On the one hand, it's a real skin-teaser! On the other hand, it's partly what I do for a living: hardly anyone in the business tells their story in such a way that it does what a story is supposed to do, i.e. prick up ears from the very first moment. Most do the opposite. Yawning technique as a storytelling method. A plague!
Are you infected too? Probably, because most people don't even realize that they're missing something.
But it's quite simple. Howard L. Gossage, of blessed memory, said it about advertising: "Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them; and sometimes it's an ad." Sometimes, not always! Just because only some are interesting. Interesting is just another word for relevant, and relevant isjust another word for: useful to me. As soon as we discover something like this, we prick up our ears.
TOO LAZY TO READ ON? THEN LISTEN TO ME:
In the blogcast, I read this recent blog article to you. With emphasis, of course!
Yes, it would be that simple in principle. But in practice, something seems to be programmed incorrectly in our inner operating system. That's why we consistently get it wrong. So, let's upgrade your personal story software for a moment.
Please take a leap into the recent past and sit in the circle of chairs at one of my brand story workshops. Participants from different companies are already sitting next to you - the managing director of a pretty big SME, plus employees from marketing and communications departments including the public sector, people from "HR" (what a term), two of them already say "People & Culture" (what a relief), founders. So the usual suspects at the playground, a short round of introductions: please tell us your story.
You are not what you do.
"My name is, I'm from and I've been doing, having, becoming ... since ..." is the structure of every single introduction. The question of why the participants are here is therefore superfluous, because in this first round the answer is already revealed in neon letters: "I don't know what my business story is about!"
I noticed that too, because your (business) story or your brand story is not your biography and what you do, but the improvement you create for your customers (or employees). Your (business) story is the frustration shooed away, the misfortune averted, the danger conquered, the failure avoided, the elevated status: the problem solved. This (and only this) creates relevance, i.e. interest among the audience.
So if you can't at least say: "Hello, I'm Ingrid and I was the first person to fly to Mars", no ear will prick up, no eyebrow will raise, no one's curiosity will be aroused during a round of introductions in which you report biographical information. But beware: curiosity is just the lazy, snotty-nosed cousin of relevance, the zodiac sign of the mayfly. No story is built on it.
As a company, employer brand, brand, B2B/B2C marketer, you are constantly going through rounds of introductions, so you need something better than "Hello, that's me!" in order to build a relevant relationship. You need that something that everyone is missing, everyone who isn't Ingrid from Mars but still just says what they do.
You've already guessed it: the problem is missing. If you don't have a problem, you don't have a story. If you don't have a story, you have a problem. - So: "No story. No Glory.", as we like to say at the Bulletproof Story Lodge.
It is not without reason that there are two important - albeit widely ignored - postulates on the subject in the start-up and investor scene. We should all write them down with determination:
- Story first!
- Don't look for a product, look for a problem!
If that's missing, the hoodie won't fly off any investor in a youthful disguise, because the story and the problem solved is what we humans buy.
Even more: we buy the emotion, the good feeling we get from buying a product or service (or from the job we take on).
You don't buy an iPhone to make phone calls, but as a ticket to the creative community. You don't buy a BMW as a means of transportation, but for the joy of driving. You don't go to Hornbach for the potting soil and the components for the raised bed, but as someone who makes creation her project. You don't buy organic food because you're hungry, but because you want to do something good for yourself and the world.
In my life as an advertiser, I have managed two huge organic brands for two different supermarket chains and had the same experience with both: as soon as shopping bags in the respective organic brand design were available, they were taken by customers much more than those with the supermarket logo.
We don't buy products, we buy ourselves free from frustration.
We buy status and/or frustration, so we need frustration and/or a lack of status, otherwise we won't get moving. The first task of business storytelling is to activate this lack, this problem, the desire, the reputation, the imbalance. This is the core of every brand story, every bulletproof brand story.
Because it's just the right thing to do: we don't just do this by buying fast shoes, nice cars and buckets of vanilla ice cream. If you look closely, almost every product has this component built in somewhere, the frustration protection, the avoidance of failure. After all, there are few things we humans loathe more than failure. I would argue that a key factor in the success of smartphones is the excellent integrated camera that you always have with you. The frustrating phrases "You should have taken a photo of that" and "Unfortunately there wasn't enough light" are a thing of the past. And I remember my old advertising days when I worked for Kodak. Research there showed that customers first blamed themselves for unsuccessful photos: "I can't take pictures ..." - The automatic cameras were aimed precisely at avoiding this frustrating experience.
