Your Brand Is Your Story

When someone says the word brand or banding do you immediately think of the following:

1. Logo
2. Font or Typeface
3. Colour
4. Pictures
5. All of the above

What about these ideas:

1. Promise
2. Values

You see, most people confuse branding with Corporate Identity. Corporate Identity is

1. Logo
2. Font or Typeface
3. Colour
4. Pictures

All of those things can change without affecting the brand!

Just look at Apple. They had the Rainbow logo from 1976 to 1998. The launch of the new iMac brought with it a new Monochrome logo.

In fact, they completely changed the Corporate Identity. The logo, font, colours all changed.

But the brand remained the same!

So, what is a brand?

A brand is 2 things in the mind of your customer!

That’s a very important point that must not be forgotten. You do not own your brand. Your customers do!

What are the 2 things that make a brand?

1. Promise
2. Values

A strong brand is both a promise to your customers and a set of values that you both share.

McDonald’s has such a strong brand because it consistently delivers on its promise. Regardless of your opinions of the quality of the food, the one thing you know is that a Big Mac is always going to taste the same anywhere in the country, and anywhere in the world. You also know that every restaurant has the same layout. You know that you never have to wait more than 5 mins for your meal.

So, McDonald’s has a clear promise and they deliver on it every day. That’s what gives McDonald’s such a strong brand.

But what about the question of values?

That’s a good question. And here the values tie in with their promise. Let’s be honest, no one goes into McDonald’s because they want a healthy, nutritious meal. They want something fast and they want something that’s filled with fat and salt.

We all have times when we don’t want to virtuous. On those days, McDonald’s helps us achieve our goals.

Now let’s look at Apple!

Today Apple dominate the music industry, the tablet, and mobile phone market so it’s easy to forget that for years Apple forced their customers to jump through uncomfortable hoops.

For example, if you wanted to sync the contacts on your phone with your mac. Your choice of phones dropped by 80%. If you were a PC user then you could do this with any phone and it was easy.

So how did Apple manage to create and keep such loyal customers?

Because of the creative identitythat accompanied owning a Mac. Mac’s were used by Designers, Photographers, and Writers. PCs were used by the corporate world. Buying a Mac was much more than buying a tool. You were buying into a creative club that gave you a badge to flash everywhere you went. In a meeting, in a coffee shop, in an airport lounge, you could proudly flash your I’m a creative badge.

By making the purchase of a Mac much more than simply buying a product, Apple attracted buyers with shared values. It’s the shared values (and great products) that made their fans loyal.

How Can You Create A Strong Brand?

If a brand is a promise and a set of values that is owned by your customers, how do you create a strong brand?

You do this by telling inspiring personal stories.

When you tell an inspiring personal story, you demonstrate your expertise (show your community that you can deliver your promise) and reveal your values through the challenges that you faced along your journey.

What’s the most important tool for storytelling?

Courage!

Seriously, you don’t need an English degree and you don’t need to have studied screenwriting. You just need the courage to tell your story honestly and truthfully.

Why is courage so important?

Because to tell your story truthfully, you’re going to have to share the struggles that you went through. You’re going to have to share the ideas that failed and the consequences of those failures.

And that takes courage!

Most people work very hard to hide their flaws and mistakes. We want our businesses and lives to look like pictures in a holiday album where every day was sunshine and smiles.

But…

In business, as in life, it rains. What you do when it rains reveals your values.

Do you sit inside and complain that you are bored? Or do you get an umbrella and visit a city without the crowd of tourists.

What do you do when it rains in your business? Do you grab a towel and an umbrella? Dry yourself off, learn from the experience and try something new because you know you’ve got something of value to share with the world?

If you’re thinking that you don’t have an interesting story to tell then you need to watch this video: How To Uncover Your Epic Story.

How Do You Turn Your Story Into A Brand?

Your brand is your Epic Story. The story of how you got where you are today.

All great stories start at the beginning. And your Epic Story starts at the moment you decided to change your life.

What makes your story interesting, honest and inspiring is your willingness to share the challenges that you struggled through on your journey to where you are today.

When you describe the thunderstorms that you were caught in, without an umbrella or a raincoat and how you made an improvised shelter from a plastic bag, some chewing gum and stick, you reveal your values of never giving up.

By sharing your motivation to weather the storms no matter what… you show your audience why you do what you do.

This is what will attract people to you who share your values.

If you make your story emotional then you will make it memorable. If you make it memorable then you have a powerful brand that is owned by your customers.

How do you make your story emotional? This goes back to having the courage to share the challenges you faced on your journey to get where you are today. If you describe how you felt in a specific moment in words that your audience can see, hear and touch then you make your story emotional.

If you’d like a structure for telling a great story then you should read this blog: 5-Simple Steps To Tell A Thrilling Tale

Now It’s Your Turn

I hope you can now see that a brand is much more than a logo, a strapline, and a specific font.

I hope you now know why your brand is your inspirational personal story and that the only thing you need to create a strong brand is the courage to tell your story in its glorious and brutal detail.

To make your story memorable you need to make it emotional. To make your story emotional all you need is the courage the share the thunderstorms that you weathered on your journey.

If you’ve found this useful then please leave a comment below.

If this can help someone you know then please share it with them.

Until next time…

Carpe diem

Roland Eva

P.S.if you’d like to learn a proven system build or grow a training, mentorship or consulting business then you need my new book: How To Start A Training Or Mentorship Business.