How To Build A Brand: Be The Story Teller Of Your Own Corporate Fairy Tale

Have you ever wondered why fairy tales are so popular and resilient through the ages? Although difficult to trace, according to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon, fairy tales date back thousands of years.

Jack and the Beanstalk is rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogre’s Treasure, and could be traced back to when eastern and western Indo-European languages split — more than 5,000 years ago! Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin are also thought to be 4,000 years old.

If Jack and the Beanstalk was a business, it would be almost 5 times older than the oldest business in the world (Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan — A Japanese hotel dating back to 705 AD).

So why do we love fairy tales? The triumph of good over evil, beloved characters defying the odds, the fantasy, the escapism? Real life is nothing like that of a fairy tale, and that is proven every day, and yet we still like to pretend and leave to a place where it is guaranteed to work out in the end. We want to see good win and we want to be the good that wins.

Are we all just a bunch of hopeless romantics?

I truly believe people are innately good and want to know they are doing right, and the world of business is realizing that too. Look at the likes of Toms, Warby Parker, Figs and others that are socially conscious and stand because of it. Instead of a selling their branded product they have sold an experience, told their story and shown people that they have a larger purpose, which they can be a part of.

‘’People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’’ — Simon Sinek

Think about your favorite brand. What makes you love that brand? Do you understand what that brand stands for? Whether you believe it to be conscious or not, they’ve thought about those things and they’ve crafted and articulated who they are and why they do what they do to you on purpose.

What is your brand?

Your brand is your companies reason to exist, your vision for the future, your own corporate fairy tale that resonates with consumers. Stop thinking of your brand as your name, your logo or your colour palette, they may well be the manifestations of your brand, but your brand is the what, the how, and most importantly, the why. Your brand is the experience customers have when doing business with your company.

Authenticity is extremely important to todays consumer, so give your company a narrative that has reasons for every step of your journey. Whether you’re a clothing retailer, a window cleaner or a freelance designer, customers want to connect on a personal level and be able to relate to you. Nobody wants to buy from a faceless corporate building, they want to buy from the friendly, smiley guy in the little shop that really cares about the giving the high quality, sustainable and reasonable services and products. With how competitive all industries are becoming, the consumer really can have it all.

So, who are you?

Just like you, your kids, your dog, and almost all living things, brands have a personality. As if it was a person, what is your brand like? Personable or professional? Spontaneous or a careful? Traditional or modern? Established or a startup? Accessible to all or upscale? A mixture or neither? None of these extremes are bad, but you need to nail down where you fall. Think about who your company is but also envision who you’d like your company to be.

Once you know these defining points of your brands personality traits, you can apply them consistently in your verbal communication and visual design.

What do your customers want?

If I could pinpoint the answer to this question, I would be sat writing this from my million pound yacht in Bora Bora — unfortunately, I am in grey England.

So what about your customers? How are you thinking about their needs? Obviously, your customers play a crucial role in your brand because they’re part of its reason for existing. So it’s important to understand how and why they want to be served, but that doesn’t mean that you need to do things the exact way that they want.

WHAT?

That makes no sense, right? I’m telling you to get to know exactly what your customers think and then not do exactly what they want. Well, if Henry Ford had asked his customers what they wanted, they would have probably told him they want faster horses. As much as the customer is always right, they may not always know what they want. This is what makes building a business, product and service so hard.

It’s not all bad, though! It is really important for you to spend time researching your customers as you think about your business communications and use the wisdom of the crowd to help optimise your decisions.

Do they want to buy a fast horse or an affordable automobile?

Brand is internal as much as it is external

Everyone has their own set of values, and so should your business. Your companies core values should not only power your brand strategy but your HR strategy as well. How do you think about your talent? How well do you treat them?

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” — Richard Branson

Your brand is not just what you showcase to customers, it’s what happens in the office too. When your hiring, look for people that live life by values that compliment your company, they will be the best representatives and advocates for your brand so make sure you do enough to keep them.

To summarise

Learn from the success of the fairy tale and tell a story that wins the hearts and minds of your target market.

Create an brand that they can love with strong core values, inspiring imagery and a clear mission. Just like the heroes in any iconic tale of old.