THE STORYBRAND MARKETING ROADMAP

Five (almost free) things you can do to implement the StoryBrand Framework and grow your business

So where do we go from here? Now that we have a StoryBrand BrandScript, how can we use these powerful messages so they have the greatest possible impact on our bottom line?

The StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap is your hassle-free “getting started” guide to implementing what you’ve accomplished in creating your BrandScript. If you’ve yet to create a BrandScript, either attend one of our workshops live or online, or go back and follow the process outlined in this book.

Once your StoryBrand BrandScript is created, you’ll likely want to refine your website. We consider this the first and most important step you can take to grow your business, and that’s why we separated that step into a previous chapter. Not only will editing your website grow your business, but it will help you and your team understand the basic talking points of your new and improved message.

Once your website has been edited so that it communicates clearly, we consider this roadmap the most effective next step most businesses can take to see an impact.

Of the thousands of clients we’ve worked with, these five marketing and messaging efforts (along with editing their website so it works) get the best results regardless of whether our clients are running a small business or a multibillion-dollar company. And the great news is, they’re nearly free. I mean, they’re going to cost you some time, but you won’t have to hire a giant advertising firm to see results.

What are the five (almost free) things you can do to grow your business?

Here they are:

       1.  Create a One-liner. This roadmap is going to teach you the four-part formula for creating a single statement that will grow your business. You’ll want to memorize this statement yourself and repeat it any time somebody asks you what you do. You can teach your one-liner to your staff and feature it on your website, in e-mail signatures, and even on the back of your business card. People are wondering how you can make their lives better, and we’re going to show you how to tell them in such a way that they will want to engage with your brand.

       2.  Create a Lead Generator and Collect E-mail Addresses. You need a lead generator. You need a PDF, e-course, video series, webinar, live event, or just about anything else that will allow you to collect e-mail addresses. A lead generator will help you find qualified buyers so you can let them know, directly and authoritatively, how you can help them resolve their problems. This may be the single most important piece of collateral you create in response to this book, and in this roadmap, I’ll show you how.

       3.  Create an Automated E-Mail Drip Campaign. Marketing has changed, and even the largest of companies are diversifying their ad spend to include e-mail campaigns. But where is the best place to get started? By far, you’ll get your best results through an automated drip campaign. In this section, I’ll give you the basics. Once you start collecting e-mail addresses and using a beginner’s nurturing campaign, it will be as though you’ve employed a sales team that works for you while you sleep.

       4.  Collect and Tell Stories of Transformation. Almost every story is about the transformation of the hero, and when we tell stories about how we’ve helped our customers transform, potential customers immediately understand what your brand can offer them. In this section, I’ll help you collect stories of transformation, teaching you what questions to specifically ask your customers and where to use those stories to get the greatest response from potential customers.

       5.  Create a System That Generates Referrals. Once you create a system that funnels potential customers into becoming actual customers, your work is not quite done. The final step is to turn around and invite happy customers to become evangelists for your brand. This will only happen if we create a system that invites and incentivizes them to spread the word. The StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap will close out with a step-by-step guide, as well as outside-the-box ideas, for incentivizing your existing customers to tell their friends about your products and services.

YOUR STEP-BY-STEP PLAN

Each step of the StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap will help your company in percentages. The more you execute, the clearer your message will become and the more your company will grow.

The roadmap may take you a few months or even a year to execute, but don’t worry. You should see results with each step.

If you’d like to hire a Certified StoryBrand Guide to take you through the roadmap, you can search for the guide who is right for you at www.clarifyyourmessage.com. Certified StoryBrand Guides are independent contractors who act as marketing coaches and consultants and are each certified through an immersive, live training program. They are specifically trained to help you clarify your message and execute this roadmap to get the greatest result.

Whether you hire a guide or go it alone, these are five of the most successful ways our clients have implemented their new and improved message. Consider this roadmap to be a checklist. Once you’ve created a StoryBrand BrandScript using the SB7 Framework, refined your website so it is clear and compelling, and executed each of the five tasks on the StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap, you will save money and grow your company.

STORYBRAND ROADMAP TASK ONE: CREATE A ONE-LINER FOR YOUR COMPANY

Most business leaders lose the sale the second they start talking about their business. When somebody asks what we do and we answer by rolling our eyes and saying, “Well, it’s complicated” or “Well, my grandfather started the company . . .” we’ve lost the customer’s interest immediately. Instead, imagine memorizing a single statement you could repeat after anybody asks what you do. And imagine that statement being relevant to the needs of potential customers. Imagine this statement being so powerful it causes people to ask for your business card.

A one-liner is a new and improved way to answer the question “What do you do?” It’s more than a slogan or tagline; it’s a single statement that helps people realize why they need your products or services.

To understand how it works, let’s take another page out of the Hollywood playbook. When writers pitch their screenplays to studio executives, the difference between being accepted or rejected often comes down to what’s called a logline.

