and repeat them.

spk_0 And then you're going back to you. You don't need to use different kind of language. You know, I remember going and visiting a presidential candidate.

spk_0 Presidential candidate was the front runner in the presidential election. This is probably a gosh. Eight years ago, more than eight years ago. Front runner in the presidential election in the primaries.

spk_0 And he was losing ground. He was losing ground to the other primary candidates. They were all starting to pass them up. He had 112 million dollars in a super pack. He had 14 million dollars in the general campaign fund.

spk_0 And they called me and they said, why are we literally diving in the polls when we have all this money. We have all this brand awareness.

spk_0 And I said, you got to come up with sound bites and repeat them. And his team literally said to me, our candidate won't do that. He's a scholar. He wants to be in town hall answering questions. Honestly, he will not repeat sound bites. He's not a fake and authentic guy.

spk_0 And I said, well, you have to understand if that's true, your candidate will never be president.

spk_0 Never. It will never ever happen because not a single voter is sitting there pouring a glass of scotch trying to study the nuance of your candidate. In fact, it's an incredibly arrogant thing for him to not serve the voter by simplifying his message.

spk_0 It's very narcissistic. I'm not going to simplify my message. I am so important that you need to sit down and spend hours trying to understand what I can do for you. How cocky an arrogant is that?

spk_0 You can't do that as a business owner. Don't expect people just to sit down and try. Let's come up with some beautiful short sound bites that you can repeat and serve them by not making them think.

spk_0 It's the altruistic thing to do. It's the kind thing to do. And it's what you're going to do. And it's also going to be incredibly, incredibly effective for you.

spk_0 Okay. Don't be vague and don't be about too many things. If your brand is about too many things, that's great. Now listen, if your brand is about too many things, you need to come up with one umbrella thing that you're all about.

spk_0 My friend Dave Ramsey works down the street. He's known for financial peace. He's going to help you achieve financial peace. Let me just tell you what you already know about Dave Ramsey.

spk_0 He wants you to have financial peace. He's against debt. So now we know what he's for and what he's against. And he's we know that because he's on a radio show every day repeating it. And he's been repeating it for 25 years. And he never changes his message.

spk_0 And he makes about $300 million a year with that message. And you can do the same thing. What is the one thing that your brand offers? It doesn't mean you can only sell one product.

spk_0 But all the products that you that you sell need to help deliver on that one promise, whether it's better sleep, more peace, better community, better health, better plunger to unclog your toilet quicker, better cat litter.

spk_0 You know, my wife and daughter who I love more than any two people I've ever known in my entire life lobbied me for close to a year to get a cat.

spk_0 And I thought, guys, we have a dog. We can't add a cat. But they like some women are capable of doing melted me down until I gave in. And now we have two cats and a dog.

spk_0 That's how that's how that's how much of a backbone I have against these ladies. I've I've actually just fallen in love with these cats. But when I noticed the other days I was changing the cat litter. Listen to me. I never wanted to cat. Now I'm changing cat litter.

spk_0 That cat litter is really heavy. I mean, it's I'm like, you got to be kidding me. It comes from Amazon sits on a front porch. I lifted up like this is like 40 pounds of cat litter.

spk_0 I'm taking it into the laundry room and change cat litter. I see an ad and the ad says tired of heavy cat litter.

spk_0 Our cat litter doesn't weigh very much. And I thought brilliant. That is a brilliant ad. And it is aimed directly at me.

spk_0 And it directly at somebody who had experienced that problem. Does that make sense? They didn't lead with our cat litter name is this and our brand colors are this.

spk_0 What they led with was if you have experienced this problem, we have solved it. So buy our cat litter and you know what we did? We bought their cat litter.

spk_0 I don't even know the name of the brand. But I know the problem that they solve. And because I had that problem, I bought their product.

spk_0 You have been hiding in your marketing and messaging strategy. You've been hiding the gold. You've been hiding the hook that catches the fish.

