Every now and then when reading a book for the first time, you’ll come across a quote or message you’ll particularly gravitate towards because it totally reaffirms an unshakable belief you've been passionate about for quite some.
Which was the case for me recently when I read author, brand strategist, and creative director Fabian Geyrhalter’s book, Bigger Than This: How to turn any venture into an admired brand. As the founder and brand director of a marketing firm myself, plenty of points Geyrhalter makes in the book I agree with. Nonetheless, one particular quote really stood out to me.
In the book, Geyrhalter writes, “If you have a good story, weave it into everything you say and everything you do. It’s not an annoyance to your audience. It’s your glue that holds it all together.”
Visualize your favorite brands of all-time. Long before you ever became interested in becoming a business professional and selling products of your own, you were a mere consumer. And like most of us, there’s a pretty good chance that your favorite brands didn’t become your favorites solely because of the tangible value they provided.
Through their impressive stories, those particular brands first found a special place in your heart, and then later—in your mind; because of the intangible value they provided. As in the way they ultimately made you feel.
When it comes to cultivating how consumers will feel and perceive your startup, nothing on earth competes with having an impressive brand story.
Don’t just identify your audience, understand them as well
With his films and television shows having grossed more than $660 million, along with a net worth of over $1 billion, actor, director, and filmmaker Tyler Perry is by far one of the most successful people in the entertainment industry today.
But even Tyler Perry himself would lament that his success in Hollywood hasn’t been a result of his exceptional acting. Nor his superb writing skills. Rather, it was his intimate understanding of his target audience that has given Perry his biggest advantage at the box office—even over major Hollywood studios.
“I know my audience, and they’re not people that the studios know anything about.” Once said Perry.
By intimately understanding his audience so well from a psychographic standpoint, as opposed to just demographically (which is where many other filmmakers make their mistake), Perry has been able to consistently create stories that he knows would resonate with his audience.
Sure, having a grasp on the age, income, and education of your target audience is awesome. However, in order to ensure that your brand’s story will truly connect with its target audience—you must begin by understanding your audience’s outlook.
Which is predicated on how they view the world.
Positioning through your brand’s story
Essentially, positioning is just a simplified way of describing the process of differentiating and influencing how consumers perceive or rank brands, products, and services in their minds.
If you’ve ever taken a marketing or business course, you’re already well familiar with common positioning tactics like pricing and niching. But the thing that educators who teach marketing and business courses often fail to teach the future founders of the world is how to position their startup through its brand story.
And although it may not be as simple pricing and niching, brand storytelling is a very effective positioning strategy nonetheless.
Okay, and… ?
Have you ever had a friend begin telling you a story and took so long to get to the good part of the story; you know, the part where it actually benefits you in one way or another for investing your time listening to it; where you got fed up and had to be a little impolite by finally asking your friend, Okay, and… ?
That’s how consumers feel when brands only talk about how great their products or services are and what they do. As opposed to what really matters most to consumers—which is how what your brand does—will help them do whatever it is that they aspire to do.
After selecting an audience that you understand, which should be one most susceptible to receiving your brand’s offerings and therefore—its story; leveraging that story to position your startup begins with creating a compelling story that will pass the Okay, and.. ? Test.
As in, okay, and… why should I care as a consumer? This involves you putting yourself in your audience’s shoes.
For example, let’s say you owned a startup called Meaty Vegan. Which produced healthy, plant-based proteins that tasted exactly like their meaty counterparts. Okay… and?
Now, imagine yourself as your brand’s target customer (which consists of people looking for healthy plant-based meat alternatives), and continue asking yourself, Okay… and? Do this until you arrive at a key benefit that you believe would actually matter to your audience. This benefit should also differentiate your brand from all other options currently on the market.
Putting your brand’s story together for positioning purposes
Now that you’ve answered your audience’s key question about why they should care about your brand’s story by identifying a key benefit that would actually matter to them. Now all that’s left to do is combine that differentiating benefit with your brand’s mission statement in story format.
Revisiting the Meaty Vegan example, a compelling story to position the brand could sound like this:
“Hey, we understand that giving up meat isn’t quite as simple as it may seem. Which is why at Meaty Vegan, we strive to make the world not only a much healthier—but also, a much happier place by making it easier than ever before for carnivores like yourself to finally defeat your yearning to eat meat.
Unlike all other plant-based protein brands, whose products contain unhealthy saturated fat (as does meat), our proprietary formula rewards both your taste buds and your body with the same delicious flavors and amounts of protein as your favorite meats—just with zero grams of saturated fat!
Which is something that those other plant-based brands are either unable—or unwilling to provide.
Your health is extremely important to us. But so is your happiness. And why should you give up either? After choosing Meaty Vegan, we promise that your taste buds won’t notice a difference between our products and their unhealthy meaty counterparts—but your doctor will!”
This story passes the okay, and… ? Test because it tells your target audience precisely why they should care about Meaty Vegan. It also differentiates Meaty Vegan from all other brands by declaring that its products are the healthiest plant-based meats on the market.
Reinforcing a key benefit claim to those looking for healthy, plant-based proteins that Meaty Vegan is the healthiest plant-based meat brand on the market. This in turn, drives a favorable word (healthiest) in the minds of the brand’s target audience which it will eventually own and therefore—helps position Meaty Vegan as the healthiest meat alternative in their minds.
Time for some action
Now that you know what entails leveraging your brand’s story to position your startup, be sure to keep in mind that continuously sharing that story is paramount to your startup’s growth.
This means sharing your story on your startup's website, its social media pages, and all other platforms that you anticipate your target audience to frequent.
Crafting and distributing your brand story could feel like a daunting task, but don’t fret! Your help is here!
Email us at Decryption today to schedule your complimentary consultation and together we'll analyze your startup, review its clear and measurable goals, and discuss how we'll craft and distribute a compelling brand story for your startup that'll resonate and foster a relationship with its target audience in a way that’ll help your startup advance!
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