A logline is simply a movie’s one-sentence description. A strong logline sells the screenplay and continues to be used all the way through a movie’s opening weekend. If you’ve ever scrolled through a movie app on your phone or on Netflix looking for something to watch, chances are you’ve read a logline. Here are a few examples:

“A precocious private high school student whose life revolves around his school competes with its most famous and successful alumnus for the affection of a first-grade teacher.”—Rushmore

“Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate ‘Captain’ Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor’s daughter, from Jack’s former pirate allies, who are now undead.”—Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

“A science-fiction fantasy about a naive but ambitious farm boy from a backwater desert who discovers powers he never knew he had when he teams up with a feisty princess, a mercenary space pilot, and an old wizard warrior to lead a ragtag rebellion against the sinister forces of the evil Galactic Empire.”—Star Wars: A New Hope

“An incompetent, immature, and dimwitted heir to an auto-parts factory must save the business to keep it out of the hands of his new con-artist relatives and big business.”—Tommy Boy

What makes these loglines complete and effective? Two things: imagination and intrigue. They summarize the movie in a way that a viewer can imagine the story, and they do so with enough intrigue that they make the reader want to watch the film.

The one-liner you will create for your company will work like a logline in a movie; it will intrigue qualified buyers and invite them to do business with you.

Now imagine everybody in your company memorizing your one-liner. What would life look like if everybody you worked with were converted into a sales force spreading the word about your products and services? Creating a one-liner and repeating it over and over is a great way to spread the word about what you do.

To craft a compelling one-liner, we’ll employ a distilled version of the StoryBrand Framework. If you use the following four components, you’ll craft a powerful one-liner:

       1.  The Character

       2.  The Problem

       3.  The Plan

       4.  The Success

Your one-liner doesn’t have to be a single sentence, nor does it need to be four sentences. Think of it more as a statement. You simply want to communicate these four ideas. Who is your customer? What is their problem? What is your plan to help them, and what will their life look like after you do?

Let’s take a deeper look at each of the four necessary components:

       1.  THE CHARACTER

                If you’ve created a StoryBrand BrandScript, you’ve done the heavy lifting when it comes to understanding who your character is and what they want. Let’s say your demographic is soccer moms and you sell a Pilates class. Your one-liner might be, “We help busy mothers get a weekly, meaningful workout so they feel healthy and full of energy.” If you sell vacation rentals to retired couples you might say, “We save retirees the cost of a second home in Florida, yet deliver the warm beaches and luxury accommodations they love.” These examples start with a character. A busy mom. A retiree. People need to be able to say “That’s me!” when they hear your one-liner.

       2.  THE PROBLEM

                As I said earlier in the book, stories hinge on conflict, so we should never shy away from talking about our customers’ challenges. Defining a problem triggers the thought in your customer’s mind: Yeah, I do struggle with that. Will your brand be able to help me overcome it?

                Soccer moms are challenged with busy schedules, and they can never seem to find time to work out. A retired couple looking to spend their winter in Florida cringes at the cost of buying a second home. But defining the problem is vital, because once you do you’ve opened a story loop and they’ll be looking to you to help them find a resolution.

       3.  THE PLAN

                You won’t be able to spell out your entire plan in your one-liner, but you must hint at it. For workout-deprived soccer moms, the plan might be weekly, meaningful workouts. For the retired couple, the plan of a time-share can make the difference.

                When a customer reads your one-liner, the plan component should cause them to think, Well, when it’s organized that way, it makes sense. Perhaps there’s hope.

       4.  THE SUCCESS

                This is where you paint a picture of what life could look like after customers use your product or service. For soccer moms, success may involve a sense of health, well-being, or attractiveness. For retired couples looking for a second home in Florida, success could be as simple as warm, enjoyable winters.

Let’s put it all together by crafting a one-liner for soccer moms to see how powerful a one-liner actually is.

        •  The Character: Moms

        •  The Problem: Busy schedules

        •  The Plan: Short, meaningful workouts

        •  The Success: Health and renewed energy

        •  “We provide busy moms with a short, meaningful workout they can use to stay healthy and have renewed energy.”

Contrast that statement with the description most business leaders might give: “I run a gym.”

If you’re a busy soccer mom, your ears would perk up because the new one-liner identifies you, helps you overcome your problem, gives you a plan, and promises a better life. A statement like this will invite customers into a better story they can actually live.

What about our retired couple?

        •  The Character: Retired couples

        •  The Problem: A second mortgage

        •  The Plan: A time-share option

        •  The Success: Avoiding those cold, northern winters

        •  “We help retired couples who want to escape the harsh cold avoid the hassle of a second mortgage while still enjoying the warm, beautiful weather of Florida in the winter.”

Again, compare this statement to what most business leaders would say: “Well, it’s complicated. I got involved in real estate several years ago and then when we had our second kid we moved to Florida . . .” Boring. Noise.

At StoryBrand, our one-liner is “Most business leaders don’t know how to talk about their company, so we created a framework that helps them simplify their message, create great marketing material, connect with customers, and grow their business.” Again, a one-liner is simply a clear, repeatable statement that allows potential customers to find themselves in the story a company is telling.

