BUILDING A STORYBRAND by Donald Miller is the number one selling hardcover business book according to the charts in today's Wall Street Journal. Its subtitle is "Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen" and it begins with tons of testimonials from practitioners and small business owners who are amazed at its effectiveness. I am curious to see if these principles can translate to other entities like our school library or our school district when voters are deciding on funding levels. Miller advocates using the StoryBrand7 Framework, refining your website to be clear and compelling and executing the StoryBrand Marketing Blueprint's five tasks (create a one-liner for your company; create email addresses using a lead generator; create an automated email drip campaign; collect and tell stories of transformation; create a referral generating campaign). I wondered about the emphasis on emails, but Miller says a 20% open rate is industry standard. It's an interesting take on a marketing plan and should pair nicely with Simon Sinek's START WITH WHY.

There is a good overlying message here but the tone screamed to me infomercial and it distracted from the good content.