StoryBrand SB7 Framework

What it is

A seven-part narrative template, developed by Donald Miller in Building a StoryBrand (2017), that casts the customer as the hero of a story and the brand as the guide who helps them win, rather than the brand casting itself as the hero. The seven parts run in sequence: a Character (the customer, defined by what they want), has a Problem (external, internal, and philosophical layers), and meets a Guide (the brand, which earns trust through empathy and authority), who gives them a Plan (a simple, numbered set of steps), and calls them to Action (a direct next step), that helps them avoid Failure (the stakes of doing nothing), and ends in Success (a vivid picture of life after the product has done its job). The insight, borrowed from screenwriting, is that people do not read messaging the way they read a spec sheet; they process it the way they watch a film, scanning for the hero, the stakes, and what happens next. Most company messaging fails this instinct by making the brand the hero ("we are the leading provider of...") when the reader is looking for a guide who understands their problem. The framework sits at a different altitude from Message Architecture (Messaging House), already in this category: the house is a hierarchy of claims built to keep every asset consistent; SB7 is a narrative arc built to make any single asset land the way an audience processes a story. A messaging house's pillars can supply the Plan and the proof beneath Success, while SB7 supplies the sequence and stakes that make claims worth reading.

When to use it

• A homepage or landing page reads as a list of features and awards rather than a story a visitor wants to follow. If the "About" section and the value proposition read almost identically, both are probably making the brand the hero.
• You are writing a founder narrative, an "About Us" page, or a company video script. These formats invite brand-as-hero writing by default, and SB7 is built to correct that instinct.
• A demo script or sales narrative lists capabilities in the order they were built, rather than in an order a buyer would want to hear them. SB7's Plan step forces a simple, numbered sequence.
• Message testing shows a landing page or ad scores poorly on "clarity" specifically, not on differentiation. A confusing story structure, not a weak value proposition, is often the real cause.
• You need one company-wide narrative brief that a video production agency, a copywriter, or a new marketing hire can work from, simpler for a non-specialist to apply correctly than a full positioning canvas.

Ownership

At a scaled company, a Head of Product Marketing or brand and content lead owns the finished SB7 brief, typically briefing a copywriter, video agency, or new marketing hire against it rather than writing every asset personally. A solo or founding PMM writes the brief and the resulting copy directly, often pulling the Guide's authority claims straight from the founder's own customer conversations. Sign-off on the brief, not the finished copy, should sit with whoever owns positioning, since arguing over story structure early is cheaper than rewriting finished sentences later.

How to apply it

1. Define the Character. Name a single primary customer archetype and, crucially, what they want in one plain sentence ("a finance leader who wants to close the books without a fire drill every month"), not a demographic description. A job title with no want attached is a persona, not a character; rewrite until it names a want.
2. Diagnose all three layers of the Problem. Write the external problem (the practical obstacle), the internal problem (how it makes the character feel; frustrated, anxious, embarrassed), and the philosophical problem (why it is simply wrong that this problem exists). Most messaging stops at the external layer; the internal and philosophical layers are usually where a reader feels understood.
3. Position the brand as the Guide, not the hero. Write two sentences: one demonstrating empathy (ideally in the character's own words, from support tickets or sales-call notes) and one demonstrating authority (a credential, a customer count, a named client). Cut any sentence describing the brand's own achievements without tying them back to the customer's problem.
4. Write the Plan as three or four numbered steps. Buyers hesitate when the next step is unclear; a short, numbered plan ("1. Book a 20-minute call. 2. We map your current close process. 3. Go live in two weeks.") removes that ambiguity far more effectively than prose making the same promise.
5. Write one explicit Call to Action. Every asset should have exactly one primary action, stated as an imperative, not buried among competing links of similar visual weight; a lower-commitment secondary action can exist alongside it but should stay visually subordinate.
6. Name the stakes of Failure. State briefly what happens if the problem goes unaddressed: a missed deadline, a lost customer, a compliance fine. This is not a scare tactic when specific and true; it gives the Plan and Call to Action their urgency.
7. Paint a vivid picture of Success. Describe the character's life after the product has worked, in sensory or emotional terms tied back to the internal and philosophical problems named in step 2. Proof points from an existing Message Architecture pillar fit naturally here as evidence.
8. Assemble the seven parts into a one-page brief. Hand copywriters, agencies, or new hires the finished brief as the source document; the brief, not the finished copy, is what should get sign-off, since arguing over structure is cheaper than arguing over finished sentences.