DESCRIPTION
Superpower for everyone! Now!
Then let’s go:
The method is designed to help businesses create authentic, emotionally resonant content that shifts focus away from traditional feature-driven sales messages and instead centers on human-to-human connection, storytelling, and understanding the audience’s journey. It emphasizes three core principles: connecting human-to-human (not business-to-business or business-to-consumer in a cold way), leveraging story & neuroscience (how people emotionally respond, mental simulations, etc.), and making the audience the hero of the narrative. The method spans understanding the niche, mapping their decision journey, crafting magnetic messaging, and then creating compelling content. Its superpower is that it doesn’t ask you to sell harder, but it asks you to relate deeper, speak to what matters emotionally, and in doing so, naturally increase response and revenue with more trust, less push.
ORIGIN
The “Hero” method is a messaging & content framework developed by Kathryn Gillett and First used as trademark “THE HERO METHOD” in October 2011 and first used in commerce August 1, 2011.
USED BY
Small to medium businesses wanting to improve content marketing, messaging, brand voice. Solo-entrepreneurs and service providers who need to differentiate and connect with ideal customers. Sales enablement teams, marketing departments aiming to increase engagement, response, revenue via more authentic storytelling.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 1 hours
- Step 2: 3/4 hours
- Step 3: 1 hours
- Step 4: 3/4 hours
- Step 5: 1/2 hours
- TOTAL: 4 hours (in a team of 5-15 pople) or
- TOTAL: 5-6 hours (if larger teams or more participants)
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: Worksheets and templates for messaging, niche profiles, decision journey maps. Flipcharts or whiteboards and markers for group work. Time boxer or timer/clock to keep workshop moving. Examples of content (good & bad) to illustrate weak vs strong messaging.
Personas or customer data (if available) to ground “niche understanding” and “decision journey”. Means to test/distribute content (e.g. channels, drafts, ability to publish or pilot).
STAKEHOLDER GOOD TO KNOW: Messaging Expert (someone who understands the storytelling + neurology.). Marketing and content teams, such as copywriters, content strategists, brand managers. Leadership team and decision makers to align on values, voice, investment and resources. Somebody in charge of customer insights and research, team or data to feed niche & decision journey. Those who will implement content: designers, web team, social media, email etc.
STEPS
UNDERSTAND NICHE AND AUDIENCE DEEPLY
As you cannot speak emotionally if you don’t know who you’re talking to, you need to know what matters to your audience and customers, what they fear, hope, feel, believe. This becomes the foundation for authentic connection and ensures relevance.
Collect or articulate audience personas: demographics, psychographics, emotional states, goals, obstacles. Uncover core pain, frustration or aspiration. Not just what they “need” but how it feels (emotionally). E.g. “They feel overwhelmed, unheard, anxious about being judged.”. Identify what transformations they seek. What is “better” for them in their life, work or identity?
Example: For a company selling ergonomic office chairs: persona might be mid-manager working from home, suffering back pain, feeling fatigue, embarrassed in video calls. Therefor the company want them to feel comfortable, authoritative, productive.
MAP THE DECISION JOURNEY
Knowing how the audience moves from awareness of problem to considering solutions to making a decision helps you place content appropriately. It avoids chasing purchases prematurely or using wrong messages too early/late. It helps build trust over time.
Map each stage: awareness, consideration, decision, retention. For each stage, list what questions, doubts, emotional states the audience is in. Identify touchpoints (where content can influence those stages). What content type works at each stage. Understand barriers or friction at each stage (what stops them from moving forward).
Example: For same ergonomic chair: in awareness, they might google “back pain solutions”, read blogs; in consideration, comparing brands, reading reviews; in decision, pricing, returns, trials matter; post-purchase, ensuring comfort, support, warranty.
DEVELOP MAGNETIC MESSAGES
This is where you craft the messages that will draw people in their wording, voice, value promise, emotional hooks. Magnetic messaging differentiates. Without it, even good content may not cut through noise.
Define key messages that resonate with the audience’s priorities and emotional states. Use empathy (“we know how you feel”), authority or proof, clarity of outcome. Avoid over-focus on features. Instead show transformation, benefits, identity change and include “voice” or styles such as tone, imagery, sensory appeals, storytelling motifs that match the audience.
Example: For the chair: “Work pain-free, reclaim your posture”, “Your back’s comfort speaks volumes in every video call” instead of “High quality lumbar support + adjustable arms”.
CREATE COMPELLING CONTENT PLAN
Messaging without a plan to deliver content at the right times and via right channels doesn’t achieve full potential, typically. You need to structure content types, schedule, formats matching the audience & stages.
Brainstorm content ideas aligned to stages in decision journey: blog posts, emails, social media posts, video, case studies, etc. Assign content to channels, decide cadence, deadlines, owners. Also think about mental simulations, stories, visuals that will make content more immersive/emotional
Example: For the chair: a video showing “a day working from home without back pain” (decision stage), blog post “why back pain starts after 2 hours” (awareness), customer testimonial showing transformation (consideration to decision).
TEST, REFINE & DISTRIBUTE CONTENT
Even the best messaging needs feedback and iteration. Testing helps you see what resonates and where modifications are needed. Distribution and consistency ensure impact. Also tracking helps with measuring the promised increases in response & revenue.
Pilot content: test different headline variants, emotional hooks, styles, visuals. Use A/B testing if possible. Collect metrics: engagement, click-throughs, conversions, time spent, bounce rates. Also qualitative feedback (surveys, comments). Refine messaging and content based on data. Double down on what works and rework what doesn’t. Distribute according to plan and ensure follow-through.
Example: You send two versions of an email: one with a story about someone’s back pain, another focusing more on specs. See which gets higher open-/click-rate. You notice the story email wins, so you adjust website hero section to match that style.
The HERO Method distinguishes itself by putting “feelings vs facts” in tension: it argues that many businesses over-emphasize features/facts, neglect emotional resonance, which limits response.
Also, neurology and psychological insights (mental simulation, emotional triggers) are core to the method.
The method is trademarked, so “The HERO Method” is a specific branded framework by Justia Marken.
ANECDOTES:
Kathryn Gillett is sometimes called “messaging and storytelling visionary” who built The HERO Method combining her work in psychology, anthropology, and marketing communications. In one testimonial, a client said that by using The HERO Method, their “year-over-year growth has increased from 33% to more than 62%.”. Another case: a product launch that was followed by a later launch using HERO messaging achieving a plus of 75% in revenue.
