Book Review: Building a StoryBrand

I really enjoy Donald Miller as a writer…he is one of my favorites for sure!  I was so excited to see Building a StoryBrand pop up in Amazon as something I’d be interested in. They were write…I loved this book!  I read it poolside on vacation and it was really helpful!  In my role as a high school principal in a private Christian school, we have the privilege of helping kids and families learn more about the story that God is writing over their lives.  This book was a huge help in clarifying for me where we can really serve our families well.  Rather than trying to provide all the answers, Miller really focuses on helping make sure that we are first asking the right questions.  Fantastic read for people in all different areas of life!

I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…

  • Your customer should be the hero of the story, not your brand. This is the secret every phenomenally successful business understands. Location: 257
  • The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things. And if we haven’t clarified our message, our customers won’t listen. Location: 282
  • So what’s your message? Can you say it easily? Is it simple, relevant, and repeatable? Can your entire team repeat your company’s message in such a way that it is compelling? Have new hires been given talking points they can use to describe what the company offers and why every potential customer should buy it? Location: 300
  • The more simple and predictable the communication, the easier it is for the brain to digest. Location: 315
  • The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive. Location: 333
  • The second mistake brands make is they cause their customers to burn too many calories in an effort to understand their offer. Location: 348
  • In a story, audiences must always know who the hero is, what the hero wants, who the hero has to defeat to get what they want, what tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win, and what wonderful thing will happen if they do. Location: 383
  • If we want to connect with customers, we have to stop blasting them with noise. Location: 418
  • Story is atomic. It is perpetual energy and can power a city. Story is the one thing that can hold a human being’s attention for hours. Location: 435
  • Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS. Location: 497
  • Remember, the greatest enemy our business faces is the same enemy that good stories face: noise. At no point should we be able to pause a movie and be unable to answer three questions:        1.  What does the hero want?        2.  Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants?        3.  What will the hero’s life look like if she does (or does not) get what she wants? Location: 529
  • Just like there are three questions audiences must be able to answer to engage in a story, there are three questions potential customers must answer if we expect them to engage with our brand. And they should be able to answer these questions within five seconds of looking at our website or marketing material:        2.  How will it make my life better?
  • 3.  What do I need to do to buy it? Location: 543
  • 1.  What do you offer?
  • Alfred Hitchcock defined a good story as “life with the dull parts taken out.” Location: 571|
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS THE HERO, NOT YOUR BRAND. Location: 592
  • Once we identify who our customer is, we have to ask ourselves what they want as it relates to our brand. The catalyst for any story is that the hero wants something. The rest of the story is a journey about discovering whether the hero will get what they want. Location: 601
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE TWO: COMPANIES TEND TO SELL SOLUTIONS TO EXTERNAL PROBLEMS, BUT CUSTOMERS BUY SOLUTIONS TO INTERNAL PROBLEMS. Location: 606
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE THREE: CUSTOMERS AREN’T LOOKING FOR ANOTHER HERO; THEY’RE LOOKING FOR A GUIDE. Location: 625
  • It’s no accident that guides show up in almost every movie. Nearly every human being is looking for a guide (or guides) to help them win the day. Location: 635
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FOUR: CUSTOMERS TRUST A GUIDE WHO HAS A PLAN. Location: 645
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE FIVE: CUSTOMERS DO NOT TAKE ACTION UNLESS THEY ARE CHALLENGED TO TAKE ACTION.  Location: 658
  • Characters only take action after they are challenged by an outside force. Location: 664
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SIX: EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TRYING TO AVOID A TRAGIC ENDING. Location: 674
  • Stories live and die on a single question: What’s at stake? If nothing can be gained or lost, nobody cares. Will the hero disarm the bomb, or will people be killed? Will the guy get the girl, or will he be lonely and filled with self-doubt? These are the kinds of questions in the minds of a story-hungry audience. Location: 676
  • STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE SEVEN: NEVER ASSUME PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BRAND CAN CHANGE THEIR LIVES. TELL THEM. Location: 692
  • If a hero solves her own problem in a story, the audience will tune out. Why? Because we intuitively know if she could solve her own problem, she wouldn’t have gotten into trouble in the first place. Storytellers use the guide character to encourage the hero and equip them to win the day. You’ve seen the guide in nearly every story you’ve read, listened to, or watched: Frodo has Gandalf, Katniss has Haymitch, and Luke Skywalker has Yoda. Hamlet was “guided” by his father’s ghost, and Romeo was taught the ways of love by Juliet. Location: 1,148
  • The guide, not the hero, is the one with the most authority. Still, the story is rarely about the guide. The guide simply plays a role. The story must always be focused on the hero, and if a storyteller (or business leader) forgets this, the audience will get confused about who the story is really about and they will lose interest. This is true in business, in politics, and even in your own family. People are looking for a guide to help them, not another hero. Location: 1,183
  • The guide must have this precise one-two punch of empathy and authority in order to move the hero and the story along. These are the characteristics the hero is looking for, and when she senses them, she knows she’s found her guide. Location: 1,201
  • Empathetic statements start with words like, “We understand how it feels to . . .” or “Nobody should have to experience . . .” or “Like you, we are frustrated by . . .” or, in the case of one Toyota commercial inviting Toyota owners to engage their local Toyota service center, simply, “We care about your Toyota.” Location: 1,213
  • The reason characters have to be challenged to take action is because everybody sitting in the dark theater knows human beings do not make major life decisions unless something challenges them to do so. Location: 1,425
  • The moral of the story is people don’t have ESP. They can’t read our minds and they don’t know what we want, even if it seems obvious. We have to clearly invite customers to take a journey with us or they won’t. Location: 1,453
  • Successful brands, like successful leaders, make it clear what life will look like if somebody engages their products or services. Location: 1,718
  • A few important questions we have to ask ourselves when we’re representing our brand are: Who does our customer want to become? What kind of person do they want to be? What is their aspirational identity? Location: 1,886
  • Playing the guide is more than a marketing strategy; it’s a position of the heart. When a brand commits itself to their customers’ journey, to helping resolve their external, internal, and philosophical problems, and then inspires them with an aspirational identity, they do more than sell products—they change lives. And leaders who care more about changing lives than they do about selling products tend to do a good bit of both. Location: 1,932
  • The number one job of an executive is to remind the stakeholders what the mission is, over and over. And yet most executives can’t really explain the overall narrative of the organization. Here’s the problem: if an executive can’t explain the story, team members will never know where or why they fit. Location: 2,280
  • When your culture tells a great story, everybody wins. Location: 2,283
  • Is your organization on a mission? Does every stakeholder you interact with understand the story of your customer and what role the organization plays in that story? And do they understand their personal role in this important narrative? If not, building your company around a compelling story may be the first step in a turnaround. Not just for the company, but for your customers, your team members, and even you. Where there’s no story, there’s no engagement. Location: 2,326

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