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BNET_brandstory.ppt
1. Your Brand Inside Out
A ten-step tool for unifying your team around a shared brand story
Developed for BNET by Enlightened Brand Incorporated http://www.enlightenedbrand.com
Version 2.0
Published 02/01/07
2. What is a brand?
Brands have evolved. Before you begin to develop the
story of your brand, it’s helpful to consider what a brand is.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of amazon.com, defines brand this way.
“It’s what people say about you when you are not in the room.”
The amazon.com brand consistently ranks in the top 100 global brands.
Source: Interbrand's 2006 Global Brand Scorecard
A brand is not:
• a product
• a company
• a logo
A brand is:
• a promise
• an experience
• a relationship
3. Why use a brand story?
Great brands are customer focused. They create buying preference, loyalty,
and deliver an experience that turns customers into advocates.
Great brands are built by teams who share a vision.
A brand story, co-created by people who will build your brand, can:
• improve team coherence and shared ownership
• simplify decision making and increase efficiency
• optimize market and customer impact
• bring consistency to your brand experience
• provide a framework for measuring success
• establish a platform for evolving your brand
“First, you must know why people will spend their time and attention on you.”
— Bill Jensen, author of Simplicity
4. When to use a brand story?
Try this experiment. Find three people who influence how your brand is built
—maybe a marketing person, a customer service representative, and a
salesperson. Ask each of them to tell you about your brand. Just listen.
Or try this. Be a customer for your own brand.
You’re looking for confidence, clarity, and consistency, even a little
passion. If you got anything less, you can benefit from using this tool.
Create an inside brand story if:
• you are introducing a new company, product, or service brand
• you have gone through a merger, acquisition, or reorganization
• your team is new, expanded, or has changed significantly
• your communications are fragmented, unfocused, or lack distinction
• customers, competition, or market circumstances have changed
• your existing brand has lost some of its luster
5. The Brand Story Tool
Ten steps to a better brand
This tool is designed to take you step-by-step through the
process of creating a brand story and using it to unify your
team and strengthen your brand.
Tip: Before you begin, read through all ten steps. It will
help you to plan more effectively.
6. Step 1: Select your storytellers.
Your brand story will be co-created by a team of people who are responsible
for building your brand. Step one is to select those people.
Aim for 10-12 participants. Sometimes, that can require you to invite
twice that many. Your list of candidates might include:
• a salesperson
• a customer-service representative
• a marketing manager
• a public relations representative
• someone from finance
• a key partner
• a trusted business advisor
• a Web site developer
• an executive assistant
• a product developer
• someone from market research
• a designer
• a distributor
• a strategic alliance manager
Tip: Look beyond your immediate team. Seek diverse perspectives.
7. Step 2: Engage your storytellers.
Everyone is busy. You might have to do some convincing to get people on
board. Craft an invitation that makes a solid case for why each person should
participate. You might only have a few minutes to make your case. Be prepared
by knowing your answers to these important questions.
• Which three things are most important for everyone to know?
• What data or information makes you think this process is important?
• What commitments or behaviors do you expect (be specific)?
• What questions will they have?
• How do you want them to feel?
• How will you know commitment when you see it?
See the notes section for an invitation sample
Tip: Invite each person privately and individually. It will help them to see how
important their participation is to you.
8. Step 3: Design the survey.
The first thing you want your storytelling team to do is complete a brand
survey. We’ve made it easy for you to custom design a survey that’s just right
for your particular needs.
Simply click to download a full set of survey questions. Just add your
brand name and they are ready for use. Select only the questions that work for
you. Don’t use all of the questions. That would make the survey too long. Do
aim for at least one question from each of the survey categories.
• the brand purpose
• product, service, or company description
• marketplace
• customers
• alternatives to your brand
• context
• brand personality metaphors
• the brand vision
Tip: Once you have selected
your questions, set a timer and
take the survey yourself. You’ll
want to be able to tell your team
how long it will take.
9. Step 4: Administer the survey.
Your team is in place. You’ve chosen your questions and determined response
time. Now it’s time to administer your survey.
