With 200,000 Allied Health professionals in Australia, it’s incredibly tough to stand out from your competitors, and attract the right type of client to your practice.
The biggest mistake allied health practices make when marketing their services is writing something without understanding what problem their target audience is trying to solve.
That’s why it’s crucial to identify your client’s wants and needs straight away. This will allow you to provide content that is more relevant to your target audience.
When you speak in a language that matches who you are as an organisation, you increase the likelihood that your content will resonate with your audience.
Marketers in the healthcare industry typically use clinical and impersonal language.
When promoting their services, they typically focus on the care they provide to patients rather than the problems they are addressing.
How are potential clients supposed to know how you can help them reach their desired outcome?
This is where using the power of storytelling can help you clarify your message and attract more clients.
The StoryBrand Framework
The StoryBrand framework was developed by Donald Miller, the CEO of StoryBrand. The framework includes a brandscript to help you summarise your marketing brand story.
A brand story is a narrative that includes the details and emotions that your brand or business brings.
It helps you communicate your brand values across different channels. And it ensures those values are consistent and coherent throughout every aspect of your brand.
If you don’t know what your brand story is, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful tools for growing your business.
This guide will help you understand how to craft a brand story that resonates with clients and builds loyalty.
You’ll learn why storytelling is such a critical tool for brands today. And you’ll discover how to develop a brand story that works for your unique situation.
The 7 Elements of the StoryBrand Framework
The StoryBrand Framework is a toolkit for creating stories that engage people emotionally.
You’ll find out how to put it to work for you to make better decisions about what you should do next.
Stories are compelling because we’re hardwired to respond to them emotionally.
We don’t just want facts; we want to know why something matters. This holds true in both our professional and personal life.
Below we will have a more detailed look at the seven elements for creating the perfect brand story:
1. The Hero is your Client
Painting yourself as the hero may not be the best strategy when marketing your business.
It may seem like a logical choice when we want to be the “hero” to offer the solution to solve their issue.
However, the client sees themselves as the hero in their own personal story, so your branding needs to center on what your targeted clients wants, and needs are.
How do your services relate to their ultimate goals?
2. The client has a problem
A problem is anything that the hero must overcome to achieve their goal.
The audience is more likely to listen and trust what you have to say because they feel understood in response to the problems presented in the story.
The problem is a source of your client’s frustration that your product or service can solve.
For example, you are a chiropractor, and the client’s problem is chronic back pain, preventing them from performing work or home activities.
Your story would quickly become boring to the target audience without including the problem.
3. You are the guide
In the story, you are the guide who aids the hero in overcoming their problem.
As the guide, your business will help your clients with their goals and resolve their issues.
4. Your plan
The plan is the strategy; the guide (being you) suggests to the hero to help them overcome their problems and achieve their goals.
The plan consists of detailed, brand-provided directions for the client to follow. In addition, the plan includes insights into the service and answers to any remaining concerns.
5. Call to action
Now that you have caught and held their attention, it’s time to push them to act.
A call to action on a business website can look like a button encouraging potential clients to book an appointment or learn more about what your business offers.
6. Tragic Results
The tragic result happens if the hero does nothing to fix the issue or achieve their goal.
The audience is kept on edge by the prospect of loss and the consequences that go along with it; this is achieved through the use of a tragic result.
The fear of loss, or the consequences that could happen to the client if they don’t hire you, keeps the client searching for a solution to the problem and the hope of a good outcome to the story.
7. Successful results
The promise of a successful result keeps the audience interested in the story hoping for a happy ending.
The successful results are what influence the potential clients to book your service.
Where the StoryBrand Framework Excels
The StoryBrand Framework helps you tell stories that matter.
Whether you’re a business trying to build trust or increase the number of clients you serve, the StoryBrand Framework gives you a way to understand your audience, connect with them, and inspire action.
It’s a powerful communication tool that allows you to articulate who you are and why others should care.
StoryBrand works because it’s based on three core principles:
- Start with empathy
- Your story must be authentic
- Your story must be relatable
It will Help you Drive Customer Engagement
Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to connect with clients. However, doing it well can be difficult.
So, how can you make sure your stories are interesting enough to keep your audience reading?
The solution is understanding what makes a good story, which is where the framework comes in.
Customers don’t just care about products or services but about solving their own problems.
They want to know why something exists and works the way it does.
In a nutshell, they want to understand and believe that they are a part of the solution.
This is where the storytelling really shines. When done correctly, you give someone else’s experience meaning.
