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In branding, everything comes back to a good story. Within any organization, there are plots and subplots that together weave a narrative affecting every aspect of a business, including sales, stock price, employee morale and business development. Whether you know it or not, there is a storyline already written about your organization, and it is continuously being revised: by the media, by analysts or other industry influencers, and often times, by your competitors. The story is dynamic and constantly changing, but it always follows an arc, just like a classic novel. Brand building today is about knowing what the elements of a great story are and then connecting the narrative to larger stories that reach a company’ key audiences. This is the fundamental responsibility of senior marketing executives, today’s brand storytellers.
At Greenough, our approach is to build brands through the power of storytelling. Good writers know the essential elements of a story: Setting, Characters, Suspense, Conflict and Climax. Marketing executives who want to build awareness and condition the market for their companies are well advised to know these elements and consider how brand stories will be told and retold in this context. Simply put, every company, every product, every leader, every industry group has a story. These stories are linked not only to one another, but also to those stories of your employees, shareholders, business partners, media, analysts and the competition.
The best stories are those that provide context for the reader. It’s the storyteller’s responsibility to create a context that resonates with the desired audience.
**Adapted from "Storytelling Builds Brands," chapter written by Phil Greenough for The Art of Building a Brand, Leading Marketing Visionaries Reveal the Secrets for Companies of All Sizes to Build Successful Brands. (Aspatore Books, 2002)
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