SKETCHBOOK STORYTELLING: PEER INSIDE AND STAY A WHILE

An artist's sketchbook can read like a personal journal. These pages got me thinking ... what a great approach for telling brand stories - in print or digitally. 

Who could resist spending time snooping around? 

The art is totally engaging and I especially like the way the copy is broken into bits and bites. 

5 Brand Story Essentials

Can you tell your brand story in under a minute? Of course you can (and indeed you should) with a pitch that's pithy, punchy and persuasive. Follow these steps to nail your message: 

1. Pain Relief: Zero in on the prickly sore spot your brand can relieve right now

2. Promise: In one sentence state your solution in "consumer speak" (no marketing jargon!)

3. Qualification:  In two bullet points or less, say why should we should believe you?

4. Relevance:  Put your pitch in context. What scenarios will your audience relate to? 

5. Dramatization:  Think carefully about your brand's voice. Are you friendly, funny or authoritative? Are you appealing to logic, fear or passion?  How might you tell your story visually, without words or sound? What sound bite or tagline will effectively brand your takeaway message? 

Madison Avenue used to churn out brilliant brand stories, like this classic commercial video for VW Beetle that sold frugality as mainstream chic. 

Brand stories help focus and funnel social messaging

Artwork by Louise Campbell 

An effective online communications program requires more than a neat web network.  How a brand conceives and then conveys its sales pitch using Facebook, Twitter, email, and the like, matters far more.  A cohesive brand story, like an elevator pitch, is essential for connecting with true audiences - for whom the social web is increasingly very noisy. .

In the latest  Brand Week, Donald Friedman, principal at the branding and marketing consultancy Sequel, writes about messaging “dysfunction where everyone in an organization is working hard, but the brand is going nowhere." The root of the problem he says may be employees spinning their wheels in silos without a common communications goal or clear brand narrative.

This speaks to the absolute need for team integration and a disciplined approach to honing a  core message that can then be woven into a sticky brand story ... one that translates consistently across all channels.