If you're wondering how to find the problem around which you can build your story, even though your business has been around for many, many years, I have a simple trick for you: the keyword protocol, and here's how it works:
The keyword protocol
People who go online either want to know something or have something (or both), i.e. they want to solve a problem. So ask yourself: "What would someone have googled before your website is at the top of the search results? Would that be: What does Ingrid do? Or: Who was the first person on Mars? Would that be Hornbach or build raised beds? Would it be Kodak or take better photos?
Either you are already working with keywords on Google or with Google Ads, in which case you can draw from the source. If not, then do the exercise above. And then go to the landing page of your website and look at the first message. Does it talk about who you are and what your company does or about how visitors to your website can raise their status through you and what that feels like. If the former happens, you're not in the best company, but you're in very good company, because most people do that. But that doesn't make it any better.
The status fields
As a student of Wilhelm Busch, I remembered: "An uncle who brings good things is better than an aunt who just plays the piano." That's why Uncle Story Dudelino brings you the ten fields of activity in which you as a company or brand can raise the status of your customers (and employees), perhaps even in several:
- ECONOMIC: My material status is improving.
- POSSIBILITIES: For example, I can do new things, have new experiences, or complete my previous tasks more quickly and/or easily.
- SAFETY: I feel more protected than before, both physically and emotionally.
- APPRECIATE: I am appreciated or admired (more than before) in my community or beyond.
- KNOWLEDGE: I gain information, knowledge and insights that are important to me because they protect me from making mistakes or open up new perspectives.
- WELL-BEING: My general condition, including my fitness and health, is improving noticeably.
- APPEARANCE: My appearance in my outer image as well as in my inner attitude improves in the direction of my (authentic) ideal image and is perceived as such.
- LIFESTYLE: I lead the life that corresponds to my ideas. This must always nurture the value of authenticity. For example, getting out of the hectic city and into a quiet life in the countryside, even if I have to sacrifice income.
- COMMUNITY: I experience myself as part of a community with other people that strengthens me and to which I can make a valuable contribution.
- MEANING: I actively experience positive things in one or more areas and contribute to them: Generativity, Vital relationships, Social commitment, Personal development, Lived passion (for something), Creative action, Spirituality
Something has to improve in at least one of these areas, otherwise you have no story. An ace up your professional sleeve: always add SIN, definitely always, always, always in employer branding, and remember: the number 1 position in the meaning-finding hit parade is occupied by generativity - in other words, doing something that extends beyond our ego-centered horizons and outlasts us.
What helps?
If, like many people, you're now saying: "Got it, I'm trying, but somehow we're just not getting to the point ...!", then we should discuss how I can support you with my programs and tools from the New Story Academy. By the way, the list of impact areas above is a snapshot from our mentoring tool that helps you define the impact of your brand or company and finally get a clear understanding of what your brand's real contribution to the lives of your customers and employees is. Once you have this, you will feel a sense of relief thanks to orientation, I can almost promise you that. And the measurable success will be there too.
We use tools, programs and methods like these to support people who want to do real brand work and make their brand story bulletproof. This often succeeds quickly, sometimes even very quickly, because thanks to a great deal of experience and intensive learning from successful projects and also from the opposite, a nutrient-packed powerhouse is available.
At the New Story Academy-website you will find, among other things, a special offer for a quick vitamin kick, the PowerHour. There are also detailed workshop programs for extensive tasks, all of which have one goal: to enable you and your team to quickly and efficiently find a better brand story and tell it better than before. So that your team and your customers quickly understand what they have and get from you, why it is relevant to them and why they come to you and stay with you. The bottom line is that simple. Do you need that? Do the test by looking at your landing page or with a simulated introduction in a workshop. If it reveals who you are and what you do: improve!
If you have a specific question, just send me a reply to this email. As a member of our Story Inside community, you can also book a free check-in meeting directly here in my calendar to book a free check-in meeting (online).
Why is this so important to me? Quite simply because I am convinced that most people want to and can do more with their companies & brands than just mindlessly sell their stuff to the affluent society. In our community, most of them are. They understand that we in the so-called economy have the powerful leverage to transform the dark narratives of our time about duality, dominance and destruction into a new story - the New Story. This is the story of connectedness, unfolded potential and found, experienced meaning. We write this New Story when we support each other. Please spread the word!
However, this new story not only has to be developed, but also told skillfully. If we succeed in doing this, we all feel better. Just like my grandmother, the old Story Dudette, who began her presentation in the "Brandbuilding for Dummies" workshop with the words: "New Story. New Glory."