Using Stories to Support Your Brand

Throughout history stories have been served to weave communities and cultures together. Our nation has a story, our communities have stories and you have a personal story of your journey.

But does your organization have a clearly articulated story that you communicate to members, customers, and the world?

Jack Trout -- the well know author of many marketing books including The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – wrote about the use of stories in a recent Forbes.com article, The Greatest Stories Never Told.

Trout says, “Great marketing is great storytelling . . . people are inherently interested in stories, whether in films or novels or, even, brands. The problem is that the stories often go untold.”[1]

That’s why knowing your story is such an important part of branding. I look at branding as five components:

1. Verbal Representation – Name/Tagline
2. Visual Representation – Logo
3. Strategy – The Story behind the Brand
4. Implementation – The Plan and Tactics
5. Incorporation – Methodology to Use

Many groups are great at establishing a tagline or logo and they execute the plan well. But very few have really thought through and presented their brand story.

What is your story? How do you incorporate it into your brand? Are there other elements of branding that you think are neglected?

[1] http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/07/23/brands-marketing-walmart-oped-cx_jt_0724trout.html