Clear, concise and engaging storytelling was the key message at VVBW’s April event, held at Craftsman in Edwards. Linda Perry of Soul Genius Branding spoke to a packed house on clarifying brand messaging. According to Perry, good branding tells the story of how your product or service helps your target audience – not talking about yourself.
The most important thing to remember is that your brand is not the hero of the story. Your customer is the hero.
Following a simple framework called StoryBrand 7-Part Framework helps you clarify your message. The heroine/hero of the story has a problem to solve. She meets a guide who gives her a plan that calls her to action. The action results ideally in success.
- A character (the heroine)
- With a problem or issue
- Meets a guide (your brand)
- Who gives her a plan
- And also calls her to action
- Resulting in success for the heroine
- Or failure that could have been avoided with your product
A critical part of this framework is the “call to action.” Make sure you have an easy-to-find button or link on your website, ad or flyer that clearly shows how the heroine can get a quote, schedule a call or join the mailing list.
Don’t confuse your audience with too much information, or worse, irrelevant information. For example, websites often bombard visitors with an overload of info on the main page. Perry’s analogy is that every piece of information you give about your company is like an eight pound bowling bowl, and people can only hold so many bowling balls at one time. You perceive that the information you give as a balloon – light and easy to handle. However, if the information isn’t simple, relevant information, it’s an information overload that will be dropped.
Relevant messaging is how your customer, the hero, reaches success with your product. Irrelevant or secondary information is how or why you developed the product. And always remember - this is not the story of your brand. It’s the story of your customer.
For more information on StoryBrand, contact Soul Genius Branding.