1. What is a brand story and what makes a good brand story?
What is a brand story?
· A brand story is a cohesive narrative that encompasses the facts and feelings that are created by your brand (or business, if you prefer). Unlike traditional advertising, which is about showing and telling about your brand, a story must inspire an emotional reaction. Things that can influence your brand include your product, price, history, quality, marketing, in-store experience, purpose, values, location and–most crucially–what other people say about you.
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What makes a good brand story?
· The story has to come from a credible source – buyers need to know the storyteller can be trusted. Your story needs to be consistent with the receiver’s understanding of you because the person telling the story is in a position of trust. They have control of the narrative. To me, this is the make or break of storytelling. If we don’t believe the storyteller, we’ll never believe the story. Southwest Airlines have been telling a wacky story about loving to fly for decades. They absolutely walk the talk.
· The story itself has to be believable – it must fit with, and expand on, what people already believe about your brand and about the human condition. The story must stem from a fundamental truth. It must ring a bell in the universe. Hallmark tells a story of caring and interaction that defies the digital age. It works because the story is true for all of us, and yet different for each of us.
· It has to be recognizable – the story must be easily identified. The story must be overt enough for everyone to see its influence, yet flexible enough to show its face in different ways. There must be consistency in the narrative and in the basis of the narrative, because that’s what anchors the brand. That’s what makes it tangible in the mind of the buyer. Look at Red Bull. Excitement is woven into every aspect of their narrative.
· It has to be distinctive – there would be no point in telling someone else’s story or indeed mimicking their story. Your story can’t just be the same as what everyone else offers. So many brands simply try and rearrange the deck chairs. Jeans companies all tell stories about ruggedness and the outdoors. Energy drinks all talk about energy.
· It has to be imaginative – it must paint pictures in the mind of the recipient of a time that is even better than now. It should be ambitious and bold, striking, even provocative. It should portray your brand as a pioneer and as a brand that is creatively examining tomorrow. Dove’s story of a more natural world, where you should be proud to be as you are, defied editorial convention and in so doing struck a real chord with many women.
· It has to be specific – it can’t appeal to just anyone. Stories aren’t aimed at everyone because they don’t respond well to being diluted. Your brand’s story should talk to the people you target (and aspire to target) in language and with a vision that fits with their schemas and worldview. Virgin’s story of the underdog is carefully weighted in every market they enter to tell a challenger story. It appeals to those who see themselves as independent thinkers capable of finding what’s best for them. A Virgin story is inevitable whenever the brand enters a market – but the story itself, and the telling of that story, can vary greatly.
· It has to be consistent – your consumers need to recognize you in the story. If they read a story that carries nothing of the current ‘you’ in it, it will read like a pipe dream. If it reads too much like the business you are, then it suggests business as usual. Your brand story should project to the future but it should do so through the lens of your present reputation and equity. Look at how Disney have evolved their business and yet their story of magic has stayed remarkably steadfast. Theirs truly is a story of wonder.
· It has to be actionable – Your story needs to make it clear what you expect to see happen. It must show how customers participate. Purchase is how buyers care. Loyalty is the affirmation that people have connected with the brand and all it stands for. Ironically, powerful stories are often not explicit in how they are to be actioned. Instead, they paint the dots and leave it to people to connect them as they wish.
· It has to be achievable – Your story must be realistic; it can’t just build castles in the air. It needs to stretch the boundaries but it must still feel attainable, or people inside simply won’t be prepared to invest the effort to make it happen. This article by Mark Wilson on the Fast Company site recently details how Cadillac has fought its way back to record sales from the inside-out.
· It has to be desirable – The psychological carrot must be big enough that reaching for what the story points to must be more compelling than not attempting it. Stories must lead us somewhere – and as Stanton says, that somewhere needs to be somewhere wonderful. The anticipation and the uncertainty of that needs to be wired in. Apple, especially under Steve Jobs, were masters at this. Everyone waited for “just one more thing”. The whole story though must be exciting enough that people want to talk about it with each other. Sharers must also able to justify the story to those around them. Without that, the mandate to act is so much harder to achieve. Sharing a story adds to its credibility and fuels critical mass.
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2. What is storytelling and how does it affect people?
What is storytelling?
· Storytelling is used in design as a technique to get insight into users, build empathy and access them emotionally. With stories, designers speak via Aristotle’s points of plot, character, theme, diction, melody, décor and spectacle to increase the appeal of what they offer and provide a solid understanding of the users.
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How does it affect people?
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been researching how storytelling affects you, me and other people around the world.
Throughout human history we have been telling and listening to stories. Ancient humans sat around the nighttime campfire and shared tales with the clan and tribe. Oral histories were passed on to the next generations, often in story form. And, of course, human societies and cultures used the written word to tell their stories.
Based on this, researchers at DARPA indicate that we may be somewhat hard-wired to respond to such narrative stories. A DARPA project called “Narrative Networks” explores the neurobiology of listening to stories and how attitudes and behaviors can change as a result.
A story may cause us to look at something in a new way and change our views about people, life and the world around us. Storytelling can change our behavior, for the better or worse. The human tradition of storytelling has significantly influenced individuals, groups and societies, according to DARPA researchers.
An article on the Live Science website about the project referenced DARPA language during the start-up of the program: "Narratives exert a powerful influence on human thoughts and behavior. They consolidate memory, shape emotions, cue heuristics and biases in judgment, influence in-group/out-group distinctions, and may affect the fundamental contents of personal identity."
