#68: Stop Telling Your Story (It's Costing You Customers)

The StoryBrand Podcast

StoryBrand.com

Business, Marketing

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2026

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A lot of brands are saying the wrong thing first. They lead with their mission, their story, and their personality, thinking that will make people care. But customers aren't looking for a brand to admire. They're looking for a guide who understands their problem and can help them solve it. When your message starts in the wrong place, your customer tunes out before you ever get a chance to help. How do you know if your brand is leading with the wrong story?

In this episode, host Donald Miller breaks down the difference between primary and secondary messaging and explains why that shift changes everything. He shows how to talk about your customer's problem, communicate why you care, prove you can help, and make the next step clear. Don also shares simple website tests to help customers quickly understand what you offer and why it matters. Tune in to create messaging that drives more sales.

Connect with Donald Miller on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/donaldmiller/

https://www.facebook.com/donaldmillerwords

http://StoryBrand.com

Make your marketing and messaging work with the StoryBrand framework—and you can do that with the updated version of the book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0, now available! https://buildingastorybrand.com/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=&utm_term=cb&utm_content=SB_Framework

Transcript

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0:00.0	The more you are obsessed about your customer, the more likely you are to survive. Bottom line.
0:04.7	The point of this episode is to explore some of the ways that you can be more customer-centric.
0:10.2	Let me give me an example. It's a real one. I was just talking to a real estate agent the other day,
0:13.8	and they were having some questions about getting their story out, building their personal brand.
0:17.9	And this agent said to me, Don, it is my passion to help pets get adopted.
0:22.2	Dogs and cats in shelters.
0:24.4	I volunteer.
0:25.5	I try to do all this stuff.
0:27.3	How do I get that message into my real estate business?
0:31.2	You don't, right?
0:32.2	My answer to them was that those are two completely separate things.
0:36.2	They have nothing to do with each other.
0:38.0	You do not have to explain that you are somebody who helps dogs get adopted.
0:42.1	Just go help dogs get adopted.
0:44.0	It's not going to help you grow your real estate business.
0:45.8	Separate those things entirely.
0:47.4	I am here to tell you, we've proven it over and over in Storybrand with the thousands
0:52.5	of companies that we work with.
0:54.5	There's almost no reason to tell your story.
0:57.7	You're listening to the story brand podcast based on Donald Miller's bestselling book,
1:02.6	Building a Story Brand. The story brand framework is made up of seven key elements. All of them
1:08.9	anchored in one powerful idea. Your customer is the hero,
	...

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