/storybrand-messaging-framework

name: storybrand-messaging-framework
description: Use StoryBrand for "clarify my message", "rewrite my homepage", "create a BrandScript", "what is my one-liner", or "fix my CTA".
license: "Skill distillation for personal/educational use. Do not reproduce source passages verbatim."

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:*