What’s really the problem?

When someone tells you they have a problem, there is often a deeper problem below it. Following the concepts in StoryBrand (which I’ve written about with the grunt test and first date proposals before), there are really three layers of problems.

• External: This is the problem people really see and share.
• Internal: The way that the problem is making them feel.
• Philosophical: Why that is wrong.

Using a movie like Star Wars, it’s easy to see how those three stack up.

• External: Luke Skywalker needed to destroy the Death Star.
• Internal: He wasn’t sure he had it in him to do it.
• Philosophical: It all comes down to good versus evil.

Beyond movies

You can find that kind of depth in many movies, but it’s true in business as well. Taking our agency as an example, a big part of what we do is create websites and help drive traffic to them. That’s certainly important, but it’s not really solving a problem by itself. We kind of see things this way:

• External: Our clients need more traffic on their website.
• Internal: They’re not confident they can do it themselves.
• Philosophical: Marketing shouldn’t be seen as a magical black box, but an open approach to solving problems.

Some people may want the “magical black box” of marketing to just work for them, but most approach this with some degree of curiosity. Understanding how things work will help them gain confidence as we work together, which will ultimately lead to more website traffic, more sales, and more success.

If you want to unpack this idea further, this post from Donald Miller digs deeper and uses an excellent example from The King’s Speech to help explain the overall concept.