storybrand-messaging-framework

# StoryBrand Messaging Framework

## Overview

Use this skill to apply Donald Miller's StoryBrand SB7 framework to brand messaging, website copy, fundraising appeals, product positioning, sales pages, and marketing assets. The skill turns a confusing offer into a clear customer-centered story: the customer is the hero, the brand is the guide, the offer solves a real problem, and the next action is obvious.

This is a messaging-clarity skill. It does not validate whether a market exists, set paid-media budgets, or replace customer research.

## When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when the user asks:

- "Help me create a BrandScript for my business."
- "Clarify my message."
- "Rewrite my homepage using StoryBrand."
- "Does this pass the grunt test?"
- "What is my one-liner?"
- "Am I positioning myself as the hero or the guide?"
- "Write a better CTA, tagline, landing page, email, ad, or pitch."

## Core Principle

Clear messaging beats clever messaging. The user must leave with copy that quickly answers: what is being offered, how it improves the customer's life, and what the customer should do next.

## Workflow Inventory

| Workflow | User question pattern | Inputs | Steps | Output | Should be subskill? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BrandScript creation | "Apply StoryBrand to my business" | Offer, customer, problem, proof, desired action | Fill all seven SB7 elements | Complete BrandScript | No — primary workflow |
| Website grunt test | "Review my homepage" | Existing copy or URL text | Test clarity, hierarchy, CTA, stakes, success | Rewrite and priority fixes | No — applies the same SB7 sequence |
| One-liner creation | "What is my pitch?" | Customer, problem, solution, result | Problem + solution + result | One-liner variants | No — narrow asset from SB7 |
| CTA and funnel design | "What should the CTA be?" | Buying stage, friction, trust level | Direct and transitional CTA mapping | CTA set and placement | No — Dimension 5 application |
| Asset rewrite | "Rewrite this email/ad/page" | Draft copy, audience, goal | Reframe customer as hero and brand as guide | Revised copy | No — channel-specific application |

**Architecture decision:** Keep this as a single-file skill. StoryBrand is one tightly coupled SB7 messaging workflow; BrandScripts, website reviews, one-liners, CTAs, and rewrites all reuse the same seven dimensions and usually share the same output assets. Splitting these into subskills would make routing heavier without improving decision quality.

## The SB7 Framework

### DIMENSION 1: A Character

**Rule:** The customer is the hero, not the brand.

**Key questions:**

- What does the customer want?
- Can the desire be stated in one clear sentence?
- Is the copy centered on the customer's ambition rather than the company's story?

**Decision criteria:**

- One primary desire is visible above all secondary messages.
- The customer's current state and desired future state create a story gap.
- Company history and internal language are removed unless they prove guide authority.

**Warning signals:**

- The copy opens with company history, credentials, or founder story before naming the customer's want.
- Multiple audiences or desires compete in the same headline, pitch, or page section.
- The offer is framed as what the company does rather than what the customer gets.

**Agent instruction:** Name the customer's concrete want before writing any brand copy. If the user provides many audiences or goals, ask them to pick the primary buyer for this pass.

### DIMENSION 2: Has a Problem

**Rule:** Customers buy relief from internal frustration, not only solutions to external problems.

**Key questions:**

- What is the external practical problem?
- What internal frustration, fear, delay, embarrassment, or uncertainty does it create?
- What philosophical "this should not be this hard" statement makes the stakes feel meaningful?
- What force can be named as the villain without attacking a person?

**Decision criteria:**

- The copy includes external, internal, and philosophical problem language.
- The villain is a problem source such as complexity, waste, risk, or confusion.
- The emotional problem is specific enough to make the buyer feel understood.

**Warning signals:**

- The message lists features without naming the buyer's practical problem.
- The copy uses generic pain words such as "stress" or "frustration" without context.
- The villain is a person or customer group rather than the obstacle the offer helps defeat.

**Agent instruction:** Diagnose all three problem levels and choose the one most likely to move the customer. Do not stop at feature-level pain points.

### DIMENSION 3: Meets a Guide

**Rule:** The brand must be the guide, not a competing hero.

**Key questions:**

- How can the brand show empathy for the customer's struggle?
- What proof establishes authority without bragging?
- Are testimonials, numbers, logos, credentials, or case results available?

**Decision criteria:**

- Empathy appears before or beside authority.
- Proof is used to reduce buyer risk, not to make the brand the protagonist.
- The copy avoids "we are amazing" language unless tied to the customer's outcome.

**Warning signals:**

- The brand talks about itself as the hero of the story.
- Authority claims are unsupported or disconnected from the customer's risk.
- Empathy is absent, making proof feel like bragging instead of guidance.

**Agent instruction:** Write one empathy line and one authority line. If proof is missing, mark it as a gap and suggest what evidence to collect.

### DIMENSION 4: Gives Them a Plan

**Rule:** A confused buyer does not move. A guide gives a simple path.

**Key questions:**

- What are the 3-4 steps from interest to success?
- What fears or objections need an agreement plan?
- Which step is the customer's next visible action?

**Decision criteria:**

- The plan has no more than four steps unless the user explicitly needs a complex process.
- Each step uses