---
genome: copywriting-brunson
reference: frameworks-persuasive-storytelling
load_priority: medium
---

# Persuasive Storytelling — 5 Structures

Brunson's catalog of story types. Each serves a different conversion purpose. Pick the structure based on the goal of the moment, not by personal preference.

## The 5 structures

### 1. Epiphany in the Mud

**Purpose:** establish guide credibility through documented failure → discovery arc.

**Structure:**
1. You were stuck in [common situation]
2. You hit rock bottom in [specific moment]
3. You had an epiphany / received help / discovered something
4. The result was unexpected
5. Now you teach others to skip the mud

**Use when:**
- Origin Story
- Sales page lead
- Brand foundational content
- "About" page

**Why it works:**
- Vulnerability before authority (Brunson's calculated vulnerability dogma)
- Reader sees themselves in the "stuck" state
- The discovery feels earned, not given

### 2. Ambush on the Path

**Purpose:** pattern interrupt; redirect attention from competitor / conventional approach.

**Structure:**
1. The audience thinks they should do X
2. Suddenly something happens that changes the calculation
3. The audience realizes X was wrong all along
4. The new path emerges

**Use when:**
- Mid-page conversion lift
- Email subject line + opener
- Ad creative for pattern-disrupting headlines
- Belief-breaking sections (especially Belief 1, vehicle belief)

**Why it works:**
- Surprise drives engagement
- Reader's existing belief is challenged from a flank, not directly
- The new path is positioned as the natural correction

### 3. Trojan Horse

**Purpose:** initial low-commitment offer that opens door to the true value.

**Structure:**
1. Reader gets something small and immediately valuable
2. The small thing reveals the bigger problem they didn't know they had
3. The bigger solution is offered
4. Reader feels they've already invested; doubling down is rational

**Use when:**
- Lead magnet → tripwire → core offer funnels
- Free trial → paid conversion
- Webinar → high-ticket offer
- Free content → paid course

**Why it works:**
- Consistency principle (small yes leads to bigger yes)
- The Trojan Horse delivers real value, not bait-and-switch
- The bigger offer feels like a natural progression, not a pitch

### 4. One Funnel Away

**Purpose:** create the sense that the reader is close to success — only one element is missing.

**Structure:**
1. The reader is doing many things right
2. They're almost there, but one element is missing
3. That missing element changes everything
4. Here's how to get / find / build that element

**Use when:**
- Sales page final stretch (closing belief barriers)
- Email sequence close
- Webinar pitch reveal
- Course module promising completion

**Why it works:**
- The reader doesn't need to start over
- Hope is real (they're already close)
- The product becomes the missing piece, not the entire solution
- This is core Brunson dogma — meta-axiom #7

### 5. The Discoverer (I'm Not the Expert)

**Purpose:** relatable positioning that disarms the "guru" objection.

**Structure:**
1. "I'm not the world's leading expert at this"
2. "But I discovered something / observed a pattern / noticed an anomaly"
3. The discovery is real and replicable
4. Reader can do it too (no expert credentials needed)

**Use when:**
- Audiences skeptical of "experts"
- New niches without established authorities
- Founder-led brands without traditional credentials
- Anti-guru positioning content

**Why it works:**
- Reader doesn't have to accept "I'm an expert" claim
- Discovery framing positions the reader as also capable of discovery
- The product becomes "what I learned through observation," not "what experts know"

## Selection diagnostic

Pick the structure based on:

| Goal | Structure |
|------|-----------|
| Establish guide credibility | Epiphany in the Mud |
| Pattern interrupt / break belief | Ambush on the Path |
| Convert from low-commitment to high | Trojan Horse |
| Close — reader is almost there | One Funnel Away |
| Disarm "guru" skepticism | The Discoverer |

If you can't decide which one fits, ask: "what's the reader's current mental block?"
- Skeptical of experts → Discoverer
- Stuck and discouraged → Epiphany in the Mud
- Defending a competitor approach → Ambush on the Path
- On the fence → Trojan Horse
- Almost convinced → One Funnel Away

## Combining structures

Long-form copy uses MULTIPLE structures sequentially:
- **Open with Epiphany in the Mud** (establish guide credibility)
- **Mid-piece use Ambush on the Path** (break beliefs)
- **Reveal with Discoverer** (introduce solution non-arrogantly)
- **Build with Trojan Horse** (low-commit lead-in to high-commit)
- **Close with One Funnel Away** (final push — you're almost there)

A single Origin Story can be Epiphany in the Mud. A 5000-word sales page can use all 5.

## Common violations

| Violation | Symptom | Fix |
|-----------|---------|-----|
| One structure used everywhere | Story fatigue across pieces | Vary structures across content |
| Wrong structure for moment | Reader feels misaligned | Run the selection diagnostic |
| Mechanical execution | Stories feel formulaic | Specifics in every component (names, dates, numbers) |
| Inflated stakes | Audience pattern-matches as fake | Real stakes, even if mild |
| Skipping the framework entirely | Stories feel random | Always pick a structure consciously |

## Why structures matter

Storytelling is the load-bearing engine of Brunson's method (meta-axiom #2: "epiphanies come from stories, not data"). But not all stories convert. The 5 structures are the **types that empirically convert**, distilled from Brunson's ClickFunnels-platform observations across thousands of funnels.

Random storytelling produces random conversion. Structured storytelling produces predictable conversion.
