Some of the most common questions that we hear from our clients are, “Is a Story Brand right for my coaching business?” or “How do I create a Story Brand for my business?” As copywriters, we help our clients create a brand voice and marketing materials that connect with their dream clients. Here is our opinion on brand stories and story brands.
What Is a Story Brand?
The term Story Brand comes from Donald Miller’s book Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message so Customers Will Listen. It provides a technique for business owners to simplify their marketing messages by creating a customer-centric story. Donald Miller creates a structure that mirrors the story formulas of Hollywood movies.
- A character (your ideal client)
- Has a problem
- And meets a guide (you)
- Who gives them a plan (your coaching)
- And calls them to action
- That ends in success
- That helps them avoid failure
The Story Brand Framework rejects the multiple benefits in favour of focusing on the big picture of the life that your coaching helps your ideal clients achieve and how, with a dash of illustrating what your ideal client has to lose if they don’t work with you.
The Benefits of a Story Brand
There are a lot of marketing techniques and theories out there. What the Story Brand Framework does best is it simplifies how service-based businesses approach their marketing. It allows you to identify the difference your coaching makes in your ideal clients’ lives and communicate that in an easy-to-understand way.
If you’re a coach who likes to DIY their copy and marketing, the Story Brand Framework provides a simple formula for creating a story that your audience can rally around. It takes the focus of the story away from why you started your coaching business to the results you can provide your ideal coaching clients.
Finally, the Story Brand Framework can be used across multiple types of marketing assets. We have seen it used in social media videos, brochures, website copy, and LinkedIn posts. All of your marketing and online presence will be cohesive because you are telling the same story.
Do Copywriters Use the Story Brand Framework?
Honestly, this depends on the copywriter. Every copywriter has a different opinion on the Story Brand Framework, and some have not even heard of it.
We think the Story Brand Framework provides a solid foundation to help business owners understand how to reach their clients. For professional copywriters like us, it is one tool in our copywriting toolbelt. And while we don’t know a lot about home improvement, we do know that you need to pick the right tool for the job. That’s what we do. In some cases, using the Story Brand Framework as a basis for our clients’ copy is the most effective option. In other cases, there are better ways to approach the copy. It really depends on the client’s needs and their current branding.
Does The Story Brand Framework Work for Coaches?
The Story Brand Framework is really well suited to coaches because you quite literally work as a mentor or guide for your clients. It provides a simple way to communicate the benefits of your coaching business through storytelling (something coaches tend to be quite good at.)
Coaches can use the Story Brand Framework to identify what they want to communicate with their ideal coaching clients. From there, they can either follow the structure set out in the book Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message so Customers Will Listen. Alternatively, if a coach is comfortable with storytelling, they can adapt the script a little.