When I begin working with brands, one of the first things I ask them is to tell me their story. Here’s a great
Adweek article about the power of the narrative story. With the days of advertising interruptions dying, storytelling is a much needed difference maker.
Creating a clear story about your brand isn’t very hard to do. First,
listen to what others are saying about you – improve your listening
skills before you craft your story.
Understand your story from your
customer’s and employee’s perspective and identify something…a niche, a
position you can own and start publishing your story through your brand
channels – web, collateral, training etc.
The questions I ask Brands follow this flow of thought (learned from Tom Peters):
- Who are you
- What’s your story
- Why should I care
- What’s your dramatic difference
- How do you demonstrate your dramatic difference
When you think about the about the strong brands of today, they all have great stories of fascinating beginnings, successes and challenges. Just think about McDonald’s, Coke, UPS, FedEx, Apple, Microsoft, Google, America – all great stories, all well told which people trust, believe and buy.
Everyone has a unique story to tell – what’s yours? Tell it well over and over again.
