Telling Your Brand Story
POSTED BY KA-LOK HO
Think about your favourite film. Now imagine the executive marketing manager of that film sat down, stared right down the barrel of the lens and narrated for 90minutes instead.
Not so thrilling, huh? This is why talking head videos suck. I understand why businesses use them; it requires little effort, it’s a cheap production, and it delivers information in the most straight forward way possible. READ: BORING.
I just watched one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen from a business that on the outside seems like the creative, colourful and forward thinking type. Starring a handful of employees and executives, in turn they each wax lyrical about how great the business and products are (without once showing it), how much their customers love their service (spoken by the marketing manager) and how diverse and thoughtful the company culture is (ZERO diversity in the cast), all delivered rather unemphatically.
But telling me all these things is like when a magician says ‘I have a totally ordinary deck of cards that I will now thoroughly shuffle.’
It’s suspicious. No-one speaks like that. Because if it were true, it wouldn't need announcing that way, we can see it, we can feel it, it’s would be obvious.
Don’t tell me. Show me.
So how do I tell my brand story?
Marty Neumier says brand story is told through every interaction with your business. From the customer service agent, to your marketing, to responses on an Instagram comment, all of this builds on the script that is your brand. A response on a Facebook post is not just a response, it’s an interaction that builds upon your story.
Every touch point with your brand adds to this narrative. And nowadays your content is where a lot of it will take place.
It should work much like serialised media – think comic books or soap operas.
If you have never read a comic book, you can pick up the latest issue of the X-Men, and even if you haven’t kept up with the past 70 years of comics, it’s still an easy jumping on point. You will still get a sense of the story, who the characters are, what they stand for, what they do. However if you’re an up to date reader, you get more character building, more personality and more development.
It’s the same for your content. Each piece you publish is another piece of character (brand) development for your story.
Those who have been along for the journey since the start add another piece to the puzzle, and those who are new discover and get to understand you.
The only real question your content should really be measured by is, what did I take away today?
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