spk_0 The hook that catches the fish is the problem. So now that we've identified what our customer wants and we're not being vague and we're not listening to many things, we've got to define a problem that they are struggling with.

spk_0 That's the next part of the framework. You've got what the character wants and then you've got the problem. And that's our second sound bite.

spk_0 And I want you, I want to challenge you. The most important thing I'm going to say tonight is this. You need to own a problem. You need to own it.

spk_0 If you own a problem, you own the market. If you own a problem, you own the market. Now you say, Don, I've got 10 competitors who say,

spk_0 I sell the same thing I sell. Let me just ask you this. Are they talking about the problem? If they aren't talking about the problem, you have an opportunity to dominate all 10 competitors to dominate them and put them out of business.

spk_0 And I'm just saying that I don't want you to put them out of business. I don't want anybody to go out of business. But if you start talking about the problem and they don't, you're going to dominate.

spk_0 Because that's the only reason people separate with their money. They only separate with their money. They only place orders to solve a problem.

spk_0 So you need a sound bite. And by the way, if you read Building a Story Brand 2.0, there are three sections of problems. External internal philosophical.

spk_0 You need three sound bites that speak to the problems, the physical, the emotional, and the philosophical problem that your customers are dealing with.

spk_0 And then you need to talk about those problems endlessly. Endlessly, I want you to talk about those problems. In fact, if I go to your website and I print out a physical copy of your website on a piece of paper.

spk_0 And I took a Sharpie and I circled everywhere that you talk about your customers problems and how painful those problems are and how struggle, what a struggle that is.

spk_0 And then you position your product as a solution to those problems. I want at least 10 circles on that page. Now just ask yourself that.

spk_0 If I printed off your website, could I circle 10 different places where you're talking about your customers problems? If not, I would say you've got an amazing opportunity.

spk_0 All you've got to do is add some language about their problem and you are going to see sales go up. Listen, I have a small group of mastermind guys.

spk_0 I have a friend who has a supplement company is in my mastermind. I went through all I did was went through and rewrote the product descriptions for each of his supplements. Just gave him some, hey, let's start with the problem.

spk_0 Let's talk more about the problem. You're talking about how you dehydrate broccoli and put it into a pill. That's wonderful. But I want to talk about gut rot and how it makes you tired and how it does this.

spk_0 And so I rewrote that. He went from 9 million to $18 million. Just rewriting product descriptions in two years. He did that.

spk_0 You know, people only part with their money to solve a problem. So we've got to get the language right when we're talking about our customers problem.

spk_0 All right, the next thing that we've got to do now that we've talked about the problem, we've got to position ourselves as the guide in their story.

spk_0 They are the hero who has a problem. We are the guide helping them win the day. What do I mean by guide? Well, in stories, you have heroic characters trying to win the day.

spk_0 And then you have guide characters trying to help them. You also have victim characters that need rescuing and you have villain characters who are opposing the hero and trying to hurt the victim.

spk_0 Those are the four major characters in almost every story that you have ever seen. Those are the four major characters. Now those characters exist, I believe, because out there in the world, we all play heroes. We all play victims. We all play villains. We all play guides.

spk_0 You catch me stuck in traffic and I'm probably going to have a lot of villain personality boiled in through my brain, my, my, whatever, right. You catch me with my daughter trying to help her figure out how to kick a soccer ball.

spk_0 I'm about to be an assistant soccer coach. I'm nervous as I could possibly be with a three and a half year old. I know I actually can't wait.

spk_0 But who am I trying to help my daughter in the backyard learning to kick a soccer ball? I am the guide trying to help the hero win. So these four characters exist in stories because these four characters exist in us and they exist in everybody that we know.

spk_0 However, when it comes to doing business, people are not looking for another hero. They're looking for a guide.

spk_0 They're looking for somebody to enter into their story and help them win. They are not looking for another hero. Do not position yourself as the hero in your customer story.

spk_0 Position yourself as the guide in your customer story.

