When it comes to the Storybrand marketing framework, there are two important characters at play – The Guide and the Hero. Your ideal client is the “Hero” and you / your business is the “Guide”.
The core of your business and the message behind your website needs to help the “hero” (your ideal client) solve the problem they have through products, services, and anything else you offer.
Before you can write copy, design your website, or craft your perfect offer, you need to identify the problem your hero is going through. Your offer is the solution to the problem, which makes it a no brainer for the hero to purchase. Utilizing one of our templates which follow the Storybrand Website Framework is going to be an easy way to create a message that’s going to best show your ideal client’s struggle and your benefit.
How the problem is framed on your website
You have roughly 8 seconds to convince someone to stay on your website. This means that if your hero comes to you for guidance and your website confuses her, she’s less likely to buy from you.
One strategy that I implement inside all of my Showit templates is to define the problem immediately on your website’s homepage.
There are three points you want to cover when you are defining your hero’s problem:
- The external problem (the obvious problem you can see)
- The internal problem (how the problem makes her feel)
- The philosophical problem (how this problem is unfair or unjust)
Before doing anything (I mean ANYTHING) else in your business, you need to know who your business is for. You might know this as “defining your ideal client” or creating your “customer avatar.”
All of my Showit templates are based off of the Storybrand framework who calls the ideal client the “hero” of the story.
Think:
- Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games.
- Cady Heron of Mean Girls
- Wonder Woman of Wonder Woman
The easiest way to define your hero is to think of them as a hero of a story. This mindset shift will help you write copy, choose the most effective Showit template, and create content that encourages them to hire you.
Remember: The person you want to help is the hero of the story, not you.
Before you jump into creating anything else in your business, sit down and write:
- Who is this hero?
- How do your services or products help the hero?
- Who does the hero want to become?
Who is this hero?
All of the characters I mentioned above have something in common: they started their stories scared, alone, and needing help but ended up triumphant in the end (even if the ending isn’t what they were initially going for).
Don’t worry, if you haven’t seen those movies yet, this blog post won’t have spoilers. 😉
When your ideal client, the hero, seeks out someone like you, they have a problem. This problem has real consequences, whether it’s the inability to quit their job, their bills going unpaid, or scrapping a passion project they spent months on.
Your job is to identify who this hero is, what these problems are, and what the consequence is if they don’t solve this problem.
- Katniss (hero) joined The Hunger Games (problem) where she could potentially die (consequence).
- Cady (hero) needs to help her new friends sabotage the mean girls (problem) or they’d continue to endure the bullying (consequence).
- Wonder Woman (hero) needed to help the humans against her tribe’s wishes (problem) or mass genocide could happen (consequence).
You can translate this same storyline to your business and ideal client.
Here are some examples that I’ve seen from female entrepreneurs:
- A burnt-out cubicle worker (hero) doesn’t know how to begin freelancing from home (problem) but feels her life and health will fall apart if she stays at her job (consequence).
- A new small business owner (hero) doesn’t know how to design her website (problem) which is preventing her from launching her business idea (consequence).
- A tired new mom (hero) is too exhausted to lose the pregnancy weight she gained (problem) which is making her feel helpless and self-conscious (consequence).
That’s the first thing you have to write. Simple, right?
I also have a workbook to help you flesh out your ideal client and the rest of your brand messaging in 7 steps. Following the Storybrand Website Framework is going to make your website that much more appealing to your ideal client. Click the button below to download the FREE workbook.
How do your services or products help your ideal client?
Every great story has a trusted guide, sidekick, or mentor, right?
Katniss had a mentor from her district who survived a previous Hunger Game.
Cady had two outcast friends and her math teacher who constantly encouraged her.
Wonder Woman met a pilot who believed in her even though what she was talking about sounded insane.
Your ideal client has you.
They are the hero, but you are the trusted guide/sidekick/mentor.
Now that you know who your business is for, how do you help them navigate the problem and keep them from falling into the consequence that they’re afraid of?
To use the previous examples:
- You host 90-day group programs to help aspiring freelancers land their first few clients so they can begin the process of replacing their income and eventually quit their job.
- You create affordable website templates that can be installed in minutes so the small business owner can finally launch her business idea.
- You have a membership that sends out a new, gentle workout that can be done in 10 minutes per day so tired moms can lose weight without the gym and regain their self-confidence.
Each of these services or products is a direct way the guide can help the hero.
Do an audit of your services and products. Consider how they help your hero if it does at all.
(If not, this would be a great time to revamp the service or product to get better results when you launch.)
If you’re not sure what services or products to offer, take this time to research your ideal client in Facebook groups, Instagram, and wherever they’re active. Ask yourself what you could create that would guide them through their problems and avoid the consequences.
Who does the hero want to become?
Movies would be boring if the hero never grew, learned anything, or progressed in their journey. By the end of the movie, a shift should have happened or there would be no conclusion to the story.
Your goal is to guide the hero to the person they want to become.
I’ll skip the movie endings here since I promised to keep it spoiler-free but let’s go through the other examples we had:
- The burnt-out cubicle worker (hero) took your 90-day group program (your service/product) and landed her first 3 clients which replaced 50% of her income. She can now see herself quitting her job in the next 6 months (end goal).
- The new small business owner (hero) downloaded and installed the website template (your service/product), launched her coaching program, and now has 6 discovery calls lined up for the next 2 weeks (end goal). That’s 6 more than she would’ve had if she didn’t have a website.
- The tired new mom (hero) started the healthy lifestyle membership (your service/product) which has helped her become more conscious about her sleeping, eating, and overall well-being (end goal). As a bonus, she’s also lost 2 lbs in the past 2 weeks.
Now you know how to define your hero and how you’re going to guide them.
Use all of this information as the baseline for writing copy, creating content, choosing a Showit template, and connecting on social media.
Want to flesh out your brand message and better understand the Storybrand Website Framework that our Showit website templates are designed around? Get the 7 steps in the FREE workbook below.
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