With the StoryBrand Framework, you can utilise storytelling to strengthen client relationships.
It will Help you Guide Potential Clients to Success
Businesses must now consider how they can connect with their audiences beyond just selling products and services. They must start telling stories that guide potential clients toward success.
This requires businesses to shift their focus away from being self-centered and towards guiding people toward what matters most to them.
In other words, it’s no longer enough to simply sell a product or service; they want to know why they should buy it.
We must understand our client’s challenges and needs in order to find solutions that are appropriate for them.
The Storybrand framework provides a comprehensive approach to helping businesses do exactly that.
It combines storytelling theory with marketing best practices to provide a systematic way to transform your organisation into a storyteller.
By applying the framework, you can develop a clear narrative around your brand and use it to guide your efforts across every aspect of your business.
How to Use the StoryBook Framework
Now that you know what the framework looks like and how it can benefit you, how do you use it? Here are some tips to get started:
Start with empathy
When it comes to marketing, we’ve been repeatedly told how important it is to put ourselves in our client’s shoes.
We must consider their needs, wants, pains, fears, hopes, dreams, and so on. These are the things that drive us to make decisions and take action.
How much easier could it be to connect with our customers if we really understood what they wanted?
The answer is simple: A lot easier. If we truly knew what our customers wanted, we’d be able to provide better solutions to their problems. And if we did that, we’d increase revenue and build stronger relationships.
Strive for clarity, even if it takes time
Your customers will never learn what your business stands for unless you tell them directly.
You want to ensure that every aspect of your brand is clear and consistent across all touchpoints, including adverts, social media posts, and emails.
The reason why it’s crucial to clarify your brand’s messaging is that people are often confused about what you do and how you differ from competitors.
They might think you offer something different from your competition, but without knowing precisely what that difference is, they’ll assume you’re just another player in the space.
This confusion could lead to lost sales and missed opportunities. So, start asking questions now.
Ask yourself:
- What does my brand stand for?
- How am I different from my competitors?
- Why should someone choose me over my competitors?
Once you’ve answered those questions, write down everything you know about your brand. Then, use that information to develop a specific strategy for defining your brand’s messaging.
Create awareness through digital marketing
Digital marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a successful business, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a way to stand out among the sea of competitors.
You might think you know what works, but there are always ways to improve your current strategy. Such as the StoryBrand framework.
Use your marketing team for insight
Marketing teams are often overlooked in customer experience, but they play a huge role in delivering great customer experiences.
So, how do you ensure your marketing team knows what makes your clients tick? Start by asking them for feedback.
The most efficient technique to gather feedback from your marketing staff is to directly request it.
You can start by sending out surveys via email or social media. Then, set up a time with each team member to discuss what they like and dislike about your product or service.
This gives you insight into areas where improvements could be made.
Also, don’t overlook customer service. To deliver exceptional customer experiences, you must focus on providing excellent customer support.
After all, happy clients become brand advocates. And brand advocates are the lifeblood of your business.
To keep them coming back, ensure your front desk agents are always ready to answer questions and resolve problems.
Set up channels for client feedback
Client feedback is one of the most important parts of getting insight into your client’s needs and desires. You can use the information in their feedback for your story brand.
You want to make it easy for your clients to reach out and let you know their thoughts about your products and services. Some business websites even offer built-in tools for feedback.
But there are plenty of ways to encourage clients to give you feedback without having to build special features on your site.
Here are five strategies to help you develop channels for consumer feedback.
1. Use your social media accounts
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are excellent places to gather client feedback.
Post pictures of your services, ask questions and answer comments.
If you use social media to promote your services, you might consider asking people to follow you on those networks. This way, whenever someone mentions your business name or service, you’ll see it pop up in your feed.
2. Ask customers to leave reviews
Review sites such as Yelp and Google Local are also good for collecting feedback.
When visitors leave reviews, they often include information such as price, quality, and overall experience.
These reviews can help you achieve greater insight into what your clients like, so you can use them to improve your story brand.
3. Offer discounts
Offering discounts is another effective method for encouraging clients to leave feedback.
They’ll feel more inclined to write a review if they receive a discount for doing so.
Who Should use the StoryBrand Framework?
StoryBrand is a tool that any business can use. The framework assists people in making better decisions by guiding them in understanding what is most important to their clients.
For a business in the healthcare industry, using the StoryBrand framework can give you an edge over competing healthcare providers since the healthcare industry frequently uses language that is too clinical to relate to.
Want to learn more about how to market your business effectively? Visit our website for more information!
