“Tell Me A Story”

Does your brand have a story?

A clean logo, smart social media content and a user-friendly website are good tools for your business. They are helpful on their own, but they can have even more impact when working together. Your brand needs to be on point to cut through and emerge from the noise. That is the reality, but many professionals and businesses opt to not play the game altogether.

Your business has no formal marketing plan. You have a website that was built 5 years ago and hasn’t seen a content update since. You have a presence on social media–including a few months of active posting–that trailed off abruptly late last year. You have thought about content marketing, even considered working with a professional photographer or videographer, but that’s as far as it went.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ended their 146-year run of “The Greatest Show on Earth” in 2017. Ultimately, the “big top” narrative was no longer compelling to an audience that can now seek entertainment on demand with smartphones. The three-ring circus had to fold up its tent and leave town for good.

Your business cannot afford to sit this one out.

I have encountered companies with a sharp logo but no slogan to match. I see businesses in the service industry that have a high-quality product—that is, great food and drink—but they fail to use professional photography on their websites. Videos can generate high engagement on social media channels, but that beautiful content won’t do much if your organization’s Facebook page, LinkedIn or Instagram accounts are inactive, dormant and have no followers.

You need a compelling narrative, a brand story, and you need an audience!

So why do many businesses fail to invest in developing their brand story?

Here are several common reasons:

1. They don’t have a plan.
2. They have no one to run with the ball (even if a plan has been developed).
3. They haven’t fully developed their vision, mission or value proposition.

Putting the pen to paper may have become a lost art, but that doesn’t mean you set down the pen for good and do no planning.

The process of moving beyond the business mission and crafting the narrative requires time, energy and commitment. Don’t assume that your prospective and existing customers fully understand and grasp the value of your business on their own. That is not their job. It is on your shoulders to make your business easy to understand and approachable.

A good starting point is to take stock of what you have accomplished in this area to date and note where you are lacking. We live in a time and age where many qualified professionals can assist you with all or parts of this work. It is often more cost effective to enlist the help of creative professionals who went to school to study social media or aspiring artists who have a photography business as a side hustle. They may know better than you do on how to build and develop components of your brand story.

I work with each of my clients to help build and develop their brands. We assess their logo, optimize it with a refresh or build it from scratch when necessary. We examine the status of their social media channels, develop graphic assets to help tell a story and discuss tactics to increase customer engagement. We review their existing website, propose solutions to help enhance the user’s experience and ensure that the value proposition is front and center throughout.

Are you a business owner, entrepreneur or executive who needs help building your brand or crafting your narrative?

I’d like to hear more about your business’s story. Do you have a content marketing plan? Do you use it?