Donald Miller

Your customer should be the hero of the story, not your brand.

Customers don’t generally care about your story; they care about their own.

great stories are about survival—either physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual. A story about anything else won’t work to captivate an audience. Nobody’s interested. This means that if we position our products and services as anything but an aid in helping people survive, thrive, be accepted, find love, achieve an aspirational identity, or bond with a tribe that will defend them physically and socially, good luck selling anything to anybody. These are the only things people care about.

. If we haven’t identified what our customer wants, what problem we are helping them solve, and what life will look like after they engage our products and services, for example, we can forget about thriving in the marketplace.

Here is nearly every story you see or hear in a nutshell: A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives, gives them a PLAN, and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.

What most brands miss, however, is that there are three levels of problems a customer encounters. In stories, heroes encounter external, internal, and philosophical problems. Why? Because these are the same three levels of problems human beings face in their everyday lives.

One call to action is direct, asking the customer for a purchase or to schedule an appointment. The other is a transitional call to action, furthering our relationship with the customer.

We must tell our customers how great their life can look if they buy our products and services.

Everybody wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell people where we’re taking them, they’ll engage another brand.

When we identify something our customer wants and communicate it simply, the story we are inviting them into is given definition and direction.

Here are some more examples from companies we’ve worked with:

Financial Advisor: “A Plan for Your Retirement”

College Alumni Association: “Leave a Meaningful Legacy”

Fine-Dining Restaurant: “A Meal Everybody Will Remember”

Real Estate Agent: “The Home You’ve Dreamed About”

Bookstore: “A Story to Get Lost In”

Breakfast Bars: “A Healthy Start to Your Day”

When you define something your customer wants, the customer is invited to alter their story in your direction. If they see your brand as a trustworthy and reliable guide, they will likely engage.