About the book
“Wow, this sucks! The book is just a long commercial for the authors other services and the concepts covered could have been a 15-page pamphlet.”
“Wow, this is brilliant! It’s to the point, clear and actionable.”
Both these assessment are correct, depending how you look at it. But my intention when picking up this book was to learn something practical. And I did. You brands message should be simple, clear and, most importantly, packaged as a story where the customer is the hero.
Many brands and marketers get some fundamental stuff wrong and puts the brand as the hero in their marketing instead of the customer.
Book Notes:
A story in a nutshell
“A CHARACTER (your customer) who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before the can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE (you) steps into their lives, gives the a PLAN (your product), and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action help them avoid FAILURE and ends in a SUCCESS.”
📝 Doing it WRONG!
An example of doing it wrong was Tidal, Jay-z music service. The marketing made whining artists the heroes of the story instead of focusing on the actual customers.
📝 Doing stories RIGHT!
An example of doing it right is Apple with the Mac. The customer is the hero facing a problem; Complicated computers that stands in the way of the customers creative expression! Apple has a plan for our hero, the Macintosh computer.
📝 Story is the greatest weapon we have to combat noise, because it organizes information in such a way that people are compelled to listen.
⭐️ TAKEAWAY:
When you finish this book–given you’ve done the exercises, you will have a new brand script for your services or products that capitalize on the strength of storytelling (or on human weakness to stories, he he!😈). The book left me inspired and equipped for taking stuff to the next level! If your not up for doing it yourself you can always hire some pros.
Since I don’t really have a product to sell I’m going to use the story brand method to improve my website. Another takeaway is how uncomfortable selling things makes me feel. I have a really hard time with it.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ out of 5
Find more great reads on my book reviews page and the Great Books List