Keep Editing Your One-Liner Until It Works

Consider your first one-liner a rough draft. Write it down and test it repeatedly. Run it by your friends, spouse, potential customers, even strangers standing in line at Starbucks. Do people look interested? Do they completely understand what you offer? If so, you’re on the right track. When they start asking for your business card or for more information, you’ve really dialed it in.

How to Use Your One-Liner

Once you’ve created your one-liner, use it liberally. Here are a few ways to put it to work:

       1.  Memorize your one-liner and repeat it over and over. There’s a good chance you’ve become so used to rambling about your business that reciting your one-liner won’t come naturally. Memorize it as though you’re an actor in a movie and it’s your most important line. Read and repeat it until you can recite it as fast as your own name. This will take some time, but it might be the best few hours you spend working on your new messaging campaign.

       2.  Have your team memorize the one-liner. Now it’s time to get your team to own the one-liner. That includes everyone from the CEO to the guy who mows the lawn. If every team member can repeat the one-liner, you will have converted your staff into a viral sales force. Have fun with this! Print the one-liner on your walls, coffee cups, T-shirts, or anything else your team interacts with daily. After each member of your team memorizes the one-liner, they will be spreading a clear and compelling message about your company at every cocktail party and baseball game they attend.

                Be prepared, though, because you’ll be amazed at how hard this really is. Branding is difficult and it will take time. Carry around a wad of five-dollar bills and ask somebody in the office each day what your company does. If someone answers with the one-liner, reward him or her with a crisp five. Soon, word will spread around the office and people will know they need to get this down. It might cost you a thousand dollars by the time you’re done, but I assure you, it will be the best money you’ve spent marketing your company.

       3.  Include it on your website. While it’s largely subjective what words you include on your website, make sure to get your one-liner in there somewhere. Even a small paragraph beneath the main section of your website will do. Including your one-liner almost guarantees your site invites potential customers into a story they find interesting. Make it bold and legible so it becomes one of the obvious statements you want viewers to read.

       4.  Repeat your one-liner in every piece of marketing collateral possible. Use your one-liner till it feels borderline excessive. Include your one-liner in every piece of marketing possible. Our customers aren’t going to read every one of our e-mails or visit our webpage every day. The more opportunities a customer has to read or hear our one-liner, the more likely they will be to understand how we can make their lives better.

Print your one-liner on your business cards and in your social media bios. Print it on your packaging. Include it in your e-mail signature. Repeat it over and over to increase the percentage chance customers will read it.

I recently attended a benefit concert in which a bunch of A-list musicians passed a guitar around to raise money for a nonprofit. Even though these artists had written hundreds of songs among them, I noticed they only played their hits. Had this been their own show, they would have played lesser-known songs or mixed in new ones, but since they could each only play a few songs, they played the crowd’s favorites.

Have you ever considered what it’s like to be a big-time music star? The adoring crowds and star treatment are great, but life on stage can get rather repetitive. I’ve often wondered how difficult it must be for James Taylor to sing “Fire and Rain” again and again, night after night, decade after decade. What’s worse is he can never mail it in—each night the crowds are different, and he has to deliver a song first released in 1970 with fresh energy and passion every time.

That’s the discipline it takes to be successful. James Taylor sings the same song over and over again because ultimately he’s a servant of the people. He’s a brilliant artist, but he’s also a professional, and professionals do what it takes to please their customers, pay the bills, and grow their brand.

When you think about how often you’ll need to say your one-liner, think of yourself as a big music star. Amateurs ramble on, playing and saying whatever they want, but professionals serve their audience. Our one-liner is like our hit song, and we need to say it over and over and over until even our customers have it memorized and start repeating it to their friends.

ROADMAP TASK TWO: CREATE A LEAD-GENERATOR AND COLLECT E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Quick question: What is the most sacred, private, personal possession you own today? The one thing you’d be terrified of other people having full, unmitigated access to?

I’m going to take a wild guess and say it’s your smartphone.

If you think about it, there’s an awful lot of your life—photos, texts, and apps—stored up in that little device. It’s also very likely there’s one important account on your phone that acts as a gateway to nearly every other component of your life:

Your e-mail account.

If this is true of you, it’s also true of your customers. An e-mail account is one of the most sacred, personal things people possess. But what if you could have a direct line to customers through that very channel? What if customers willingly gave you permission to contact them in such a personal way?

That’s e-mail marketing. E-mail is the most valuable and effective way you can spread the word about your business, especially if your company revenue is under $5 million and you don’t have a large marketing budget. As of this writing I have hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers and nearly as many Facebook fans, but all my social media platforms combined don’t perform anywhere close to sending out an update or offer via e-mail.

Busting the Myth of the Newsletter Signup

Most business leaders who come to one of our workshops think e-mail doesn’t work because so few people sign up for their newsletter. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no one wants to sign up for your newsletter. Nobody wants to sign up to “stay in the loop,” because this kind of offer doesn’t promise anything of value. The only thing it implies is spam.

So how do we get people to join our e-mail list? We offer them something valuable in return, something more valuable than the vague offer of a newsletter. This “something” is a lead generator, a resource that magnetically attracts people to our businesses and invites them to take action. In the StoryBrand Framework, we call this a transitional call to action. A transitional call to action, if you remember, is like asking potential customers out on a date. We’re not asking them to commit, but we are asking them to spend a little more time with us.