spk_0 Luke Skywalker is a hero. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a guide. Luke Skywalker is a hero. Yoda is a guide. Katniss in Hunger Games is a hero. Woody from Cheers is a guide.

spk_0 You see what I'm saying? You have a guide and you have a hero in almost every story that you can think of. And your customers, they identify as a hero in a story and they're looking for a guide to help them win the day.

spk_0 Now, there are two reasons you never want to play the hero. The first is the hero is weak.

spk_0 The hero, until the last nine minutes of the story, the heroes actually very, very weak. They are ill equipped. They are afraid. They're filled with self-doubt. They don't know what to do and they're in desperate need of help.

spk_0 Why would you ever want to position yourself as a hero in the story when a hero is a weak character? That's the first reason you don't want to position yourself as a hero.

spk_0 Because if you do, you're positioning yourself as a weak person. The second reason you don't want to position yourself as the hero in the story or make the story about you is because when you do so, you remove yourself from your customer's story.

spk_0 If I woke up in the morning and I identify as a single protagonist in a narrative structure and you come to me and say, you know, I'm trying to build my company and we're trying to make a great place as a work metric and we're trying to whatever.

spk_0 I see you as a hero in the story. So if I'm a hero in the story and you are a hero in the story, we are in separate stories. All right, how do you position yourself as a guy? Two more sound bites.

spk_0 The first is an empathetic sound bite. I want you to demonstrate with words that you care about your customer. If you are struggling with this, we feel your pain. We understand.

spk_0 We care about you. Empathy matters. So I want to be able to circle on your website or your emails or in your YouTube videos or whatever. I want to be able to circle the places where you have demonstrated empathy for me.

spk_0 If you do not know how to talk about your company in order to get the attention that you need, I understand. I feel your pain. I know it can be hard.

spk_0 So empathy is very important. The next thing that you need to do to position yourself as a guy is come up with sound bites that demonstrate competency.

spk_0 Competency that I feel your pain and I understand your pain and I know what I'm doing when it comes to get you out. My product will solve your problem full stop period.

spk_0 I'm not apologizing for it. It will do it. I am tired of seeing you suffer. I don't want you to suffer anymore. So I'm going to help you out. And I've done this for a lot of people and I'm going to do it for you.

spk_0 We borrow your confidence that your solution actually works. So you've got to have empathy, a giant loving heart toward your customer and big old muscles to solve their problem.

spk_0 That's what we need from you and your product. Empathy and authority. So I need an empathetic sound bite and I need a sound bite that demonstrates competency.

spk_0 I'm going to give you some really good examples of what I'm talking about in a minute.

spk_0 The next thing that we need, I need a plan. I need because I really want to buy your product now. However, it's complicated. It's confusing. I'm a little bit scared. I might lose my money.

spk_0 So what I want you to do is I want you to give me a three step plan. Give me a three step plan that builds a bridge from your problem to my solution.

spk_0 So it could be as easy as, you know, let's say you're a financial advisor. You might say something like, you know, step one is we do an intake session where we understand your risk tolerance.

spk_0 We understand your vision, your hope for the future, what you would actually need to retire. We do an intake session.

spk_0 Step two is I give you a custom report on everything that I think you should be doing with your money. And then step three, if you want, I'll hold your hand and help you execute that for a retainer fee for the next 20 or 30 years.

spk_0 Step one, step two, step three. You will find, especially if what you sell is a little bit confusing and a little bit nuanced and it takes time for people to understand.

spk_0 And what you'll find is that three step plan, those three baby steps that you give them dramatically increase the amount of engagement that you get because they don't have to predict the future. They know the future is step one, step two, step three.

spk_0 It lifts the fog and the cognitive distance that is keeping them from doing business with you. Three steps is very important.

spk_0 The next thing that you need as a sound bite is a call to action. You need to tell the customer it is time to do business together. It's time for us to do business.

