The best brands are built on great stories.“
—Ian Rowden, Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Group
More than at any other time in human history, today’s consumers possess increasingly short attention spans and are bombarded daily with numerous media and messaging channels. Everywhere you look there is constant marketing and advertising going on in some way, shape or form, with the goal of informing, promoting and prompting commercial activity from you and me, the consumer. New products and services are constantly being developed and rolled out and updates and upgrades are being released on a daily basis.
It is in this climate that brand creators and curators find themselves with an urgent need to become great storytellers. For small businesses, the sole owner and operator is often the individual in charge of this story. Brand is regarded as a business’ most valuable asset. It follows then, that the most important (and valuable) story a brand steward can tell is their own.
This is the one story brand creators and curators must know thoroughly and become masters at telling, in any setting and to any audience. The audience can be stakeholders, potential investors or especially, new and existing customers. In the same way that no one, not even your closest competition, does exactly what you do in the same way that you do it; No one understands you, what you sell or why you do it, better than you.
What do we mean by brand story? Your brand story is the unique narrative that weaves together your business origin (look back) and orientation (looking ahead) and speaks to present issues, concerns or needs in the market. What need was your business created to meet? What problem was your business created to solve? This story speaks from you to your audience with a message and tone that permeates through all your business communication. Your brand story can emulate other organizations but should never imitate directly. It must be yours – looking, sounding and feeling like the rest of your brand.
Exceptional brand stories do a few key things well:
- They provide answers because they begin with questions. Arguably the most critical question to answer is the “Why” of your business. In helping consumers understand how you got to where you are today, take them back to that initial problem that your product or service was created to address.
- They incorporate visuals that tie in the key aspects of your story and associate well with its tone and key elements. Give careful thought to the visual assets that you use to tell your brand story, especially in digital media settings. We live in an increasingly visual world where the competition for attention spans is quite fierce.
- They are grounded in real life. Realize that problems are not an end but a beginning. Problems provide opportunities for creativity, not obstacles.
- They begin with why your organization is different, but they continue with why that even matters.
Recently I heard a very compelling brand story from Greg Vetter, CEO of Tessemae’s, a rapidly growing all-natural producer of sauces, dressings and other condiments. That story is summarized here. Once you become familiar with the story, it’s readily apparent how the origin of the company influences the orientation of the company, and along the way, how this authenticity in look, feel, delivery and message continue to shine through everything about the company, from its production to packaging.
Remember, there are lots of brands telling lots of stories through lots of media. Authenticity creates appeal. This is something Tessemae’s understands and all small businesses would do well to imitate. Know your brand story and tell it as only you can!