What's Your Story?

Part 3 of 3

By Allison Ries

Once you know your brand, it’s time to tell your story. Key messaging will help you build this story. Have you ever unexpectedly found yourself at a loss of words when asked what you do? Surprising as it may seem, you are not alone! Think of how often you have asked the question and received an answer that was so confusing or vague it couldn’t be understood or remembered. Regardless of how common this may be, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

Your message needs to be short and sweet as well as clear and compelling. With these elements combined, you will be able to tell your company’s story at the spur-of-the-moment and your audience will be able to remember it and quickly see the value behind it. You need to be able to describe what your company does and for whom, identify the key benefits that drive clients to your company, and demonstrate the advantage you have over the competition. In a nutshell, people want to know what makes you unique! The challenge: Capture all of this in no more than 50 words if you want your story to be clear and memorable.

As you build your company’s brand story, don’t forget that the point is to be able to quickly describe it in conversation. To be compelling you have to keep in mind who you are communicating with — remember your target audiences. You might want to go so far as to survey clients, employees, and partners to be sure you are developing a story that means something to them as well as something they will remember. This is important as you form choice of words, tone, and style. This is also important to ensure your brand story aligns with what you think it says and how it is actually being heard or received. A simple survey exercise can serve as a guide in a variety of ways, even pointing out key differences in what you say you do and what others say you do. Use the answers you find as a roadmap when addressing these top four elements to build your brand story:

1. Start with an elevator speech, what would you tell someone about your company during a quick elevator ride together? At the very least you want to describe who you are, what you have to offer, and for whom.
2. When you move to deliver your brand story in a more comprehensive format, whether it is through marketing materials or presentations, take the opportunity to talk about what you offer in more detail. Highlight individual offerings, while tying each back to the overall benefit and keeping it concise. 
3. Most importantly, be sure to address what makes you unique and how this gives you an advantage over your competition — what makes you different. This also helps to describe not only who you are and what you offer but the unique results you deliver — why you?
4. By now you have essentially started to build positioning statements. Finish your brand story by describing where you’ve come from and how you’ve continued to move forward. This is the perfect time to touch on what your company was built on, how your solutions have continued to grow from those beginnings, and how this has driven what makes you unique.

With all the time, effort, and planning that goes into building a targeted brand, of course you want to see it succeed. A primary driver of brand success is to ensure it remains consistent and honest. You’ve put a lot of hard work into building this, so enforcing your brand and making it a part of everyday business should come naturally —  but it still takes a conscious effort. If you say you provide results to a certain client base, you want to be sure you really are. If you say you offer unique solutions, be sure you deliver on them. Once you start positioning yourself for success and offering your target audiences answers to their needs, be sure you are prepared to deliver on those promises. You want to be able to say all this and more with clarity and confidence.

Because branding success is so important and affects Return On Investment for so many of us, we hope you have found this series of brand insights beneficial. Our team holds firm in the belief that a successful client-agency relationship is conducted as a partnership. As always, LeapFrog Solutions is here to help at any point in your branding process and overall marketing efforts. We understand the challenges, time restrictions, and budget constraints you may be facing. Through our integrated approach we are able to deliver a clear road map based on sound strategy, remaining dedicated to Make Your Message Matter^®.

Click here to read Part 1
Click here to read Part 2

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