The plot that's often lost.

The lust for a robust brand story by businesses that we work with is stronger than ever. Up until as recently as 5 years ago, most that approached us just wanted a logo, and that logo slapped on to a few pieces of different forms of paper.

Perhaps the ‘Do’s’ of brand-building have effectively spread, and that’s great news for branding folks like us. But sadly it’s taken the form of a fluff piece that primarily exists tucked away in a website or in the pages of a magazine as answers typical to the set of questions asked to ‘a new brand that has just launched’.  

So what should a brand story be?

“It should be cohesive narrative that encompasses the facts and feelings that are created by your brand (or business, if you prefer). Unlike traditional advertising, which is about showing and telling about your brand, a story must inspire an emotional reaction. Things that can influence your brand include your product, price, history, quality, marketing, in-store experience, purpose, values, location and–most crucially–what other people say about you.” Credit

The brand story that businesses seek, sadly ends up being a tall tale. In fact the motives of why they seek this story are usually quite superficial. The story should be a natural result of the brands core values and a core idea. It should be an authentic version of it. It should be crafted in a way to make a compelling or engaging case to a consumer. Maybe describe a passion that lies at the very heart of the business in a way that gives your or anyone a damn good reason to believe in the intentions of the brand, and hopefully to buy from it too. But authenticity is the key word here. It needs to inspire trust. It necessarily needs to permeate not just the idea of the brand or what the product is, but also how your products are conceived and why. It’s the brand’s DNA. We like to base the beginnings of this work on truth. Either the truth of the founders intentions, or product truths, ideally both, because they’re intertwined, or should be. And so we start the excavation process, of interviews, workshops and extracting information in order to form the basis of this brand ‘story’. 

We’re cognisant of the fact that many businesses are founded not because of some soul-searching meanderings, but more out of a business opportunity or need gap. We’re usually tasked with the burden of fabricating a brand story for a business that was born out of a gap in the market, and an opportunistic capitalist. In an attempt to help entrepreneurs out there, here are a few things you should consider before approaching a branding agency. And if they don’t ask you these questions, that’s a red flag. 

1. Deliberate the ‘Why’ of your existence.

Every business can only survive if the inflow of revenue is higher than expenditure. That being a given, ponder on what difference you plan to make to the consumer with your product or service idea. Think about why you thought of this business idea to begin with. It’s not to do with just your history, but your journey, if significant, could be a part of it. Dig deeper, and find a reason to how you are going to be different from everything that exists out there. If there are no compelling reasons to exist, your branding team is going to have a bigger challenge, and success is likely to be hinged on effectiveness of your marketing tactics. 

2. Stick to your guns.  

Feedback can be overwhelming, especially when you start to taste success and are well-received by a customer. Often the core values of ‘why’ are sidelined in a bid to address consumers needs. Because there’s a direct and immediately achievable relationship between putting out products that consumers want, and revenue. Don’t let that distract you. Building a brand is a long term commitment. And businesses succeed because of differentiation. The second you let sales drive this, realise that all competitor business-owners are tracking the same demands - they’re all addressing the same consumer needs, and potentially putting out products that you intend to with the same intentions. This is easier said than done, but here is where you need to stick to your guns. If your story is about ‘a need to innovate’, then continue to innovate. While it sounds like lofty philosophy, it has been historically proven. 

3. You are not the only evangelist of your brand story.

With the rise of prominence of digital media, there are very public conversations being had about brands, products and customer experience to name a few. Acknowledge that your brand values need to permeate down to every level of functioning. Imbibe them and infuse them in your company culture, down to the last employee. If sustainability is a big deal for your brand, but you’re wasting a tonne of paper in internal operations, the dissonance will find it’s way to your customer.  That dissonance will be discussed in environments that can be damagingly public.

If ‘listening to problems’ is an integral part of your brand values, then ensure your own employees are heard too. And enforce it sincerely. Your employees are your best ambassadors.

Live and breathe those values, that mission, because in this day and age hypocrisy is far too expensive for brands to come back from.  

4. Be authentic.

If your brand story doesn’t resonate with you at a personal level, it’s going to be harder for you to sincerely talk about and live up to it. If it’s too ambitious, tone it down. Your (brand) voice matters, as does your mission. There’s no shame in keeping a brand story simplistic. In fact, if it’s honest, that’s a win already. But yes, it’s important to evaluate whether it’s indistinguishable from your competitors. If it is, your strategy team’s task just got harder. But it’s nothing that can’t be tackled - everything isn’t hinged on your brand story (or even branding for that matter). But be honest and sincere in your motivations. Because with a direct line of communication with your customer that social media has enabled, their bullshit radars just got stronger. 

5. Don’t confuse your brand story with your business intent.

‘To be profitable’ isn’t a brand idea - for starters. It’s implies that as a brand, you don’t really care about your consumers. While profits are important for business, it’s signals to the consumer that you’re all about increasing margins. No customer wants to feel like they’re feeding corporate greed. When they buy, they want to know the product that they purchased is going to fix their problem or deliver on it’s promise. 

Keep the customer in focus when thinking about this for your own brand. ‘Great design that won’t break the bank’ is one example - it keeps the customer at the centre, because it’s their bank you don’t want to break. Immediately it conveys that you care about quality and the cost incurred to fulfil that need for your customer. Your profitability is implicit.