[This post is part of a Book Club book series where we take a deep dive into Building A StoryBrand by Donald Miller. To check out all of the posts, view the table of contents here]
I’m actually really hyped that I get to write about this topic. I’m a huge fan of how to get people engaged in whatever it is you do. My background of parachurch youth ministry and social media/marketing plays into this. Both are questions of “how to authentically get people engaged” and with a wide range of antsy teens or 2 AM Facebook feed scrollers, the challenge is real. And honestly, you want to make the biggest impact for the time, money, and energy you put into this, but that does not mean hawking your stuff off.
Buy Now!
Maybe the most obvious theme of this page is the “Buy Now” tag that he wants to put all over your web pages and even your business cards. For Christian organizations and churches, this feels impossible to integrate. Are we supposed to be salesmen for Jesus? That doesn’t seem right.
For creators with music, art, photography, videography, and writing, this is hard because we have to put a value to the stuff we write. And it becomes tough because the intrinsic value can’t be quantified into dollars and cents.
Let me first say, this chapter is not here to have that conversation. If you need to have that conversation, I’d ask that you put this book down for a bit and go over to our Facebook group.
Let’s Get Practical
This chapter of the StoryBrand is very practical. It’s also when you start to really put boots on the ground and allows you to dive into your product or service. Some of the solutions they offer I think work for businesses selling products, but this can absolutely work for non-profits and bloggers/vloggers or other creators.
The chapter suggests you need to believe in what you’re selling. You need to be clear not only in what you are selling or offering but also in how you are telling other people. Do not assume they know what you want them to do next and do not think that saying it once is enough. I heard Bob Goff say you need to preach what you believe until you are sick of it, then do it twice as much.
There are some great and creative ways to engage with people about this. It doesn’t, and shouldn’t, be Buy Now or Facebook Ads only. Here are some things recommended in this chapter to use.
- Free info (white papers, PDFs, podcasts, webinars, etc.)
- Testimonials
- Free samples
- Free trial
What Does ChurchMag Do?
I’ve thought about this quite a bit before I even read the book. If you purchased my latest devotional called Rebuilding, I’d be interested to see how you got it.
Using this idea of giving away stuff, I took this to the extreme and actually gave away the WHOLE ebook in individual chapters. Wanna read through it? It starts here.
I believed in the eBook that much and wanted to see its success. I pushed for this and as always, Eric was on board. It became one of the best selling devotionals not only because people clicked the link from the blog article to buy the whole eBook, but other people shared the devotional to the eBook directly.
You could go read it for free, please do. But then I turned it into a printable product that you can use for your church or self. It’s styled to not only read, but interact with. You don’t get all that as well with a blog article.
We could definitely do more, but I can confirm this chapter works.
What are your thoughts about going into an action plan with your organization?
Speak your mind...