Is Your Storybrand Storybland?

Can a smart, popular marketing strategy designed to help businesses strengthen their messaging also be responsible for a wealth of tedious, generic messaging? 

Let’s talk about Storybrand.

For a long time, Donald Miller’s Storybrand has been one of the most popular branding frameworks for small business owners. 

The 7-step formula is straightforward: A hero (your potential client/customer) has a problem and meets a guide (your business) who gives them a plan, calls them to action, keeps them from failure, and leads them to success.

This by-the-numbers, client-centric approach sounds good, right? And yet, dare I say it? Storybrand is often…Storybland. 

Businesses that aren’t a natural fit are sometimes shoehorned into a Storybrand approach. But even if Storybrand seems like a good fit, it’s still not a complete solution, because Storybrand lacks a brand voice component. 

Without a distinct, authentic brand voice that resonates with your ideal customer, you’ve got yourself a heaping helping of Storybland. 

So before you jump on the Story Brandwagon, here are a few bits of cautionary advice.

Are You Really Yoda?

In one Storybrand workshop I attended, the facilitator used Star Wars as an example of how Storybrand works. You’re the all-knowing Yoda to your customer’s eager Luke Skywalker.

One thing that’s always bothered me about Storybrand is the idea that your business, regardless of what you do, is some kind of Yoda equivalent. 

But as Bryce McNabb points out in his article, “What Storybrand Gets Wrong,” not every business is a Yoda. A Life Coach could be a Yoda, but an accountant may not be. Are you really saving an entire planet with your Jedi mind and a lightsaber? 

Which makes sense. Because if you think about a hero’s journey, it usually doesn’t involve the hero being guided by a dozen different Yoda specialists. 

I mean, think about it. Let’s say you’re a law firm looking to get some help. You need someone to do your books. Someone to do your marketing. Someone to do your sales. Are you really looking for a whole gaggle of Yodas to take you on your epic journey? Or are you, maybe, just maybe, looking for a few useful droids with specific areas of expertise?

If you’re helping people with marketing and sales or with the latest widget, your customers may see arrogance in the message, “I have the answers you seek, young one, kneel at my feet.” 

Customer-as-hero is a useful frame, but casting every business as the hero’s guide can encourage a lazy, one-size-fits-all approach.

Part of finding your brand voice is understanding your role in your customer’s journey. If you’re a guide full of wisdom, you may say “Help your business, can I.” If you’re a droid - and there’s nothing wrong with being an important supporting player - maybe your brand voice sounds more like “bleep bloop.” 

So don’t be some generic guide. Be the very thing your customer needs, even if it’s something less exciting than a master Jedi.

Don’t Overemphasize The Risk of Failure

Using the actual Storybrand framework is much more complex than the book makes it sound, and because of this, many people copy and paste sections of their brand script onto their websites. And as Aaren Ruggles of ROI Online points out, one area where people really go astray is how they use the “stakes” portion of the Storybrand framework. 

“Stakes” is the “come with me if you want to live” section where you tell people what’s going to happen if you don’t hire them. For example, you might claim that without guidance, “You’ll keep feeling stuck and frustrated trying to figure things out by yourself.” 

This sort of fear-based messaging is difficult to pull off successfully. It’s as likely to drive customers away as light a fire under them. But even those uncomfortable with this approach can feel obligated to stick in a stakes section because they want to check off all the Storybrand steps.

This is a major problem with formulas - they make your messaging … formulaic. 

If your brand voice is dark, edgy, or sarcastic, then a stakes section might work beautifully. But if your voice is one of fun and innocence, fear-based messaging can be a disaster. There’s a reason Disney ads never end with “Take your kids to Disney World or they will hate you forever.”

Hello [Business], I am [Guide], Here to Lead you to [Place]

StoryBrand is a formula, and formulas aren’t inherently bad. “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl” has been generating great Hollywood movies for decades. Although it’s also generated many terrible ones.

Formulas are like mannequins - they offer a shape, but they aren’t very interesting until they’re dressed.

The danger of StoryBrand is that too many businesses think it is a complete solution. They just stick the mannequin in their virtual window and say, mission accomplished. 

As Dr. Michelle Mazur has pointed out, StoryBrand isn’t a good fit for every business. But even when it is a good fit, it still needs to be customized. If you really are a guide leading clients through a journey, you need to know how your guide speaks and what kind of path appeals to your hero. Otherwise, you’ve just got a naked mannequin in the window.

Storybrand Reimagined

As small business owners, we understand the appeal of a simple, out-of-the-box solution to branding. But if your Storybrand process doesn’t include a deeper dive into the actual words and tone you’re using to convey the message, and if you haven’t drilled down on your ideal customer, then you can’t lead them, and they won’t follow.

So let’s try this again: 

A hero with their own special hopes and dreams has a problem that isn’t exactly like anyone else’s problem and meets a guide or a tradesperson or a helper who speaks to them in a way that makes them stop and listen, gives them a plan or a tool or other support, and leads them, travels with them, or pushes them toward success.

Unlike the Storybrand framework, this one requires more of you. You have to learn about your client, find your voice, consider what kind of business relationship makes the most sense for your ideal customers, and accept that you not only aren’t the most important person in the story, but you may not even be in the top 5.

That sort of inquiry is what we’re all about. We often work with businesses that think of themselves as “boring,” and our goal is to find what gives each one a unique voice and a special place in their world. 

It’s not as easy as a formula. But if you want something beyond Storybland, you have to work a little.

Have you ever been part of a Storybrand process? We’d love to hear about it, so let’s connect.