From Story to Brand
I’ve written about stories several times and discussed your story as an essential part of your brand. However, what does this mean in practice? This post aims to open a discussion about how we can move from story to brand.
What is a Brand?
It makes sense to start with this question because we need to know where we’re going! The key to understanding Brand is recognition. Whatever it is about your business or cause that your market recognises, contributes to your Brand.
When we think of Brand we usually think about things like a logo, a by-line, the name of a product or business, colour schemes, etc. All these things certainly contribute and for larger businesses, they can work very well without the need for much of a story.
For small businesses, including self-employed these may be harder to bring together and use to gain recognition. It may be easier to use a story. Why?
Using a Story as Your Brand
If your story is memorable and well-known it is likely to help people recognise who you are and understand your offer. Let’s say you are a life-coach. You are likely to be one among many.
Your market is likely not to understand what life coaching is, let alone decide whether they need your services. So, the aim of any life coach (and this applies equally to most other businesses) is to establish their own credentials at the same time as they explain who their services are for and the benefits of using them to those people.
Vivid images always help and if they can be captured in a logo that is all well and good. However, stories can generate images in the imagination, so the words you use to describe your business can generate images just as effectively as a logo.
So, perhaps you use a word like “Chrysalis” to name your business. Can you link your business name to your story? This does not need to be spelt out but the two can reinforce your image or conflict and so undermine your image.
Very often we name our businesses a long time before we find our story. This can be problematic if you find a story that doesn’t resonate with your business name. Everyone’s understanding of what they are doing evolves over the years. This means managing your brand is likely to be an ongoing challenge.
Two Types of Story
Perhaps there are two types of story. They can be combined or presented on different occasions.
One type of story focuses on the past and tells how someone experienced a problem and overcame it. This type of story may appeal to people preoccupied with the same problem.
The other type of story is about someone with a vision, who worked out how to turn it into reality. The point of this story is not so much to stake a claim for knowing how to turn visions into reality – as to establish the power of a vision to effect change. Many people with a vision do not believe it is for them to make it real.
Experiment with different ways of telling your story and try to work out what type of story it is. (There are certainly more than two types.)
If you already have an image associated with your business, perhaps you will begin to see how it resonates with your story. Or perhaps it doesn’t.
If you have successfully turned your story into a brand, how did you do it?