spk_0 And you need to be bold in your call to action. Sometimes I go to some of your websites and it says things like learn more.

spk_0 Learn more is a pretty passive way to ask for somebody to move. If I mentioned a cocktail party and I said learn more, are you remotely interested in continuing to talk to me or you think that's weird?

spk_0 If it's weird at a cocktail party, it's weird on your website. Don't say learn more, say bye now. Say schedule a call. Ask them directly for the money. You got to challenge them and say it is time to buy.

spk_0 I learned how to do this. I'm not a natural ask for the money guy. I don't like asking for the money, but I had to learn to do it in order to stay in business.

spk_0 And I discovered the way to do it is actually not really to ask for the money, but basically to say if you are struggling with this problem, my product will solve it. I think you should buy it.

spk_0 Now I want you to write that down for me. Some of you are taking notes, write this down. If you are struggling with X, you should buy Y. Would you like to buy it?

spk_0 If you are struggling with the inability to sleep, you should buy my meditation app. Would you like to buy it?

spk_0 So all you got to do is if you're struggling with this problem, you should buy this product. Why do I say that? Because most people are wondering whether buying your product is the right move.

spk_0 I'm wondering, is this the right move or not? And as soon as you say that magical sentence, if you are struggling with X, buying Y is the right move. They go, okay, that's what I was wondering. And then they hand you their credit card.

spk_0 So instead of saying would you like to buy it or would you like to learn more or God forbid you would ever say, listen if you're interested, give me a call.

spk_0 I mean you just gave them all the power. You made them do a bunch of work. If you ever interested, give me, you know, they don't want to do that. They want to buy it right now, but only after they know it will solve their problem.

spk_0 So the only way they're going to know that you're going to solve their problem is if you tell them I'm going to solve your problem and they'll pull out their credit card.

spk_0 So next time I want you to just do that. Do that for the next 60 days. Just instead of saying whenever it's time to ask for the sale, say if you're struggling with X, I think you should buy Y.

spk_0 Would you like to buy it now? Just write that down for the next 60 days. Use that magic phrase over and over and watch what happens to your sales. They will go up. I guarantee it. They will go up.

spk_0 All right, that's how you call people to action, but we need two more sound bites. There's a two more sound bites that we need.

spk_0 Need are going to complete the story. The first sound bite that we need of the last two is a success sound bite.

spk_0 We need a sound bite that lets everybody know exactly what's going to happen if they buy your product.

spk_0 This is the happy ever ending. Happy ever ending life that they're going to have no more leaky roof, no more sleepless nights, no more inability to do a pull up, no more, you know, whatever it is, no more dog barking at the door, no more lifting heavy kitty litter off the porch and taking it back to the laundry room.

spk_0 It's over. That part of your life is over. We're going to solve that problem. You need to give me a vision of a better future. Now, these are called stakes in a story.

spk_0 What can be one or lost based on whether or not I buy your product? The next sound bite that you need is the opposite of the success. You need a failure sound bite.

spk_0 You need a sound bite that tells me what horrible, no good thing is going to happen if I don't buy your product.

spk_0 By the way, if you don't buy our kitty litter, you're going to break your back someday trying to get that kitty litter back to the laundry room.

spk_0 You're going to keep lifting that stuff and having to tote, you ever noticed how much commercials exaggerate how awful life is if you don't use their product.

spk_0 I mean, you watch a dish soap commercial and somebody's doing the dishes and it's like they're just cry out to God, why do I have to struggle with this terrible dish soap?

spk_0 They're being really melodramatic about the problem because they know the problem is what causes people to buy.

spk_0 And so we would actually say your life could look really wonderful, but it does not.

spk_0 Your life could look really great, but it doesn't. It looks like this. Remind people of how terrible their life looks without solving the problem that you solve and how great life looks if it does.

spk_0 So these are seven sound bites or seven categories of sound bites. And I'm going to give you some examples from two really good sources here in just a minute.

spk_0 But let me summarize exactly what these sound bites are.

