Storybrand principle 6: Avoid Failure

This video, is the sixth in a 7 part series, explaining each part of the Storybrand framework. If you’ve poured your heart into your product or service, but people don’t respond when you tell them about it, the chances are, your messaging is too complicated.

And the most powerful weapon we have to combat confusion is the power of the story. Nothing compels the human brain to pay attention, like a great story and the Storybrand framework has been designed to make messaging easy for business owners.

The sixth part of the framework is “Help them avoid failure”. All great Stories keep you engaged through to the end because there is always something at stake. If there were nothing to be won or lost, nobody would care. Will the hero disarm the bomb? Or will people lose their lives? Will the guy get the girl? Or will he be lonely and filled with self-doubt? If there is nothing at stake in a story, there is no story. The same is true for your product or service, if there is nothing at stake if I don’t buy from you, why would I buy from you? Watch this video to learn how we use stakes in your marketing to encourage your customers to buy from you.

Video Transcript:

This video is the sixth in a 7-part series explaining each part of the Storybrand Framework. If you've poured your heart into your product or service but people don't respond when you tell them about it through your marketing, the chances are your messaging is just too complicated, and the most powerful weapon we have to combat confusion is the power of story. Nothing compels the human brain to pay attention like a great story, and the Storybrand Framework has been designed to make messaging easy for business owners. The sixth part of the Storybrand Framework is help them Avoid Failure. All great stories keep you engaged throughout all the way to the end because there is always something at stake. If there were nothing to be won or lost, nobody would care. Will the hero disarm the bomb or will people lose their lives? Will the guy get the girl or will he be lonely and filled with self-doubt? If there is nothing at stake in a story, there simply is no story. Think about Liam Neeson in the movie "Taken." His daughter has been kidnapped by human traffickers, and he's on a mission to get her back. But imagine if 30 minutes into that movie, he succeeds and they spend the rest of that movie, another 90 minutes, shopping in London and getting to know each other, rebuilding their relationship. That would be a terrible movie. No one's going to watch that. The same is true with your product. If there is nothing at stake in whether I buy your product or service, why would I buy it? What this means is we need to make it clear to our customers what's at stake if they don't buy our products or services. Brands that help their customers avoid some kind of negativity in their life and let their customers know what that negativity is, engage their customers for the same reason a great story captivates an audience. They define what's at stake. It's important to note, though, at this point, that not all parts of the Storybrand Framework should be used evenly in your marketing. Think of it like a recipe for a loaf of bread. The stakes is like the salt in the recipe. You use too much, and your bread will taste terrible. Leave it out, and it's going to taste bland. Just remember, your recipe must have stakes. Once you've nailed this, move on to video 7, the final video in this series, where we tackle the seventh Storybrand principle: That Ends With Success. If you found this video valuable, subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can refer back to it and catch all of our new videos as they're published.