What IF Building a Brand Was Like Building a House?
Working with entrepreneurs and companies who want to build irresistible brands is like building a new house.
You begin with the foundation.
Pick out a great lot. Dig a huge hole in the ground. Pour the perfect amount of cement necessary to support the structure.
That’s precisely how the ancient art and practice of storytelling applies to modern-day brand-building.
The story comes first. Everything else comes later.
When you talk in stories, black-and-white words turn into splashes of color.
Cold hard facts are translated into rich, human emotions.
Visual elements like logos, graphic design and slick videos are like the framing, drywall and fixtures.
They don’t matter nearly as much unless you first have a story that is truly worth telling.
Once Robin figured out the story that became the foundation for her Toronto-based medical research company, she noticed a significant change in the number of visitors to her home page. Her company, Six Degrees Medical started getting nearly triple the amount of website visitors and a serious increase in incoming calls inquiring about their services. Complete strangers began watching her story and began sharing it with friends in their networks.
You can see for yourself.
Like Robin, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and business leaders who get better at telling their story are the ones who begin attracting the right kind of customers while also building stronger workplace cultures.
What if there were parallels between strong brands and research into how stories make individuals stronger?
That’s what scholars from Emory University in Atlanta pinpointed through a project initiated a dozen years ago. According to Robyn Fivush, from Emory’s Department of Psychology, children who learn rich details of family stories are more apt to possess the emotional strength to weather uncertainty and adversity. They’re able to make sense of their world when something senseless happens like the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emory research was the first to quantify and measure the impact of knowing family history on children. Together, Fivush and fellow psychologist Marshall Duke, created a 20-question 'Do-You-Know' quiz to study how families pass on their history to succeeding generations. What they learned is that children who could answer most questions with a 'YES' exhibited higher levels of self-esteem, a greater sense of purpose, direction and fewer behavioral issues. In other words, those who learned their family history from adults willing to take time to sit down and share, tended to achieve more and function at a higher level.
If the oral tradition of passing down stories creates stronger kids and families why would the same dynamic not apply to companies and organizations?
In times of great stress, especially with what we’re all facing now, it is compelling stories that sustain us.
By reaching back into her history, Robin has begun to experience powerful transformation within her own company.
As a leader, have you determined the type of stories you need to start telling and sharing?
“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come” STEVE JOBS
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As always, we are open to serving small to medium size business owners with an open heart and no strings attached. That's why we always schedule a limited number of FREE 20-Minute Discovery Sessions via ZOOM. If you are facing a business or branding challenge that you are not quite sure how to handle, we’re only a click away.
#2
Maybe you have been thinking and pondering for a while that it’s time to let everybody else zig while you ZAG and take your business and brand in a new and different direction. If you're feeling now is the perfect time to RE-DEFINE, RE-POSITION and DIFFERENTIATE your company or organization, you might want to saddle up for a metaphorical road trip called THE BRANDING HIGHWAY. Our in-person and virtual "Executive Bootcamps" serve as both journey and destination to help you emerge as an undeniable, undisputed, "Category of One".
For more information: bookings@gairmaxwell.com
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Every week someone asks me a question about our videos and more specifically our media partner responsible for the production and editing. Based in London, Ontario, Defiant Astronaut Media also posts a monthly blog, showcasing a curated selection of story-based videos that inspire others to re-think what's possible with this art form and how it can help build your brand.
You can review and dissect the latest from Josh Parlee's Video Lab by clicking here: https://www.defiantastronaut.com/blog/july
If you are curious about what's involved to get the proper gear to support your own video publishing efforts, our media partners @ Defiant Astronaut Media have a few ideas to get your started. Click here: https://kit.co/defiantastronaut