Heroism in Marketing: The Key to Powerful Brand Storytelling (A Book Review of Donald Miller's StoryBrand)
Image courtesy of Artful Ruckus
Your alarm goes off and you want to ignore it. But the dogs have been restless for a few minutes now. You roll out of bed, chase them to the back door, and let them out. They sprint straight to the last alleged squirrel sighting, and you proceed to pour out their food. While you do that, you’re distracted, thinking about your own breakfast. But coffee comes first, so you shuffle over to the coffee pot.
Most people don’t wake up thinking outside of themselves. Even if your entire week, month, and entire career revolves around your clients, you can’t escape your own perspective from the moment you open your eyes every day. You have a unique lens through which you see the world, and so do your clients. We can’t escape our fundamental position as the main character in our own lives. Your clients are no different.
As marketers, we typically aim to paint our beloved firm as the hero. Anything else seems counterintuitive, yet you’ve probably wondered why your current communication strategy isn’t winning the proposal every time. Here’s to the book – and genius – teaching us the power of protagonist and storyteller relationships.
Donald Miller began his career in storytelling. The second publication in his career, Blue Like Jazz, made him a New York Times bestseller in 2003. Since then, Miller has published a handful of other reflective pieces and begun his marketing agency, StoryBrand. Sharing a title with Miller’s company, StoryBrand helps marketers establish a framework for communication strategies. At every conference, on every marketer’s must-read list, StoryBrand is exalted. StoryBrand exists to formulate your brand message so your audience better relates to your services. Miller’s manual is practical, applicable, and comprehensible to every marketer.
Miller describes the relationships between marketers and clients like that of Pixar and its audience of millions. Have you ever wondered how massive audiences find blockbuster movies relatable even though the protagonist really only has one goal – one that you and I will likely not face in our lifetime? (Let’s hope the world isn’t relying on InDesign skills to steal back the Declaration of Independence, or hunt down the darkest villain in the wizarding world with social media savvy.) It is innately human to be captivated by movies, books, and podcasts. Even sans superpowers, we buy into stories because we can see something about ourselves in the hero. Miller theorizes that if marketers simplify their messages by rooting for the client and making them the hero, we can forge a meaningful connection with our audience.
If you want your marketing strategy to read like a fairytale, StoryBrand should be your next go-to read. You can also join Diana Brown at our Marketer Talk on May 10 for in-person coaching on storytelling magic. Register here.
by Michelle Rohrbough, KFW Engineers + Surveying