spk_0 The first sound bite, I need a sound bite that defines what your customers want.

spk_0 Give me very short simple language. Two, what problem is your customer experiencing?

spk_0 I actually need internal external and philosophical. So three sound bites on that. I'll demonstrate that in a second.

spk_0 I need you to position yourself as the guide that the hero trusts to help them solve their problem, which is an empathy sound bite and an authority or competency sound bite.

spk_0 Next, I need you to create a clear three step plan that will help me win the day.

spk_0 Then call me to action. If you are struggling with X, buying Y is the right move. Would you like to buy it?

spk_0 And then give me two more sound bites. Explain what life will look like if I solve the problem and explain what life will look like if I don't.

spk_0 Okay, let's leave this up on the screen. If you want to take a screen grab of this, those are the sound bites that you need.

spk_0 These sound bites have worked for 2,500 years to compel a human brain. And they are going to work to make people interested in your business or your products.

spk_0 Okay, we created something called story brand dot AI. And it will actually generate sound bites for you.

spk_0 Let me show you the sound bites that I use for my business story brand. All right, the controlling idea sound bite that we didn't talk about is the sound bite that gives me the filter that I filter all my messaging through.

spk_0 So the controlling idea for my company is transform your business story into clear messages that resonate and drive success.

spk_0 Let's look at the character sound bite. What does my character want? My hero customer, small business owners seeking clarity in their message.

spk_0 So I'm going to use that. Think about that. Somebody says, Don, what sort of people do you work with? I'm going to say small business owners seeking clarity in their message.

spk_0 Now, if I defined exactly what my customer wants or at least artificial intelligence did, I think it did a pretty good job with a problem.

spk_0 External, they struggled to articulate their brand's message clearly. The internal problem is they feel frustrated and overwhelmed by unclear messaging.

spk_0 The philosophical problem, it's unfair that great businesses falter due to communication issues. All right, let's position ourselves as the guide.

spk_0 Empathy, we understand the pressure of communicating clearly in a competitive market, competency and authority.

spk_0 Our framework has helped over a million businesses clarify their message was 700 certified coaches ready to assist you.

spk_0 Who gives them a plan? Three step plan. Read our book to understand the story brand framework, create your brand script with our easy to follow guide, and enjoy the confidence of a clear message that resonates with your audience.

spk_0 Calls them to action. Now, the affirmation call to action is the one that I was telling you about. If you're struggling to communicate your message in bracing story brand is the right step for you.

spk_0 Do you see that? If you're dealing with this problem, this is the solution. This is the right solution.

spk_0 Direct, start your journey today, marketing, subscribe now. I talk about the three different calls to action in my book.

spk_0 Success, experience clarity, engaging storytelling, and growing customer connections, failure, continue to confuse your audience and misgrowth opportunities.

spk_0 And then there's another category in the brand script called identity transformation before they felt lost in their messaging. Now they confidently attract the right customers.

spk_0 These are the seven categories of sound bites that you need. And then you actually take these sound bites and you put them all over your websites, your keynote presentations, your emails, put some of them on the back of your business card.

spk_0 You don't have to use all seven of them every time, but the more you use the better. Certainly every one of those sound bites should be on your website.

spk_0 Let me look, let's look at another one. This is one that I just did. Story brand.ai did this for us.

spk_0 The chief of staff for Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority was at my house for a couple days. And we were talking about messaging for Marta, giant organization, 4,500 employees, hundreds of millions of dollars passing through Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit.

spk_0 Let's look at their brand script. Metro art, Marta helps you travel around Atlanta easily, giving you the freedom to explore your city.

spk_0 Where they want people wanting to move around Atlanta easily, what's their problem? They need reliable transportation options, internal, they feel frustrated and struck and stuck philosophical. You shouldn't have to struggle to get around your city.

spk_0 Empathy. We understand how frustrating it can be to navigate Atlanta without a car. Competency and authority. Marta has been awarded Transit Authority of the Year and employs 4,500 dedicated professionals.

