Brand Storytelling is Like Photography

Positioning a brand uniquely in a busy market is tricky. That’s true whether the focus is on a product, a service, a company or you. 

Brand storytelling could be the answer and a simple photography metaphor can show how to get it right.

Seth Godin said brands need to be remarkable, in his 2002 book Purple Cow.

“Cows after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring. They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, cows with great personalities, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re still boring. A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting. “

Finding a purple cow was easier a decade ago. Now it’s harder than ever due to the speed of innovation and the proliferation of new products and services. 

Standing out from the crowd is difficult because everyone is talking and the market is noisy.  Attention isn't a right - it has to be earned.

Brand storytelling is the way to be extraordinary and like photography, the brand's point of view is vital.

I love creating and snapping photographic compositions, albeit as an enthusiastic hobbyist.

When the lens is tightly focused, it’s easy to remember what’s in the picture. A single offshoot is all that's visible in the photograph below - the rest is hidden behind a bokeh blur.

A Lone Offshoot - is not remarkable.

An offshoot with buds, while nice, is not remarkable. Purple buds would stand out but they're almost as rare as Godin’s cow.

The concept of a single-minded focus often creates a dilemma for marketers. It’s unlikely that any product or service has a single extraordinary element.

Often, the proposition has several benefits that are unique collectively.  It’s tempting to mention them all, throw a cluster of messages at the audience and pray that some stick. But they won’t. They’ll bounce off and leave people puzzled.

Similarly, the mind struggles to make sense of the image below - because it’s a random collection of things and doesn't tell a story.

Random Ingredients - make no sense.

Marketers often ladder up to encapsulate a collection of benefits in a single big idea. However, cliches that sit atop the ladder such as convenience, destination store or targeted action and their derivatives are now unremarkable too.

The Convenience Box - has no meaning.

So how can we create extraordinary brands in the 21st century?

A single-minded focus is rarely unique - telling it all leaves people puzzled and laddering up to big ideas is hackneyed.

Brand storytelling is the way to stand out.

Stories engage and move an audience, so paint a meaningful picture focused on a few big things.

A narrative creates the space to say more about a brand than a tagline or bulleted list could ever convey.  Words within a story are six times more memorable than on a list - according to a 1969 Stanford research study. 

Stories connect with people emotionally and can alter how they think and act.

Emotional engagement double-trumps a rational approach when it comes to advertising - The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) discovered - based on analysis of 1,400 adverts.

Here is a photographic  illustration of the simple power of story - featuring our old Olympus film camera and The War of Art, an inspirational classic by Steven Pressfield.

Creative Grit - a story about passion in art.

The focus includes a selection of carefully chosen items and the picture works as an integrated whole. 

Nature tells her own tales.  The picture below was taken during a walk through a woodland of twisted branches and intriguing paths.

Nature's Magic - a mystical story.

Telling a story is the way to make a brand extraordinary.

Ladder up by all means but instead of looking for a natty tagline at the summit, find a vantage point from which to tell a story.  The opportunity to create brand stories is infinite and the same message from a new angle keeps the brand alive and relevant.

Crafting a master brand story followed by a slew of fresh offshoots is the way to engage people and be memorable in a crowded 21st-century marketplace.

About the Author:
Claire Taylor is a co-founder of  The Story Mill an innovative organisation whose mission is to connect people in business through stories.  She is the author of The Tao of Storytelling - 30 Ways to Create Empowering Stories to Live By.

About The Story Mill:
At The Story Mill we believe that every business problem can be resolved by connecting people.  We help organisations to build better chemistry, be that in leadership, within teams or selling to your customers. Connecting people through stories is our mission.

We have plenty of corporate, standard or bespoke workshop options too.  So if you'd like to keep in touch with what's cooking at The Story Mill then sign-up for our monthly newsletter. And if you haven’t yet downloaded your copy of The 12 Secrets to Influencing With Story you can do that here now.

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