How to Create an Irresistible Lead Generator

In order to combat noise in today’s marketplace, your lead generator must do two things:

       1.  Provide enormous value for your customer

       2.  Establish you as an authority in your field

In the year we started StoryBrand, our first lead generator was a simple, downloadable document (in PDF format) called “5 Things Your Website Should Include.” It was remarkably successful. More than forty thousand people downloaded it, which allowed me to e-mail reminders about our upcoming StoryBrand Marketing Workshops. I credit that single lead generator with taking our company past the $2 million mark. From there, we created a free video series called The 5-Minute Marketing Makeover (http://fiveminutemarketingmakeover.com), which took our lead generation to another level. We were no longer grinding to create business. Now we create lead generators for each revenue stream our company offers. This allows us to segment our customers by their interests and offer different products to solve their various problems.

There are endless options for creating lead generators. Our clients have been incredibly creative in offering valuable information and services in exchange for an e-mail address. Of all we’ve created and we’ve seen our clients create, there are five that are most effective.

Five Types of Lead Generators for All Types of Businesses

       1.  Downloadable Guide: This is a shockingly inexpensive way to generate leads, and it’s what we used when launching StoryBrand. Get specific. If you’re a local market selling produce, offer monthly recipes or tips for tending a garden.

       2.  Online Course or Webinar: Creating a brief online course or webinar is involved, but it’s also easier than ever. If you’re an expert on something and want to position yourself as such in the marketplace, offer a free training online in exchange for an e-mail address. By doing so, you’ll have positioned yourself as an expert, created reciprocity, and earned your customer’s trust.

       3.  Software Demos or a Free Trial: This has worked wonders for many businesses. Remember in the early nineties when AOL sent demo CDs in the mail with one thousand hours of free Internet browsing for forty-five days? They worked like a charm. The Internet has changed since then, but the marketing principle remains the same.

       4.  Free Samples: My wife, Betsy, orders ready-to-cook meals from a business called Blue Apron. To generate more leads, Blue Apron credits her with “free sample meals” she can send to friends and family. A number of them try it, and they end up buyers.

       5.  Live Events: If you’ve ever walked into a large pet store like Petco, you’ve likely seen invitations to free dog obedience classes. Even if you’re a smaller operation, hosting a quarterly class is a terrific way to build a small database of qualified customers.

Still Stuck? Swipe Ideas from These Examples

One key to having an effective lead generator is to give it an irresistible title. These are some sample lead generators I’ve seen that worked well. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Leverage these proven examples and create something similar.

        “5 Mistakes People Make with Their First Million Dollars”— A downloadable PDF guide offered by a financial advisor who wanted to find young, newly wealthy clients to help them with their financial planning.

        “Building Your Dream Home: 10 Things to Get Right Before You Build”— A free e-book offered by an architect who wanted to establish herself as a guide to families looking to build a custom home.

        “Cocktail Club: Learn to Make One New Cocktail Each Month”—This was a monthly event surprisingly put on by a garden store that taught attendees how to infuse bitters and simple syrups with herbs. The objective for this promotion was to create a community around their store. Business is booming (or should I say blooming) because people want to attend their classes.

        “Becoming a Professional Speaker”—A free online course offered by a speaking coach for those who wanted to become professional speakers. This generated leads for long-term subscriptions to his coaching service.

The ideas go on and on. Now that you’re aware of lead generators, you’ll see them everywhere. Keep a running list of lead generator possibilities. If one strikes you as abnormally strong, get to work and create a version of your own. The key here is to avoid falling into “paralysis by analysis.” The best and easiest place to start is with a downloadable guide in PDF format. If you aren’t a writer, don’t worry. There are plenty of writers for hire, and you can find some terrific StoryBrand Certified Copywriters through our directory at clarifyyourmessage.com.

The process is quite simple: Have the writer interview you about your area of expertise, and he or she will flesh out the content. You can then send the final draft to a designer to lay out. The process is fast and inexpensive and will yield tremendous results.

How Much Value Should I Give Away for Free?

This is one of the most common questions we get asked. My response: be as generous as possible. To my knowledge, it’s never cost me to give away valuable, free content. People consume this content on the run and will gladly pay to attend a workshop or hire a facilitator that helps them slow down and learn the information at a custom-created pace.

If you’re going to create a downloadable PDF, keep it to about three pages of content. Stuff as much value as you can into those three pages so your prospects will see you as the “go-to” guide.

Among marketers, it’s been said you give away the “why”—as in why a potential customer would need to address or be aware of a certain issue—and sell the “how,” which is where you offer a tool or teach customers how to follow through step-by-step. My personal belief is that we should be generous—very generous. At StoryBrand, we certainly give away the “why,” but we also give away an awful lot of the “how.” It’s never cost me to be generous with my customers.

How Many E-mail Addresses Do We Need to Get Started?