Storytelling has also been put forth by marketing people as a method in advertising, brand identity and customer/consumer acquisition and loyalty.
An article in today's New York Times said, “It’s been called a strategic tool with ‘irresistible power’ by Harvard Business Review and ‘the major business lesson of 2014’ by Entrepreneur magazine. What exciting new 21st-century technology is this? The age-old art of storytelling – something humans have done since they could first communicate."
"Learning – or relearning – how to tell stories requires some skill. And consultants are lining up to teach it – sometimes for a hefty fee,” the Times article stated.
The DARPA project on storytelling is part of a much larger recognition that stories seem to affect people on deep levels that we may not fully understand. There are indications that human neurobiology and neurochemistry may play a role. Chemicals in our brains and bodies may be released when we are exposed to a story that resonates.
Today, stories are told via many kinds of open-source media platforms and devices. TV, movies, digital, print and other media all serve as types of open-source intelligence for people around the world.
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3. What is the role of community management in brand building and how to engage customers?
What is Community Management?
“Community” might suggest a single location, but in reality, your community is spread out all over the internet: on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Quora, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, Reddit, forums, and even the comment sections of articles. Your community consists of your current customers, target audiences, and all the people who interact with your brand directly and indirectly online.
What is the role of community management in brand building?
· Monitoring:
Listening in on and tracking conversations that relate to your brand. Community management wouldn't be possible without an ongoing social listening effort: monitoring the internet for conversations that matter to your brand. Every once in a while, amidst all the noise, you'll catch opportunities as small as turning a customer's complaint into a public complement or as big as starting a viral hashtag.
· Engaging:
Keeping conversations alive and proactively engaging with customers, prospects, and influencers.
· Moderating:
Weeding out comments and conversations that don’t add value, and troubleshooting customer complaints. Another important function of community management is managing your reputation online. This involves keeping your social profiles clean from spam and ensuring that any negative feedback is addressed. Also, Customer complaints are almost unavoidable, and people tend to vent their frustrations online, which can be both good and bad for brands.
· Measuring:
Analyzing how your brand is perceived and getting real, unfiltered feedback.
Get Feedback from Your Community. Through all the actions we've covered so far, you'll get a sense of how your community perceives your brand, where you can improve, and even products you can add.
How to engage customers?
· Drive people to your website when it makes sense with links to your content or products, and be sure to track them. Follow the 80/20 rule (give value 80% of the time, and ask them to check out what you're doing 20% of the time).
· Avoid starting a conversation that you can’t end (i.e. ignore trolls).
· Make sure you link back to your site and briefly explain what you do in the bio of all of your online profiles.
· Keep your brand's personality consistent, but adapt your conversation-style based on the channel (just like real people do). Don't be afraid to have a sense of humor.
· Directly encourage happy customers to share pictures of your product (a great way to get user-generated content under a branded hashtag).
· Be proactive about engaging with your community, not just reactive. Incorporate community engagement posts into your social media publishing—content, contests, challenges, or questions that encourage people to leave comments.
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4. Analyse or design a brand story for a chosen company.
GoPro:
In a letter from founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman on the GoPro site, he writes, “GoPro helps people capture and share their lives’ most meaningful experiences with others – to celebrate them together. Like how a day on the mountain with friends is more meaningful than one spent alone, the sharing of our collective experiences makes our lives more fun. The world’s most versatile cameras are what we make. Enabling you to share your life through incredible photos and videos is what we do.”
Befittingly, the brand also has a video story:
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5. How could the chosen company build the brand in social media?
At the GoPro company in San Mateo California, building the GoPro social brand is known as the virtuous model. It works like this: a surfer buys a GoPro camera, takes a shot, and GoPro does the rest. GoPro edits and uploads the shot to one of the largest social media networks whether it is @GoPro, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo or Instagram. Within seconds, a video or photo is viewed by a large audience, which inspires them to go out and buy a GoPro camera themselves.
In my opinion, the GoPro branding strategy is transforming how brands are built and advertising as we know it. It is the ultimate user-generated content campaign. User generated content is the practice of consumers or fans putting out their own content which in turn builds the GoPro brand by using content for advertisements. This keeps the marketing costs very low, while making consumers feel involved and connected to the brand. Consumers bring their own creativity and experiences to the brand. For example, GoPro uses a hashtag, #gopro. Through this hashtag, Consumers are encouraged to upload their own videos and photos for a chance to be featured on their YouTube, Twitter, Instagram etc. The consumers are in control and It makes them want to communicate and share with you via social media. The consumers and customers of GoPro advertise for them.
This success is not just happening by coincidence. GoPro has also hired celebrities like Shawn White, a professional snowboarder to promote the camera. This makes a consumer feel that they too, can be like Shawn White if they use their camera.
In addition, they have established partnerships with major brands. For example, it has a contract with Red Bull to record all the Red Bull events. GoPro has also established deep relationships with external agency partners to manage its social presence.
GoPro is a posterchild for the power of social media platforms in today’s branding strategy efforts. GoPro advertises their products with their consumers rather than for their consumers. This aspect of GoPro´s marketing sets them apart from not only other camera brands, but almost any brand ever. GoPro would not be as great if consumers weren’t consistently uploading, sharing and engaging with their products. GoPro builds relationship with their consumers and connects with them through their social media platforms. It doesn’t get much more personal than that.
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