StoryBrand Digital Marketing
Marketing That Starts With a Clear Message and Keeps Bringing You Customers
Clarify what you offer, get found by the people looking for what you do, then keep the leads coming, with every price published.
What Is StoryBrand Digital Marketing?
StoryBrand digital marketing is online marketing built on the StoryBrand framework: a clear message first, then the website, search, AI search and lead generation that put that message to work.
When business owners search for StoryBrand digital marketing, they usually already know the framework. Many have read Building a StoryBrand. They know clarity matters. What they're looking for is someone to take that clarity and turn the message into marketing that brings in customers.
In plain terms:
"They want an online presence that originates using the StoryBrand framework as the foundation."
That online presence might include a website, email campaigns, a lead generator, search engine optimization, AI search and social media. The pieces change from business to business. The starting point doesn't. Everything begins with a clear message.
Who This Is For
StoryBrand digital marketing works best for owners who:
- Have already invested in marketing, usually a website, some SEO and sometimes another agency or Guide.
- Feel the website isn't bringing in the traffic or leads the site should.
- Can make decisions and move quickly, without waiting months for a committee.
- Want a long-term partner, not a one-time project.
If that sounds like you, the rest of this page shows how the work runs and what each piece costs.
How StoryBrand Digital Marketing Works: Get Clear, Get Found, Grow
Every engagement follows the same three-stage path. You don't need every piece. Most businesses start with the first stage and add the rest as the business needs them.
1
Get Clear
Settle your message so your customers instantly understand what you offer.
- StoryBrand Workshop: a half day or full day, in person or online. You leave with a BrandScript, a one-liner, sound bites, a brand story and a rough draft of your homepage. Online from $3,500; in person from $5,000.
- Quarterly Advisory: a StoryBrand Guide on call for your team, $4,500 per quarter.
2
Get Found
Make sure the right people find your message on Google, on the map and in AI search.
- StoryBrand website build: $8,000, including the BrandScript, keyword research and copy. Website optimization for an existing site starts at $3,500.
- Authority Foundation (local SEO): a 90-day agreement at $1,900 per month.
- AI Search Readiness Review: $3,500 for new clients.
- Total Online Presence Snapshot: $297, a quick look at where you stand today.
3
Grow
Keep new leads coming in, month after month.
- Lead generator: $2,000.
- Automated email sequence: $3,000.
- Ongoing local SEO: $750 per month.
- Social media management: from $2,500 per month.
- Fractional CMO: from $6,000 per month, by invitation, after Strategy First.
Prices as published on the pricing page in November 2026.
Stage 1: Get Clear
Every engagement starts with the StoryBrand Workshop. We walk through the StoryBrand framework together, in person or on Zoom, and settle the words that describe what you do, who you help and how life gets better for them.
Clarity comes first because every other piece depends on the message. The website copy, the keywords, the lead generator and the emails all come from the same message.
Stage 2: Get Found
A clear message only works if people see the message. Get Found covers three areas:
- Websites and SEO. A website wireframe and build, or optimization of the site you already have, with keyword research behind every page. (Read more in StoryBrand SEO.)
- Local SEO. The Authority Foundation is a three-month build of your Google Business Profile, citations and reviews, so you show up in the map results.
- AI search. The work that helps ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google's AI answers describe your business accurately and recommend you by name.
These three areas overlap more every year, because much of the work that helps you show up locally also helps you show up in AI search. Over time I'm bringing all three together as one total online presence service.
Stage 3: Grow
Once the website and search foundation are in place, the next question is how to keep feeding the funnel. That can include content creation, email campaigns, lead generation, social media and, for some service businesses, direct mail.
Everything in Grow comes from the message we settled in Get Clear. Once there's clarity, the marketing message has a job to do.
Lead Generation That Starts a Conversation
Most websites ask visitors to make one big decision: call now or leave. A lead generator gives people who aren't ready to call a smaller next step.
A lead generator is something free and useful, built around the problem your customer is trying to solve, that a visitor receives in exchange for an email address. The goal is to move the customer a little closer to the solution.
A lead generator doesn't have to be a download. Some of the forms I've used:
- A guide or checklist the visitor can download.
- A video. For one client, we used videos the business had already made. The video starts playing, then asks for an email address to keep watching.
- An audit or assessment of the visitor's own situation.
- A free service that gives the visitor a real first result.
Every business I've worked with needs something different, because every customer's problem is different. What every lead generator has in common is the value.
"It has to be valuable enough that they want to give their email address. When they give you their email address, I just look at it like they are saying, let's talk."
After someone signs up, an email sequence keeps the conversation going and warms up the lead. Over time, the emails invite them to take your main call to action, such as scheduling a call or requesting a free estimate.