This is a common question, and I’m going to give the common answer: it depends. A financial advisor may get “above the grind” with five hundred e-mail addresses, but those may take years to acquire. A national or global business may need hundreds of thousands of e-mails that are further segmented based on demographic information. But if your business is generating less than $5 million a year, you should see results with as little as two hundred and fifty qualified e-mail addresses.

Where Should I Feature My Lead Generator?

Make sure you feature your lead generator liberally on your website. I recommend creating a pop-up feature on your site that, after ten seconds or so of the browser arriving, offers your resource to the user. Though people complain about pop-ups, the stats are clear: they readily outperform nearly every other type of Internet advertising. Just make sure there’s a ten-second buffer. You don’t want the pop-up to appear immediately. That would be like being tackled by a salesman as soon as you walk through the door of a retail store.

Like farming a field, building a healthy and engaged e-mail list takes time, but it’s time well spent. Start today. A year from now, you’ll be glad you did.

ROADMAP TASK THREE: CREATE AN AUTOMATED E-MAIL DRIP CAMPAIGN

In my midtwenties, after having spent a year or more traveling around the country in a Volkswagen van, I got a warehouse job at a publishing company outside Portland, Oregon. The job came to me by accident. A friend’s dad owned the company and noticed I needed a job. But I’m grateful. Working in publishing, even in an entry-level position, helped me fall in love with books.

Within a few years of getting that job, I was put in charge of the company. It was an unintentional move on the owner’s part because people kept retiring or taking other jobs and the owner kept “temporarily” moving me up. One season, though, the owner hired a consultant to help him figure out what to do, and after studying the numbers, the consultant pointed at me and said, “Put that guy on commission and let him do what he wants.” I was just as taken aback as my boss. Without any of us realizing it, the company had actually started growing. And when we sat down and looked closely at the numbers, we realized the reason.

Just before my series of promotions, I’d discovered a piece of software called FileMaker Pro. We used this software to manage our database and orders. I passed the hours fiddling around with the software and one day realized we could see who had placed the largest orders each month and send them a letter in the mail. This is all standard marketing these days, but back then it was relatively new technology. Each month I sent about two hundred form letters to the businesses that ordered the most copies of our books. That simple activity generated a ton of business.

The letters I wrote to our customers contained anything but good sales copy. One of the letters was about a camping trip I’d taken as a kid! Shakespearean plots, these were not.

These days my letters get a lot bigger response, but looking back, even those terrible letters worked to grow our business. And yet all our customers were doing was taking them from a pile of mail on their desk and throwing them away.

So why did the company grow if people weren’t even reading my letters?

What I realized, in hindsight, was that every month our top customers were being reminded that we existed. Every time one of those customers threw a letter away, even without opening it, our logo was flashing across their eyes.

Content is important, but the point is, there is great power in simply reminding our customers we exist. I was young and dumb at the time, but I’d stumbled onto something. Our customers may not need our product today, and they might not need it tomorrow, but on the day they do need it, we want to make sure they remember who we are, what we have, and where they can reach us.

Send Potential Customers Regular, Valuable E-mails

The days of direct mail aren’t completely dead, but it goes without saying that e-mail has largely taken over. Now that you’ve obtained e-mail addresses through your lead generator, the next step is to create an automated e-mail campaign.

An automated e-mail campaign is a terrific way to remind customers that you exist. And if they happen to open your e-mail (you’ll be surprised at how many people actually do), then it’s a great way to invite them into the story you’re telling as a company.

An automated e-mail campaign is a prewritten sequence of e-mail messages that trigger once a person is added to your list. Some people call this an “auto-responder series” or a “funnel,” but the idea is that you’ll be inviting people into a narrative that leads to a sale even while you sleep.

Getting Started

While there are many kinds of automated e-mail campaigns, the one we recommend starting with is the nurturing campaign. A nurturing campaign is a simple, regular e-mail that offers your subscribers valuable information as it relates to your products or services.

Not unlike our lead generator, we want these e-mails to continue positioning us as the guide and to create a bond of trust and reciprocity with potential customers. There will come a time to ask for a sale, but this isn’t the primary goal of a nurturing campaign. A typical nurturing campaign may have an e-mail going out once each week, and the order might look like this:

E-mail #1: Nurturing e-mail

E-mail #2: Nurturing e-mail

E-mail #3: Nurturing e-mail

E-mail #4: Sales e-mail with a call to action

This pattern can be repeated month after month. I recommend creating a few months’ worth of material and letting it ride, then adding to it as you have time. The idea is to offer something of great value and then occasionally ask for an order and remind people you have products and services that can make their lives better. Pretty soon you’ll have hundreds of potential customers being introduced to your business. When they need help in your area of expertise, they will remember you and place an order.

So what’s the difference between a nurturing e-mail and an e-mail with an offer and call to action?

The Nurturing E-mail

A good way to craft each nurturing e-mail is to use an effective formula that offers simple, helpful advice to a customer. I’ve been using this formula for years and customers love it.

       1.  Talk about a problem.

       2.  Explain a plan to solve the problem.

       3.  Describe how life can look for the reader once the problem is solved.

I also recommend including a postscript, or the P.S. Often, the P.S. is the only thing somebody who opens a mass e-mail will actually read.

