Stop Being the Hero of Your Own Website

I'll be honest. I used to struggle to write compelling marketing copy.

I'd sit at my computer to write a web page or a Facebook ad. I'd have lots of ideas running through my head, I'd feel I understood the customer, but still I'd have no clarity about where to start and what to write.

It wasn't until I found Donald Miller's StoryBrand framework that this got a whole lot easier.

The hero mistake

Donald would argue that many businesses make the common mistake of positioning themselves as the story's hero. A knight in shining armour to solve the customer's problems. I can testify this is fair and accurate, and I suspect if you look at the way you currently communicate, you're probably making this mistake too. Most do.

The central premise is to flip the thinking. Make your customer the hero of the story.

You may never have actively learned storytelling principles, but I bet you intuitively know the typical story arc. The protagonist aspires to be someone or achieve something. They're troubled by a few problems. A guide appears when things plummet to the direst point. The guide is not the hero. The guide imparts some advice or assistance that helps the protagonist overcome the problem and realise their potential.

If you haven't figured it out by now, you're the guide. Your customer is the hero, and not the other way around.

Six questions

Here's the framework I use every time I sit down to write marketing messages for a business.

What does my customer want? What is their problem? What is my call to action? How can I demonstrate empathy and authority? What does success look like if they buy? And what is their aspirational identity?

Shark diving, as a story

Let's run it for a tourism business. Say you run a tour taking guests cage diving with sharks.

What does the customer want? To see a shark in the wild. To experience the excitement of being up close to one of the most feared creatures on the planet.

What is their problem? There's usually more than one layer. The external problem: they have no idea where to find sharks and couldn't do it safely if they wanted to. The internal problem: they may be confused about where to go and how much to pay, or anxious about the experience itself. The philosophical problem: they work hard, and they deserve to tick off bucket list items. Life is too short to say no to once in a lifetime experiences. If you get stuck on that last one, start with "they deserve it because" and finish the sentence.

What is your call to action? Book your shark dive.

How can you demonstrate empathy and authority? We've been running shark tours for thirty years. Ninety five percent sightings rate. See sharks, or don't pay. Whatever is true and alleviates the buyer's concerns.

What does success look like? Feel the indescribable excitement of diving with great white sharks. Experience something rarer than once in a lifetime.

What is their aspirational identity? Adventurers, explorers, and seriously brag worthy moments.

Are you starting to get a feel for it? Embedded in those answers are your marketing messages. Answer each question with your ideal customer in mind and you'll go from zero to very confident with your messaging extremely fast. I've taken many businesses through this and there's never been a time great insights failed to come from it.

Say it simply, then repeat it

Your greatest challenge will be simplifying your language to connect with your customer. I mean it. It really will be. We talk about what we do and the features of the experience, and we fail to describe how we're helping the customer achieve their wants, desires and aspirations. Take the industry jargon out of your mouth and explain what you do the way your customers would.

You'll generate more messaging than you need. Trim it down. You don't need one hundred different marketing messages.

Then say the same thing repeatedly until you're utterly sick of it. Only then will your market be starting to hear you.