Food Truck Startup Journal Entry #10 “Book Review: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller”
5/8/2023 -
Summary in a sentence — This book is about brands focusing their marketing story on the growth of the customer instead of the growth of the brand and its founders.
What is it? Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller: Clarify Your Message So Your Customers Will Listen is a highly recommended book about the nature of organizational branding and marketing. The basic thesis of the book is that most organizations spend too much time talking about themselves in their marketing and promotion. Instead, Miller argues that A. is one of the most compelling ways of getting someone’s attention through storytelling and B. Brands should focus their attention on the customer’s transformation / development through their products and services.
The way that Miller explains how to execute this is through seven specific steps called the Story Brand 7 or SB 7. I won’t expound on each in this review rather I will seek to apply the seven to my brand at the bottom. I would highly encourage the reader to pick up a copy of themselves if they desire to market a product or service.
What I learned -
- Clarity of message is the essence of good marketing not fancy visuals and graphics.
- “The customer should be the hero of the story not the brand” — Miller drives this point home many times and in many ways.
- Marketers have the power to exploit people. It’s important that a person launches a business in a way that doesn’t take advantage of how human beings process messages. Miller uses a great example of a friend of his deciding to leave a company because they wanted him to market sugary products to diabetics. Character and ethics are a huge part of marketing. I want it to be said of any operation that I am a part of that we didn’t exploit people.
- The Story Brand or SB 7 framework is a great way to sell or market a product or service.
How I will seek to apply -
Instead of telling what the SB 7 Framework is exactly I am encouraging you to read the book itself (book link above). In this section I will apply it by sharing how each of the SB 7 impacts my view of marketing with HEART Food in the future.
Our initial Story Brand (SB) 7 -
Character — Our primary character is a person that knows a fair amount about good health practices. Our primary character also enjoys eating Soul Food / BBQ cooking.
Problem — However they are too busy, preoccupied or uncommitted in the area of personal health and nutrition to be consistent to meal prep. They also don’t want to sacrifice the taste of good food for the health benefits of eating high priced non filling traditional health food.
Guide — The guide is our menu and restaurant process that has been vetted for Health, Efficiency, Affordability, Reimagining (how it can be a tool for community investment) and Tastiness.
Plan — The plan is to eat a HEART meal as opposed to a Fast Food or Processed food option.
Action — 1. Buy a meal through the in store fast casual line 2. Purchase a meal through the App 3. Cater for a large group via the Food Truck
Success — The success is eating the hearty, healthy well portioned HEART Meal from us and being fueled to continue working.
- Villain — Unhealthy Fast and Processed Food Options
- External Win — Providing food to a hungry person
- Internal Win — I am tired of making health choices that may be sending me to an early grave.
- Philosophical Win — I want to be healthier because a healthier person experiences a better quality of life. They generally live longer, they don’t have to take as many medications, they can love their loved ones better, they can work better, etc.
Failure — The failure is eating an unhealthy portion of food, feeling sluggish and actively participating in decisions that may have lasting ill effects.
SB 7’s impact on future marketing
Slogan — Hearty, healthy Soul Food and BBQ that fuels you up without weighing you down.
Simple Mission (customer value proposition) — We help busy people who desire to live healthier by providing tasty portioned controlled Soul Food / BBQ Meals.
Food Truck Marketing (Instead of focusing on the brand visuals it would be interesting to designate a part of the food truck to this marketing story.) -
Did you forget to meal prep today?
Let us help you win in your personal fitness story.
Post a picture of your HEART Food plate along with one fitness goal. #HEARTFoodStory
Tag us on Social Media (logos only below)
Billboard
HEART Food — Hearty, healthy Soul Food and BBQ that fuels you up without weighing you down. Try it today. (Picture of a HEARTFood Meal and Logo)
Located at _________________ website -
30 Second Commercial Script
(Scene) We see a visual of 12 noon. An office has just let out for their office lunch break. 2 people grab their prepared meals. The rest of the office is moving to their cars to find restaurants. Two co-workers walking towards their cars begin talking. (It would also be cool if there was a South Carolina landmark in the background like the Capitol building or Downtown Columbia.)
Co-Worker A — “I don’t want to do fast food again”
Co-Worker B — “Yeah, last time I did fast food I felt sluggish and tired for the second half of the day”
Co — Worker A — “Well why don’t we try HEART Food on ______ street”
Co -Worker B — “I have heard of soul food but what is HEART Food?”
Co — Worker A — “Well it’s a take on the great Soul Food and BBQ culture of South Carolina. The only difference is that they focus on cooking healthy and portion controls.
(Cut to B roll Footage of the restaurant; outside, inside, fast casual line) Announcer speaks — Pick up your HEART Food today. HEART is an acronym for Healthy, Efficient, Affordable, Reimagined and Tasty. We are a fast casual restaurant that specializes in providing the type of Soul Food and BBQ portions that will fuel you up without weighing you down. Pick up your HEART Food today, open from 11 am to 8 pm Monday thru Saturday.
(Cut back to friends that have returned to the office. They pass two of their co-workers that are slumped over after eating with “Sleepy Fast Food” containers in hand.)
Co — Worker B — I can’t go back to fast food after that. It’s going to be my first step towards a healthier lifestyle.
Co — Worker A — Agreed HEART Food for the win. (This character can also take a HEART food item container and toss it in a trash bin.)
(Cut to a 3–5 second screen that closes by displaying our logo, location (s) and says in different colored bright lettering which says “Try HEART food today”)
PS — I also got some good insights on food brand marketing from the leaders of “As Told By” marketing firm in Columbia, SC. They encouraged me to focus more on putting food samples in the hands of my potential customer more than traditional marketing early on. According to them, for a restaurant / food truck idea the greatest form of marketing is word of mouth. To interact with the old Field of Dreams quote “If you can really cook it, they will come.”