That’s really it. If you cover these three areas as efficiently as possible, you’ll be crafting e-mails your customers open, read, and remember.

A GOOD NURTURING E-MAIL

Recently we consulted with the owner of a dog boarding company interested in growing her business. We recommended she create a lead-generating PDF called “5 Things Your Dog Thinks About When You’re Away” in exchange for the e-mail addresses of qualified customers. What dog lover wouldn’t want to read a PDF with a title like that? Perfect.

A few days after somebody downloaded the PDF, they would get the first e-mail in the nurturing campaign. It looked like this:

Subject: Should We Free Feed Our Dogs?

Dear Name,

At Crest Hill Boarding we’re often asked whether it’s okay to free feed our dogs. It’s certainly the easiest way to make sure a dog always has food and never goes hungry. But there are some problems with free feeding. Dogs that are free fed often gain excess fat later in life and health problems can occur without our noticing.

We recommend feeding your dog a set amount, once or twice per day. After twenty minutes, if your pet hasn’t eaten their food, we recommend discarding the excess and waiting until the next set time to feed them again.

By sticking to a set amount and set schedule, you’ll be able to monitor what your dog eats and also be able to diagnose any illness your pet may be suffering from that is making them lose their appetite. This will ensure your dog stays healthy and happy long into their life.

Here’s to enjoying our pets for a long, long time.

Sincerely,

X

P.S. As for how much each dog should be fed, it really depends on how old your dog is and how big. Next time you and your dog are in the shop, introduce us to your dog and we’ll tell you everything we know about the breed.

The bottom of this e-mail contained our client’s logo, their one-liner, and a phone number in case anyone was ready to place an order. Still, getting an order wasn’t the primary concern. The primary concern was to offer something of value, position the business as the guide, and create reciprocity.

You can see how getting a weekly e-mail like this would make our client’s kennel stand out in any dog owner’s mind. The next time a potential customer had to suddenly leave town, they’d fondly remember her kennel and take their dog in for boarding.

After three more e-mails like this, our client included an e-mail that contained an offer and a call to action.

The Offer and Call to Action E-mail

About every third or fourth e-mail in a nurturing campaign should offer a product or service to the customer. The key here is to be direct. You don’t want to be passive, because being passive communicates weakness. In this e-mail you are clearly making an offer.

The formula might look like this:

       1.  Talk about a problem.

       2.  Describe a product you offer that solves this problem.

       3.  Describe what life can look like for the reader once the problem is solved.

       4.  Call the customer to a direct action leading to a sale.

A GOOD OFFER AND CALL TO ACTION E-MAIL

Similar to the nurturing e-mail, the offer and call-to-action e-mail aims to solve a problem. The only difference is that the solution is your product and a strong call to action has been inserted. You are inviting this subscriber to do business with you. Here’s an offer and call-to-action e-mail we wrote for Crest Hill dog kennel:

Subject: A solution for scary boarding

Dear Name,

If you’re anything like us, you hate leaving your dog behind when you go out of town. And you hate the idea of your dog being locked in a crate next to a bunch of other stress-inducing, barking dogs. As dog lovers, we used to hate that feeling too, and that’s why we created Crest Hill Boarding.

At Crest Hill, your dog plays so hard all day, they are eager to lie down at night. We have three full-time staff members throwing tennis balls and enticing dogs to run and play so they’re far too distracted to realize they’re anywhere other than a second home. This means that by the end of the day all the other dogs are eager to sleep too, and so your dog rests comfortably. You won’t believe how quiet our kennels are once we put the dogs to bed at 8 p.m.

Right now you can book three nights at Crest Hill at half price. This is a one-time offer and it’s meant to introduce you to how differently we take care of your pet. We think once you see how eager your dog will be to join us, you’ll feel better when you have to leave town. No more guilt. No more sad good-byes.

To take advantage of this offer, just call us. You don’t even have to know when the next time you’re going to leave town is, we will just mark you in our system as having taken advantage of the offer.

Call us today at 555–5555.

We can’t wait for your dog to experience the Crest Hill difference.

Sincerely,

X

P.S. Make sure to call today. The call will only take a couple of minutes, and you’ll be in our system forever. After you call, your dog’s favorite home away from home will be waiting whenever you’re in need of a safe, reliable, and fun-for-your dog solution.

This e-mail weaves in a tremendous amount of content from Crest Hill’s StoryBrand BrandScript, including the external problem and internal fear of the customer along with elements from the success module. But the gist of the e-mail is that if a subscriber purchases Crest Hill’s offer, one of their concerns will be resolved.

Note that the call to action is strong and contains a degree of scarcity because it is a one-time offer. Anyone who reads this e-mail knows exactly what we want them to do: board their dog at Crest Hill.

What Software Should We Use?

There are many software options when it comes to creating an automated e-mail campaign. If you’re working with a designer or advertising agency, this is likely a question for them. You want your designer to work with whatever software they’re accustomed to using.

If you want to create the system yourself, MailChimp is a fantastic service, especially for automated e-mail campaigns that are simple and reliable.

