In this blog post, we’ll use the four P’s of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) to analyze the official StoryBrand website.
We’ll look at the type of product that StoryBrand offers. We’ll analyze the price point of StoryBrand’s products and who those price points appeal to. Then we’ll look at the place of transaction in which StoryBrand delivers its product(s). And finally, we’ll see how StoryBrand promotes its products.
If you aim to have a StoryBranded website that is on par with the actual StoryBrand website, then read on.
Product – Workshops, Online Courses, and Certification
There are quite a few products that StoryBrand offers. Those products are live and private workshops, online courses, and StoryBrand Guide certification.
StoryBrand originally held its live workshop in Nashville, TN but has since moved online due to the Coronavirus pandemic (which has resulted in a shift in price point). They also typically host their private workshops on-site at the client’s business.
The workshops are 2-day intensives that immerse teams and individuals into the StoryBrand methodology. People also get to take part in small breakout groups and receive coaching from Donald Miller’s team.
The online courses are also an exceptional product offering. Business Made Simple University (BMSU) currently has five courses available on its platform ranging from the Marketing Made Simple framework to proposal writing.
Individuals and agencies can also become a StoryBrand Certified Guide/Agency by attending the workshop and paying a certain price. Becoming a Certified Guide also gives individuals/agencies access to exclusive Guide resources and a private Guide community.
Price – Positioned for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses
The price of the live workshop during the pandemic is $995 while the original price was $2,995. The VIP package of the workshop is currently $1,495 while it was $4,995 before the pandemic.
The price for the private workshop is custom and it likely depends on the size of the team that is being trained as well as annual revenue that the business generates.
The BMSU online courses are priced at an affordable $275 a year.
While there is no price tag for the Guide Certification listed on the StoryBrand website, we know that it is at least $10K (because we have some StoryBrand Guides on our team) and the pricing for agencies to get certified is in the ballpark of $30K – $40K.
All of these price points suggest that StoryBrand’s product offering is positioned for a small and medium-sized business to purchase.
Place – Marketing Using the StoryBrand Website
The place that StoryBrand primarily delivers its products is through its website or adjacent websites (like businessmadesimple.com or clarifyyourmessage.com). This is incredibly efficient for the business because it also offers a marketing framework that helps organizations build effective websites. So, it’s an easy decision that StoryBrand would invest a lot of resources into its own websites.
As for the workshops, those were held in-person in Nashville, TN before the pandemic and the company has since pivoted to live-streaming their workshops.
Promotion – Books, Facebook Ads, and Certified Guides
The StoryBrand methodology began gaining traction once Donald Miller released his Wall Street Journal best-selling book Building a StoryBrand. Those that were fans of Donald Miller were soon introduced to his SB7 framework. Don is also great friends with Michael Hyatt, Dave Ramsey, and Bob Goff, which allowed him to reach wider and more diverse networks with his concept.
StoryBrand has also invested heavily in Facebook ads. There’s one specific ad that they still run to this day that promotes one of the business’ first lead-generators. Don has been very adamant about only using Facebook ads to promote the company’s lead-generators and not try to directly sell to customers. A strategy that we should perhaps take note of.
Finally, StoryBrand has a network of Certified Guides that get paid a commission for every workshop they sell or online course they refer customers to. Leveraging word-of-mouth and referral marketing is another fantastic way for the company to promote itself as well as its product offerings.
Conclusion – An Exceptionally Well-Marketed Business
From the perspective of the four P’s, StoryBrand is an exceptionally well-marketed business.
The product offerings are diverse and value-packed, while the price-point is positioned well for the small and medium-sized businesses to take advantage of.
The company doesn’t spread itself too thin by playing in many different areas, but rather it sticks to one place – its website. Finally, the business itself is promoted exceptionally well and also doesn’t spread itself too thin by investing in various channels. Instead, StoryBrand knows what works for it and doubles down on those strategies.
We can learn a lot about StoryBrand by analyzing the StoryBrand website through the four P’s of marketing.
