The value of a BRANDSCRIPT
What is a BrandScript?
BrandScript is a term coined by Donald Miller, CEO of StoryBrand.
A BrandScript is basically a short, easy-to-understand story about what exactly your business does. It follows the same, basic form that storytellers have been using for thousands of years to captivate listeners and readers.
A lot of business leaders hear all this marketing talk about “story” and think: Yes! I should be telling more stories about how awesome my company is!
But that’s not what a BrandScript does. In fact, a BrandScript flips this traditional thinking on its head.
Rather than focusing primarily on the business, a BrandScript tells a story in which the customer is the hero (think: Luke Skywalker). In a BrandScript, the business plays the hugely important, but less prominent role of the guide (think: Yoda).
In only 300-400 words, a BrandScript shows how struggling customers can overcome a certain problem and get to a better future—with the help of a company’s expertise and/or products.
Why would any business need a BrandScript?
Internally, think of creating a BrandScript as a clarity and business strategy exercise. It will help you think more clearly about your business. When you have that, you’ll be better able to focus on your ideal customer. And you’ll be able to align all your departments, products, and/or services under one clear brand.
Externally, think of it as a tool for tapping into the proven power of story to grab the attention of a target audience. When your marketing consistently tells a clear, intriguing story of a problem your customers have...and how it’s messing up their lives...and how your product or service can change their lives for the better, people will give you their attention—and their money!
And they’ll remember you.
In the same way that good stories “stick” in our brains, a good BrandScript helps your customers remember how you can help them. By telling that same narrative again and again, you’ll “brand” yourself into the brains of potential clients!
How does a BrandScript help in marketing?
In truth, a BrandScript is primarily about messaging — the important step just before marketing.
Until you have a clear, consistent message that customers can easily grasp, you have nothing to say. Any marketing will be futile. You may as well light your money on fire. Absent a clear message that resonates, marketing efforts are just noise. Expensive noise.
A BrandScript helps you avoid
“random acts of marketing”
in three powerful ways.
1. It gives you a solid foundation.
“This is our identity: who we are, who we serve, how we do it, and why it matters.”
2. It acts as a clear roadmap.
“This is the basic message we need to communicate to clients and customers in all our marketing going forward.”
3. It provides you with secure guardrails.
“This story—if we stick to it—will keep us from getting off-message or off-brand.”
Okay, so there’s great value in a BrandScript. How can I actually use mine?
Positioning
A BrandScript helps you anchor your business correctly in the marketplace. When you’re clear on the problem you solve, you’re able to target the right audience—and talk to them in a way that connects powerfully. Too many companies try to solve a multitude of problems. Then they wonder why they don’t seem to be gaining traction with any one customer base. A BrandScript helps you find your niche, your people, your groove.
Training Your Team
A BrandScript gives your employees simple, agreed-upon language to talk about what you do. At most companies, only a handful of workers can give a clear and concise explanation of how exactly their company helps customers. This seven-part framework will give you common language your team can use to talk about your business.
Acquisition and retention
Your business might be complicated, but the customer journey you want to take people on can’t be. It has to be clear and simple. A BrandScript strips away all the excess. It provides only the essentials for converting the curious into customers. By focusing only on essentials, a BrandScript keeps you from confusing customers or overwhelming them with the information they really don’t need.
Create Your Marketing
As mentioned above, a good BrandScript is like a marketing roadmap...or a template. When you're planning an email campaign, a Facebook post, etc., you’ll always know what's important to say and what isn’t. A BrandScript contains memorable lines and carefully crafted language you can use for blog posts, social media marketing, email subject lines, and more. When packaged with a Messaging Guide, a BrandScript really is a marketing gold mine!
ARE YOU READY TO START CREATING YOUR BRANDSCRIPT AND LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS?
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