If you have a robust list and want to segment your audience, provide e-commerce solutions, take advantage of advanced strategies, and create a powerful e-mail force to be reckoned with, we recommend Infusionsoft. At StoryBrand we use Infusionsoft with great success. Our friends at Infusionsoft are working on template e-mails developed in coordination with the StoryBrand team to ensure e-mails that get a response. You can learn more about these e-mail templates at storybrand.com/infusionsoft.

Start Small

Getting an e-mail campaign up and running can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Make sure to start small. To get started, simply open a Word document and start writing your e-mails. You can paste your e-mails into an e-mail application later. Writing that initial e-mail is the first step. Once you read it back to yourself, you’re going to want to send it to customers. That’s the beginning. Before you know it, you’ll have a robust system of e-mails that are engaging customers at all hours of the day, even while you sleep.

ROADMAP TASK FOUR: COLLECT AND TELL STORIES OF TRANSFORMATION

As we learned earlier in the book, few things are more foundational to a compelling story than the transformation of the hero. Why? Because transformation is a core desire for every human being. That’s why so many stories are about the hero being transformed into somebody better.

People love movies about characters who transform, and they love businesses that help them experience transformation themselves. One of the best ways we can illustrate how we help our customers transform is through customer testimonials.

Great testimonials give future customers the gift of going second. The challenge lies in getting the right kind of testimonial: one that showcases your value, the results you get for customers, and the experience people had working with you. Simply asking for a testimonial usually won’t work because customers will share their feelings about you by default. “Nancy is a great friend! We highly recommend Nancy and her team!”

While those are nice words, they do very little in telling a story of transformation. There are no specific results mentioned or details about what life is like now that the transformation has taken place.

If you’re asking customers to write a testimonial for you, it’s likely they are (1) too busy to give deep thought to writing the testimonial or (2) subpar writers or communicators.

Weaving together a compelling tale of transformation means you have to ask the right questions—you need some raw materials to work with. The following questions will allow you to build a bank of compelling testimonials that work with nearly any customer quickly and easily.

These questions work because they “lead” the client down a specific train of thought. Simply use these questions to create a form customers can fill out. Once they fill out the form, the natural flow of the sentences will allow you to copy and paste the answers to build a client case study.

These same questions can also be used to create video testimonials. Simply invite customers to be interviewed and ask them the following questions. Once the video is edited and b-roll is inserted, you can feature your video on your website or in a nurturing or sales e-mail campaign.

Here are five questions most likely to generate the best response for a customer testimonial:

       1.  What was the problem you were having before you discovered our product?

       2.  What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?

       3.  What was different about our product?

       4.  Take us to the moment when you realized our product was actually working to solve your problem.

       5.  Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved.

You can see the arc of the questions naturally yields a transformation story. Once you capture the testimonial, feature it everywhere: e-mails, promo videos, keynote speeches, live interviews, events. One season we closed each episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast with an interview with someone who transformed their business and their life by applying the StoryBrand Framework. The response was overwhelming. We noted an immediate uptick in registrations for our marketing workshops.

The point is that people are drawn to transformation. When they see transformation in others, they want it for themselves. The more we feature the transformation journey our customers have experienced, the faster our business will grow.

ROADMAP TASK FIVE: CREATE A SYSTEM THAT GENERATES REFERRALS

Ask any business owner how they get new customers and the majority will say “word of mouth.” It would seem obvious, then, that every business out there has a system for generating more word-of-mouth referrals. Unfortunately, that’s seldom the case.

Once you create a system that funnels potential customers into becoming actual customers, the final step is to turn around and invite happy customers to become evangelists for your brand. This will only happen if you create a system that invites and incentivizes people to spread the word. Various studies conducted by the American Marketing Association have shown that referrals and peer recommendations are up to 2.5 times more responsive than any other marketing channel.

If you’ve done the simple, fun work of creating your StoryBrand BrandScript, your message should be clear. Now it’s time to implement a system that gets people repeating that message to their friends and family.

Let’s take a step-by-step look at what it takes to create an effective referral system.

       1.  IDENTIFY YOUR EXISTING, IDEAL CUSTOMERS

At the top of the current Domino’s Pizza website there’s a link that says, “Don’t have a pizza profile? Create one.” That link, even though it’s in small print, is a huge moneymaker. Those who frequently order from the restaurant chain use this link to build their perfect pizza and enter their credit card information to order it. Domino’s then sends them occasional prompts to reorder, especially before big events like important football games or holiday weekends when they know their customers are likely to enjoy their product.

Now imagine taking that strategy to the next level. What if creating a special database of existing, passionate customers and communicating with them differently can help you generate referrals? Developing a simple campaign using tools your existing fans can use to spread the word about your brand is key. Not only could you increase your existing business, but these happy customers will become an activated sales force and invite their friends.

       1.  GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A REASON TO SPREAD THE WORD

A few years ago, I utilized the services of a consulting firm that, as part of their system, asked me for a list of referrals. The request made me immediately uncomfortable. I felt like they wanted to use me for my friends, or worse, turn me into one of their salespeople.

