Branding used to be about colorful themes and catchy slogans. But today, most of the world’s biggest brands see it as a kind of storytelling.
The reasons for this come down to a paradigm shift in the way that companies do marketing. Historically, it was all about getting under your customers’ skin, creating familiarity, and trying to co-opt them into believing that they have to shop with you and nobody else.
But that sort of approach doesn’t really work very well with a modern educated audience. Catchy jingles are hopelessly cliché.
The approach today, therefore, is to tell a story. You do this by weaving together your products and values into a narrative that makes sense to your target audience. You’re trying to evoke an emotional connection on a deeper level, instead of treating your customers like Pavlovian dogs, merely reacting to stimuli.
Brand storytelling is about being consistent, but it also requires a hefty dose of originality. You need to develop something unique that speaks explicitly to your company and brings the whole enterprise together.
Branding isn’t an exact science. You don’t need to go about your marketing like a logician, trying to figure out whether everything makes sense based on your premises. But what you do need is a cohesive structure that your customers can latch onto and appreciate. If you get this right, you’ll quickly become a leader in your space.
Only Stories Make You Unforgettable
The first step is to lay the groundwork. Progressive Legal – a service that assists companies with trademarking – says that overcoming your trademark opposition is essential. Remember, there will be thousands of companies in your space, all vying for a slice of the pie. Thus, you need to develop something that will immediately create a sense of disruption in your target audience. Trademarks are an opportunity for you to evoke interesting and unique thoughts in your customers. Just think of the difference between a clothes retailer called “Clothing Direct” and another one called “Fat Face.” People will skim over the former, but they’ll remember the latter forever.
When telling a story, don’t wheel out facts and figures. Instead, try to create emotional consonance with your customers. You’re trying to tell a story as if you see problems from their perspective.
For entrepreneurs trying to solve a problem they experienced in their own life, this is pretty simple. You just talk from the perspective of your actual pain points.
If you’re just managing a company, try to get feedback from the grassroots level. Ask your customers what causes them the most distress or the problems they would like you to solve and then pitch them from that angle.
Only Values Build A Tribe
Top brands don’t see their customers as people who make one-off purchases. Instead, they view them as integral members of their village or “tribe.” The idea here is that your audience isn’t so much a collection of people who watch what you do but come on the journey with you. In this way, you become more than your products and services. Your business takes on an identity of its own.
