How StoryBrand Improves the Call to Action

There are two types of customers: people convinced to buy or people to convince.

Think about your website as it is right now. What is it you want your customers to do? Buy a product or service? Sign-up for a newsletter?

You customers need direction to take action. Is the customer’s path to take action clear and repeated? You know you are the correct choice to solve your customer’s problems. Do your prospective customers know that? If your website struggles to tell your customers what you want them to do, they’ll make their own decision. Generally, that decision is to leave and not come back.

I am not saying your product and services aren’t worth time and investment to research and purchase. But I am saying your website could be making that journey much harder than it needs to be.

Your customers are always looking for a reason not to buy — do not give them one. Instead, offer your customers a reason to buy and keep coming back. One way to do this? A transitional CTA using the StoryBrand messaging framework.

Here is a brief overview of what to expect in this blog:

What a transitional CTA is
The StoryBrand basics
How to use StoryBrand to craft transitional CTAs that work

What is a transitional CTA?

A transitional call to action, or CTA, invites prospective customers to take action on your website without spending money. It is a low commitment step that locks visitors into a long-term nurturing relationship. The transitional CTA usually offers a free resource in exchange for an email address.

Remember: an email address is as valuable to your business as it is to your customers. If customers offer their email address, they expect something in return justifying the cost of your business popping up in their inbox a few times a week. Generally, the average email address is worth $15. That is the value your team needs to create in exchange for an email address.

What is StoryBrand?

StoryBrand, developed by author Donald Miller, is a popular messaging framework that helps your brand tell a clear and compelling story. We’ve covered StoryBrand quite a bit here at Sauce. As we learn, so do you. Here are several helpful blogs about the StoryBrand marketing framework:

Traditionally, marketing initiatives focus on your business or your product. StoryBrand doesn’t. Instead, it treats your business as a guide and the customer as a hero. A compelling, engaging story that positions customers as the hero ensures a successful sales path.

Position yourself as a guide

When heroes solve their problems in stories on their own, audiences tune out. If you position you and your business as the hero of your story, your customers will tune out too. Extensive company history pages are neat, but they do not sell. They distract. Your website needs to clearly establish why your product or service is the correct solution to your customer’s problem.

You need to be your customer’s guide.

Think about any story or film. Does it have a hero? Yes. Did they start the story strong and ready to go? No. Did they have help? Absolutely.

Right now, your customer is at the start of their buying journey. They need help. They need a guide. Be that guide and show them why your business is the right choice to help.

A transitional CTA positions yourself as a guide and shows you know your stuff. Here are a few examples:

A three-part video series on a valuable topic sent weekly to your customer’s email
A short checklist communicating everything a customer needs to know before they buy
An educational blog or whitepaper reframed with the StoryBrand messaging framework

A transitional CTA that offers value and positions your business as a guide builds authority and trust. Create and encourage your prospects to sign up for free how-to videos, podcasts, and webinars using transitional CTAs.

Stake claim to your territory

You need to be an authority on a particular subject or value proposition. Create content that cements your position as a guide. A Transitional CTA is one of many tools to stake your claim as the correct choice to solve your customer’s problem. Keep in mind the transitional CTA arrives near the end of the buying journey. There are a lot of steps before a customer hands over their email address.

A clear, simple way to stake your claim before the transitional CTA? The StoryBrand messaging framework. Keep reading to the end of this blog to learn how your business can use StoryBrand to tell a profitable story.

Create trust by solving a problem

Building trust takes time. Understand that some customers, even if they signed up for your newsletter or visited your website, take months or even years to make a purchase. Every email is a reminder that you are the credible solution to their problem.

The transitional CTA is the nurturing tool your customers need to make an informed decision. Maybe it’s a short 30-second video. Other times, it’s 30 emails over 18 months. The biggest takeaway: the CTA is for the customer that’s ready to buy. The transitional CTA is for the customer that requires a little more from you before a sale. That is why it’s vital to address your customer’s problems and establish that you are the trustworthy guide to solving them. But how do you create trust? Well, a great place to start is to create reciprocity.

Create reciprocity

When you give, you get. You can never give too much away for free. Offering resources, services, and products for free through transitional CTAs is a fantastic way to get your foot in the door and establish reciprocity.

Every relationship is give and take; this is not a personal relationship so don’t act like it. Be professional, be considerate, and don’t waste your customer’s time. The more you give to your customer, the more likely they’ll give back through purchases, testimonials, and brand evangelism.

StoryBrand sells

People do not buy pretty. They buy stories. Storytelling is a powerful tool that positions customers as the hero in your brand story. It doesn’t replace your existing tools; it augments your existing ones. Instead of selling a product, sell a transformative identity. Instead of writing complex, clever copy to impress your boss, write simple, similar copy that speaks the same language as your customer. Just like StoryBrand, simple sells.

The general customer does not buy the best product available. They buy the best story.

Your product is great. But your story needs some work. Our Growth Guides at Sauce can help. We guide you through the StoryBrand process, fix problems in your existing marketing efforts, and craft solutions with the StoryBrand messaging framework. As a StoryBrand Certified Agency, Sauce Agency helps you #GrowSmarter.

Schedule a call to talk with a Growth Guide today.