That said, the service they provided was good, and had they framed the request another way, I might have complied. Specifically, it would have been nice if they’d have created a small, educational video that would have been valuable to my friends. I’d much more quickly pass along a video than I would hand over my friends’ e-mail addresses.

Consider creating a PDF or video that you automatically send to existing clients along with an e-mail that goes something like this:

                Dear Friend,

                     Thanks for doing business with us. A number of our clients have wanted to tell their friends about how we help customers, but they aren’t sure how to do so. We’ve put together a little video that will help your friends solve X problem. If you have any friends with X problem, feel free to send it along. We’d be happy to follow up with any of them, and we’ll be sure to let you know whether we could help.

                     We know you value your relationships and so do we. If your friends are experiencing a problem we’ve helped you solve, we’d love to help them too. If there’s anything else we can do, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Nancy

                P.S. X Problem can be frustrating. If you’d rather introduce us to your friend in person, just let us know. We are more than happy to meet with them in their place of business or at our office.

       1.  OFFER A REWARD

If you really want to prime the pump, offer a reward to existing clients who refer their friends. As I mentioned earlier, my wife has invited dozens of friends to try out Blue Apron, a company that sends ready-to-cook meals right to people’s doors. Plenty of Betsy’s friends have enjoyed the service and signed on for themselves. Betsy receives a reward from Blue Apron every time somebody signs up.

Another way to offer a reward is to start an affiliate program. You can offer your customers a 10 percent commission on the orders they bring to you. This system has generated millions of dollars for thousands of companies. A good affiliate program can do the work of an expensive sales force if you structure the percentages well.

Automate the Work

The easiest, fastest referral system can be automated using Mail Chimp, Infusionsoft, HubSpot, or any other e-mail marketing system. Simply include any customer who places one or two orders in an automated campaign that offers them an educational video or PDF they can pass on, an added value for telling their friends about you, or a bonus or even a commission. Make sure the system opts customers out after placing several orders so you don’t hit every customer every time they order with another sales pitch. We don’t want to risk annoying people.

SOME REAL-WORLD REFERRAL SYSTEMS

Implementing a referral system takes work, but it’s effective. Take some inspiration from these samples. You’ll quickly see that the effort will pay off.

        A 100 Percent Refund for Three New Referrals Within a Semester. This was the brainchild of an after-school test-prep academy that prepared high school students for the SAT and ACT college admissions test, but it could just as well have been an eye doctor or a massage therapist. Parents were given a referral card to hand out to friends, many of whom had kids around the same age. Each time one of the cards came back, the referrer was credited hundreds of dollars because these courses were expensive! When they referred three new registrants, the referrer was given a 100 percent refund. Sure, the kids were competing with test scores, but the parents ended up competing for referrals, and business skyrocketed. The business also offered special seminars for parents and students of the 100 Percent Referral Club.

        Invite-a-Friend Coupons. When students signed up for golf lessons, the range offered each new student several coupons for a free bucket of golf balls for a friend. While it’s an individual game, golf is a social sport since people enjoy playing together. The course experienced a 40 percent increase in students signing up for lessons because word of mouth spread so effectively.

        Open-House Party. Whenever a home contractor finished a large-scale project, he asked the homeowners if they would be willing to throw an open-house party in exchange for a slight discount. Friends, family, and neighbors were invited to a cookout on the newly built deck. The contractor used this opportunity to explain how the work was done and pass out cards. With only a few open-house parties, the contractor filled his schedule for the following twelve months.

        Free Follow-Up Photos. A wedding photographer in Syracuse, New York, offered couples a free follow-up portrait on their one-year anniversary if the couple provided three referrals at the time of the wedding. She also followed up with cards to the entire bridal party, expressing how much of a pleasure it was to photograph them. Needless to say, business boomed because people who are in wedding parties often end up getting married soon themselves.

WHAT’S YOUR MARKETING PLAN?

In my twenties I spent an entire year playing chess. Nearly every day I met a friend at a coffee shop and we’d go at it for a couple of hours. My skills improved, and I ended up winning more than half my matches until another friend started showing up. He beat me every time, usually within twenty moves.

The reason? I knew a lot about the philosophy of chess, but I didn’t have what’s referred to as an opening. Before sitting down to play, my more skilled opponent planned his first five moves. This opening strategy was critical to his success. Once I memorized a few openings of my own, I started to win again.

If the StoryBrand Framework is a foundation, the five marketing ideas that make up the StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap should serve as your opening. These five simple yet powerful tools have been used by countless businesses to increase their revenue.

Again, consider this roadmap a checklist. After you’ve created your StoryBrand BrandScript, get to work on each aspect of this roadmap and watch as your customers engage and your company grows.

To hire a StoryBrand Certified Guide to help you execute your StoryBrand Marketing Roadmap, visit www.clarifyyourmessage.com. Our directory can help you find a StoryBrand Certified Guide (marketing coach), StoryBrand Certified Copywriter, web designer, videographer, printer, or even a complete design agency. Stop wasting money on marketing that doesn’t work. Hire somebody who knows how to craft a clear message.

StoryBrand does not take a percentage of sales from any of our certified agents.