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Copywriting framework

SB7 — StoryBrand — Hero, Problem, Guide, Plan, CTA, Failure, Success

The customer is the hero. You are the guide.

Donald Miller's StoryBrand SB7 puts the customer at the center of every message and casts the brand as the guide. Every page answers seven questions in order: who the hero is, what problem they face, why you're the guide, the plan you offer, the CTA, what failure looks like, and what success looks like.

How SB7 works

  1. Step 1
    Hero

    Name the customer and the outcome they want. Never the brand.

  2. Step 2
    Problem

    External + internal + philosophical layers of the same pain.

  3. Step 3
    Guide

    Empathy first, authority second. Show you've walked this path.

  4. Step 4
    Plan

    A 3-step path so the hero can picture the journey.

  5. Step 5
    CTA

    A direct CTA (buy) and a transitional CTA (download) for the not-yet-ready.

  6. Step 6
    Failure

    Name what's at stake if the hero doesn't act.

  7. Step 7
    Success

    Show the transformed hero — new identity, new day, new results.

Best for

Homepages, brand narratives, service-business marketing sites, high-touch coaching pages.

When not to

Don't use SB7 when the audience is deeply expert and allergic to narrative marketing — they'll spot the beats and disengage. Use PAS or FAB.

SB7 in real copy

Source pattern
You're a founder who writes every post at 11pm. The problem isn't ideas — it's that no draft ever feels finished. We've been there. Paste one post to reveal its formula. Reuse the skeleton for the next three. Stop staring at blank docs. Start shipping a system.
Same skeleton, new message
You're a solo lawyer scaling client intake. The problem isn't traffic — it's that every consult call restarts from zero. We've built intake for firms like yours. Book a 20-minute walkthrough. Get a scoring rubric back the same day. Stop burning senior time on tire-kickers. Start closing the right retainers.

See SB7 in action

Real copy that rides on this skeleton — reverse-engineered block by block.

Extract SB7 from any text — automatically

Paste a post that already worked into Get Text Formula. The analyzer detects whether it rides on SB7 (or another skeleton), maps every block, and hands you a reusable template you can fill with your own message.

Run the analyzer →