spk_0 Who gives them a plan? Buy a breeze card or download the app. Two, board a bus, train or street card. Three, enjoy smooth travel around the city. Call to action.

spk_0 If you are looking for reliable transit options, Marta is your answer. That's the affirmation. Direct, get your breeze card today. Marketing, join Marta. Success. Traveling becomes stress-free, allowing you to explore Atlanta while saving time and money. Failure. You risk missing out on opportunities, feeling trapped and losing valuable time, stuck in traffic.

spk_0 The identity transformation that you are helping your customers experience is from frustrated commuter to empowered city. Explore.

spk_0 That is called a story brand brand script. When you come up with those seven messages and storebrand.ai will give you those for free that you can use as a rough draft. You can edit those or revise those because they're hard to come up with.

spk_0 But they will be incredibly effective to populate all of your marketing collateral. Listen, the reality is this. If you confuse, you will lose. If you confuse, you will lose. I want you to clarify your message.

spk_0 I want you to clarify your message. I want you to clarify your message and you are going to win. I want to take you through an exercise. I want you to do an exercise and help you write not seven sound bites but one sentence.

spk_0 I want you to write one sentence that you can repeat over and over to make more money and grow your business. I call that the one line.

spk_0 A one line is one sentence that you can use but it's a very formulaic sentence. Then by the way, you're going to use this sentence anytime somebody asks what do you do.

spk_0 The first part of the sentence is the problem. You're going to identify what problem that you solve. Next, you're going to position your product as the solution to that problem.

spk_0 After that, you're going to talk about the result that your customer will experience if they use your solution to solve their problem. It's one sentence. Let me give you an example.

spk_0 Let's say that you're at a cocktail party and you run into two people who do the exact same thing. They have the same business charge, the same price, all for the same value, same quality. All of it is exactly the same.

spk_0 You're talking to the first one and you say, hey, what do you do? They say, well, I'm an at-home chef. I come to your house and cook. You're going to say, that's very interesting. Where did you go to culinary school? What's your favorite thing to cook? What are your favorite restaurants in town? How do you make a good holiday sauce? You're going to make casual conversation.

spk_0 An hour later, you're across the room, you're talking to somebody else and you say, what do you do? They are also an at-home chef, but that's not how they answer the question.

spk_0 What do you say? What do you do? They say, well, you know how most families don't eat together anymore and when they do, they don't eat healthy? I'm an at-home chef. I come to your house and cook.

spk_0 When I come to your house and cook, you sit down and eat a great meal and you connect with your family. Finally, because you're not worried about cooking or cleaning up.

spk_0 Who's going to do more business? Chef, one or chef two? Who's going to do more business? I've given this talk 750 million times and nobody has ever answered Chef number one.

spk_0 Everybody has always answered Chef number two. We feel it in our bones. Chef number two is going to do all the business. Why? The reason is they used a one liner instead of saying, well, I'm an at-home chef, which is just the product. All you did was talk about the product. Open with the problem.

spk_0 You know how most families don't eat together anymore and when they do, they don't eat healthy? I'm an at-home chef. When somebody asks what you do and you start talking about the problem first, the product suddenly is infinitely more valuable.

spk_0 If somebody says, by the way, if I'm on an airplane and somebody asks me what I do, I don't use a one liner. If I use a one liner, they are so interested in clarifying their message that I basically have to do hours of free consulting.

spk_0 So I just try to avoid the question. No, I mean, it is that powerful to get people to say, wait, wait a second. And by the way, if they don't have the problem you solve, their aunt does, their uncle does, their nephew does, their sister does, and they're trying to get your business card to give it to the person who has the problem.

spk_0 But if you just tell them what they do, you didn't increase the value of your product or your service by starting with the problem. So the problem is very important. Let's break this down. Now we just made up a company. The company is an e-bike, an electric bike company. This company doesn't exist. But let me give you a fictional one liner.

