5 crucial elements of brand storytelling

Every good story has a protagonist, an antagonist and sense of revelation. Here’s how that translates to telling stories about any organization—even the dull ones.

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I’ll never forget this experience.

I was standing in the security line at the Atlanta airport and couldn’t help but eavesdrop in on the conversation of the guy ahead of me. He was on the phone with his assistant and it was clear they were preparing for a workshop the next day. As they discussed what was needed for the workshop, he said: “You’ll have to order lunch. I don’t have visibility into the menu.”

That’s right. He didn’t have visibility into the menu.

He went on to tell her that the logistics of said lunch needed to be monitored by her so he could focus on providing organizational programming for their clients.

This is a great example of why buzzwords do not work.

Just like a child does not want to hear branded content, neither does your customer. We all want stories.

Of course, that’s one of the most challenging parts of a communicator’s job—telling a story about a brand, but it doesn’t have to be that hard.

The brand storytelling process

Jay Baer has the best example of brand storytelling I’ve seen:

The very best way to create your organization’s story is to have your customers and employees do the work for you.

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