20 Useful Quotes From Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand

20 Donald Miller Quotes: Building a StoryBrand

Looking for some of the best quotes from Donald Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand?

Donald Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand , reveals the seven universal elements of stories and how using them will instantly increase your influence within your marketing.

By applying these concepts to your marketing, you can strengthen your brand message and help customers see your business as a solution to their problem. The following are the 20 quotes from his bestselling book.

Let’s jump straight in to some of my favorite quotes:

20 Quotes From Donald Miller’s “Building a StoryBrand”

1. ”As a brand it’s important to define something your customer wants, because as soon as we define something our customer wants, we post a story question in the mind of the customer: Can this brand really help me get what I want?”
   
   
   
2. ”Alfred Hitchcock defined a good story as ‘life with the dull parts taken out.’ Good branding is the same. Our companies are complex, for sure, but a good messaging filter will remove all the stuff that bores our customers and will bear down on the aspects of our brand that will help them survive and thrive.”
   
   
   
3. ”STORYBRAND PRINCIPLE ONE: THE CUSTOMER IS THE HERO, NOT YOUR BRAND.  When we position our customer as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges. Positioning the customer as the hero in the story is more than just good manners; it’s also good business.”
   
   
   
4.  ”Almost all companies try to sell solutions to external problems, but customers are much more motivated to resolve their inner frustrations.”
   
   
   
5. ”Everybody wants to be taken somewhere. If we don’t tell people where we’re taking them, they’ll engage another brand.”
   
   
   
6. ”What stories teach us is that people’s internal desire to resolve a frustration is a greater motivator than their desire to solve an external problem.”
   
   
   
7. ”When we empathize with our customers’ dilemma, we create a bond of trust. People trust those who understand them, and they trust brands that understand them too.”
   
   
   
8. ”People …can’t read our minds and they don’t know what we want, even if it seems obvious. We have to clearly invite customers to take a journey with us or they won’t.”
   
   
   
9. ”As a brand, it’s our job to pursue our customers. We want to get to know them and for them to get to know us, but we are the ones who need to take the initiative.”
   
   
   
10. ”People are drawn to clarity and away from confusion. Having clear calls to action means customers aren’t confused about the actions they need to take to do business with you.”
    
    
    
11. ”Your website is likely the first impression a potential customer will receive about your company. It’s almost like a first date. The customer simply needs to know that you have something they want and you can be trusted to deliver whatever that is.”
    
    
    
12. ”Like farming a field, building a healthy and engaged e-mail list takes time, but it’s time well spent. Start today. A year from now, you’ll be glad you did.”
    
    
    
13. ”What if the problem wasn’t the product? What if the problem was the way we talked about the product?”
    
    
    
14. ”If we pay a lot of money to a design agency without first clarifying our message, we might as well be holding a bullhorn up to a monkey. The only thing a potential customer will hear is noise.”
    
    
    
15. ”So what’s your message? Can you say it easily? Is it simple, relevant, and repeatable? Can your entire team repeat your company’s message in such a way that it is compelling? Have new hires been given talking points they can use to describe what the company offers and why every potential customer should buy it?”
    
    
    
16. ”Among the million things the brain is good at, the overriding function of the brain is to help an individual survive and thrive. Everything the human brain does, all day, involves helping that person, and the people that person cares about, get ahead in life.”
    
    
    
17. “Story helps because it is a sense-making mechanism. Essentially, story formulas put everything in order, so the brain doesn’t have to work to understand what’s going on.”
    
    
    
18. ”When we start our elevator pitch or keynote address, or when somebody visits our website, they’re burning calories to process the information we’re sharing. And if we don’t say something (and say something quickly) they can use to survive or thrive, they will tune us out.”
    
    
    
19. ”The key is to make your company’s message about something that helps the customer survive and to do so in such a way that they can understand it without burning too many calories.”
    
    
    
20. ”What we think we are saying to our customers and what our customers actually hear are two different things. And customers make buying decisions not based on what we say but on what they hear.”
    
    
    

 ― Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand

Storytelling has been used for thousands of years to convey a message that moves people into action. StoryBrand will help you build a brand that connects with your customers and helps them understand what makes you different.

If you would like to understand how to create an interesting narrative for your brand, let us know! Our team of experts are ready and waiting to partner with you on creating a marketing plan that resonates with your customer’s mindsets and drives sales. Schedule a call now!