spk_0 First, state the problem. With 110 people moving to Nashville every day, people are wasting more and more time sitting in traffic. So that's the problem part of the one liner.

spk_0 Okay, what we're going to do is I'm going to have you write a one liner right here in this session. I want you to take, it's an important exercise. I want you to take three minutes, three minutes,

spk_0 and write the first part of your one liner. Don't write the second or third part. Just write the problem. We've seen a lot of people who are struggling with a lot of people experience this and can't stand it. A lot of people have sleepless nights because I want you to get to the problem really, really quickly.

spk_0 Hey, it's podcast producer Bobby Richards chiming in in this live event that we're pulling from for this episode. Don actually gave the audience some time to execute on this. And we want to give you that same opportunity.

spk_0 So you don't have to pause the show. We're going to give you some space right here. We're even going to play some music to help keep you on track. If you need more time though, all you got to do is hit pause on the podcast. All right, go ahead and get started.

spk_0 Next thing that you've got to do is part two position the product as the solution.

spk_0 So for our e-bike company that I made up with a circuit e-bike fitted just for you, and that's it. You don't have to talk about your product. Tell me what the product is. Now, there is one part to this that I really want once you understand.

spk_0 If you've opened up a story loop about a problem, it needs to be very obvious that your solution will solve that problem. For instance, if you say restlessness and anxiety can ruin your life.

spk_0 We've created a sleep mask that will help you sleep. Well, wait a second. You opened up a story loop about restlessness and anxiety, and you closed a story loop about sleep. Those are two different stories.

spk_0 One story is about restlessness and anxiety. The other story loop is about sleep. So you got to change one of them. Either change the product to make it about something that solves restlessness and anxiety, but I would actually prefer you change the story loop. So it's about sleep.

spk_0 If you have had problems sleeping, it might be because you need a sleep mask that we have created. Right? So open a story loop. The product closes the story loop.

spk_0 All right. I'm going to give you three minutes, three minutes now, to write the solution part of your one liner. You have three minutes to write the solution part of your one liner.

spk_0 So you have three minutes to write the solution part of your one liner.

spk_0 So you got the problem, which is the, honestly, that's the most important part. You've positioned your product as the solution to the problem.

spk_0 So you've got the problem, which is the result of your product. So you've got the problem, which is the result of your product.

spk_0 So you have three minutes to write the solution part of your one liner.

spk_0

spk_0 So you've got the problem, which is the result of your product.

spk_0 Okay, let me just show you an example of when we put all three parts of the one liner together.

spk_0 So we put it all together with 110 people moving to Nashville every day. People are wasting more and more time sitting in traffic.

spk_0 With the circuit e-bike fitted just for you, you'll get to work faster and add hours back to your day. That's a one liner.

spk_0 Our chef, by the way, you know, most families don't eat together anymore when they do. They don't eat healthy. I'm an at-home chef.

spk_0 I come to you house and cook. Your family can connect with each other around the dinner table rather than having to cook and clean up after dinner.

spk_0 That's a one liner. It's super easy to write it, to memorize it, and to say it. And just the one liner will grow your business.

spk_0 All those seven sound bites in your brand script, they'll grow your business. But your one liner will also grow your business.

spk_0 We need to think a lot. We've thought a lot about our product. We've thought a lot about our customers.

spk_0 We haven't thought about the words we are using to describe the product. Listen to me.

spk_0 The words that you use got you married. The words that you use got you a job. The words that you use will get you elected president.

spk_0 The words that you use will grow your business. So think about the words you use. Make them short, simple, easy to understand, and repeat them often.

spk_0 I have enormous hope for you. I have enormous hope for your business. I have enormous hope that you will connect with more customers and transform more lives.

spk_0 And it has been a great honor to serve you tonight. God bless.

spk_0 Thank you.

StoryBrand Podcast #38: BIG NEWS—Introducing The StoryBrand Podcast

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