The StoryBrand Framework: Why Your Marketing Message Is Confusing Everyone | Lazy Leverage #67

20 snips

Jul 31, 2025

Wes Gay, a StoryBrand certified consultant with nearly a decade of experience, joins the discussion to unravel the mysteries of effective marketing messaging. He highlights the seven-part StoryBrand framework that puts the customer as the hero and your business as the guide. Through relatable examples, he shares how clarity can boost engagement, like a simple button change leading to a 40% increase in leads. Wes also emphasizes identifying ideal customers to drive business growth, showcasing how tailored messaging can transform brands into customer-centric powerhouses.

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ADVICE

Dedicate Time To Clarify Messaging

Invest a full day with your team to clarify messaging and align goals.
Simplify messaging to a single controlling idea that guides marketing and sales.

ADVICE

Narrow Your Target Audience

Prioritize your target audience instead of trying to serve too many market segments.
Focused messaging helps reduce confusion and increase marketing effectiveness.

ADVICE

Focus On Favorite Customers

Identify your favorite customers — those who buy quickly, pay full price, and become repeat buyers.
Focus your marketing and sales on serving this group to boost growth and clarity.

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Jon sits down with Wes Gay, a StoryBrand certified consultant who's been living and breathing the framework for almost a decade. He’s here to break down why most business messaging falls flat (and how to fix it).

The conversation dives deep into the seven-part StoryBrand framework, which treats your customer as the hero of their own story while positioning your business as the guide. Wes walks through each step: hero (your customer), problem (what they're struggling with), guide (you, with empathy and authority), plan (clear steps to success), call to action (what they should do next), and success or failure (the stakes).

What makes this framework so powerful is its simplicity. Instead of talking about how great your company is or listing features, you focus on solving specific problems for specific people. Wes shares real examples, from CarMax's three-step car selling process to how changing one button from "Schedule a Demo" to "Talk to an Expert" increased leads by 40%.

The second half gets tactical about finding your ideal customer. Wes reveals his favorite exercise: asking business owners to identify their favorite customers from the last two years - the ones who paid full price, said yes fastest, and became repeat buyers. Usually, one type emerges as 85% of the business.

They wrap up discussing how StoryBrand thinking can help refine Sagan's messaging, moving beyond "we provide global talent" to something more specific about helping growing companies hire affordably.

People don't buy what's best, they buy what they understand best.

Key Topics:

(01:36) The 7-Part StoryBrand Framework
(21:58) Why Sagan's Messaging Could Be Clearer (And How to Fix It)
(32:22) The Exercise That Reveals Your Real Target Customer
(46:20) How One Button Change Increased Leads by 40%
(47:08) Ideas for Using AI to Mine Customer Testimonials for Better Messaging