What a Quarter Looks Like
Ongoing clients work with me in quarters. Ninety days is long enough to see results and short enough to change direction when something isn't working.
- Quarterly planning meeting. We meet on Zoom and record the meeting. If we've worked together before, we review the last quarter: what worked, what didn't and what to change. Then we map out a 90-day roadmap of what we'll do and why.
- Weekly or every-other-week check-ins. Most are short emails or quick texts. I send updates on what I'm finding, and if other specialists are working on your account, I keep you updated on their work too.
- A monthly report. You'll see the numbers that matter each month.
- An in-depth quarterly report. At the end of each quarter, you get a detailed report with a spreadsheet and a Loom video walking you through what happened.
- The next planning meeting. We use what we learned to plan the next 90 days.
At the start, we decide together which numbers you need to see to feel confident the work is moving forward.
"I don't want to get to the point where I'm just offloading all this information that makes no sense to you and just overwhelming you with data."
If you have your own team and want a StoryBrand Guide as a second opinion instead of someone running the work, Quarterly Advisory is the lighter version.
What This Looks Like in Practice: Advantage Roofing
Advantage Roofing in Cincinnati has been a client since January 2025. Six or seven months in, once the company was seeing results, Advantage Roofing became an ongoing retainer client. Here's what has happened since January 2025:
- Leads went from 12–19 a month to 82 in August 2026. Those are free estimate requests coming in through the website.
- By November 1, 2026, the company had already passed its total leads for all of 2025, with two months still to go.
- In 2025, Advantage Roofing saw a 19.2X return on its marketing investment.
Most of those leads come from the company's Google Business Profile, which sends people to the website. The work covered all three stages: clarifying the message, rebuilding the homepage, local SEO, AI search readiness, content, social media and direct mail.
Read the full Advantage Roofing case study.
Results like these aren't guaranteed. Google changes how search works without notice, and I don't control how a business sells or serves its customers. What I can promise is the work: getting the right people to your website.
Who Does the Work
When you hire StoryWorks, you work with me. I handle the strategy, the problem-solving and the SEO myself.
For work outside my specialty, I bring in specialists I've worked with for years, several of them StoryBrand Guides. I don't run Google Ads or pay-per-click. When a client needs traffic while SEO builds, I bring in a partner who does that every day.
Wondering how working with an independent Guide compares with hiring a StoryBrand Certified Agency? I wrote an honest comparison: StoryBrand Certified Agency vs Certified Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is StoryBrand digital marketing?
StoryBrand digital marketing is online marketing built on the StoryBrand framework. The message is clarified first, then the website, SEO, AI search, lead generation and email marketing are built around that message.
Where does a StoryBrand digital marketing engagement start?
Most engagements start with a StoryBrand Workshop, a half day or full day, in person or online. The workshop produces the BrandScript and messaging that every other piece is built from.
How much does StoryBrand digital marketing cost?
Every price is published on the StoryWorks pricing page. The StoryBrand Workshop starts at $3,500 online, a StoryBrand website build is $8,000, the Authority Foundation for local SEO is $1,900 per month for 90 days, and ongoing local SEO is $750 per month.
Do you run Google Ads or pay-per-click?
No. StoryWorks focuses on organic search, local search and AI search. When a client needs traffic sooner, Tim refers the ads work to StoryBrand Guides who specialize in pay-per-click.
How often will we meet?
Ongoing clients work in quarters. Each quarter starts with a planning meeting on Zoom and a 90-day roadmap. Between meetings there are weekly or every-other-week check-ins, a monthly report and an in-depth quarterly report with a Loom video.
How long until I see results?
SEO usually shows impressions at about three months, real traffic and leads at about six, and the full result at about ten. Local SEO usually moves faster.
Is StoryWorks a StoryBrand Certified Agency?
No. StoryWorks is run by Tim Yates, an independent StoryBrand Certified Guide since 2020, who brings in other Guides and specialists when a project needs them.
Ready to Put Your Message to Work?
Tell me what you've tried and what isn't working. We'll figure out together which step makes sense first, or whether any of this is the right step at all. The call is free, and the call isn't a pitch.
Not ready to talk? The $297 Total Online Presence Snapshot shows where your website, Google Business Profile and AI search presence stand today.
About the Author
Tim Yates is the founder of StoryWorks Marketing in Waukee, Iowa. He has been a Certified StoryBrand Guide since 2020 and is a StoryBrand Certified Coach and a Duct Tape Marketing Certified Fractional CMO. He has coached about 140 business owners through the StoryBrand framework, including breakout rooms on 20+ StoryBrand livestreams.
Verify Tim's StoryBrand certification · Connect on LinkedIn
Related reading: StoryBrand SEO · StoryBrand Workshop · Advantage Roofing Case Study · Quarterly Advisory · Pricing