Whether you send the survey by email or traditional mail, include the following
in your cover letter:
• how long you estimate it will take to complete the survey
• when you want the completed surveys returned
• where completed surveys should be sent
• who will be looking at the responses (see Tip)
• a brief explanation of next steps
• a thank you for participating
• your contact information
Tip: Keep responses confidential if you can. It will encourage honest input.
While you will know who submitted the response, nobody else has to. Let
people know that you plan to share their responses, but not their names.
10. Step 5: Synthesize the responses.
Completed surveys have begun to arrive, each in its own separate document.
Now you will synthesize the individual responses into one master document.
• Begin with a clean copy of the survey. This will be your master document.
• Open the first completed survey next to the master document.
• Copy each response in the completed survey, one at a time, and paste it
into the master document below the question it answers.
• Repeat this process for each completed survey.
You will end up with one master document in which each survey question is
followed by all of the responses to that question. This allows you to see the
answers in relationship to each other.
See the notes section for an example of survey synthesis.
Tip: In creating the master document, you will also remove the identities of the
survey respondents. As a result, you will pay more attention to what was said,
instead of who said it. It will be easier to give all perspectives equal weight.
11. Step 6: Discover the story.
Your master document of survey responses holds all the elements of your new
brand story. You are likely to find surprising patterns in the responses, as well
as unique and valuable individual perspectives.
In step six, you will build a bridge from the many voices of your storytelling
team to the one collective voice of your brand story. To discover your story
in the master document:
• Highlight patterns where several people gave similar responses
• Note areas where people gave vastly different responses
• Note responses that inspire or intrigue you
• Rely on your intuition
See the notes section for an example of a pattern
Tip: Try to stay objective. Observe the responses. Don’t judge them.
12. Step 7: Write the story.
Writing your brand story in a narrative form gives you a chance to be creative,
have fun, and report survey findings to your team in a memorable manner. You
will capture their attention and engage their imaginations.
Be inspired by the traditional elements of a story. Think of your brand as the
main character. What do the survey responses tell you about:
• The motivation of your character
• What your character looks, sounds, or acts like
• Who your character encounters or associates with
• The setting in which your story takes place
• The plot, or what happens to the character in the story
• The theme, or moral, of your story.
See the notes section for an excerpt of a sample brand narrative.
Tip: Writing, like most creative processes, is an iterative process. Take
periodic breaks to gain perspective and clarity. It will make for a better story.
13. Step 8: Share it with the team.
It’s time to share your story with all of the people who contributed to it. In step
eight, you’ll call a meeting with your storytelling team to introduce them to the
story they co-created and to explore the new possibilities the story presents.
• Host a live meeting, if possible. It will contribute to team building.
• Introduce people to their co-authors.
• Tell them about the process, how all voices became a part of the story.
• Read the story aloud together. Have each person read a small section.
• Have an open dialogue about the results.
• Look for what surprises people. Discuss and explore those areas.
• Brainstorm ways that the story can be used.
• Celebrate together!
Tip: Consider giving each storyteller a small gift that represents some aspect
of the story. Look for something symbolic that will serve as a reminder of one
or more of the brand attributes.
14. Step 9: Use the story.
Creating and sharing your story is only the beginning. Here are some
suggestions for how your brand story can help you simplify decision making,
identify new opportunities, and ultimately, create a stronger and more cohesive
brand.
• Spread the influence of your brand with storytelling events.
• Assess your brand experience through the lens of the story.
• Imagine new characters and plot changes.
• Add or subtract chapters.
• Give your story a title and a table of contents.
• Imagine that your story is made into a movie or a play.
See the notes section for an example of how one company used their brand story.
These fun, creative exercises can result result in breakthrough thinking with
real, bottom-line results.
15. Step 10: Revisit the story.
Your brand story is a living document. Just as your business and the world it
operates in continue to evolve, so will your brand.
Review and update your story every 6-12 months.
Tip: Assign someone to be the “keeper of the story.” Make it his or
her responsibility to keep the story alive.
