Write your own brand story

It's time to get your hands dirty and write your own brand story. There are two ways in which you can do this: 

1. In a deck

2. As an article

Whichever you choose, this may be one of the most important exercises you do when building your business. It will go on to help you build a scalable brand and give you strong foundations for the future. To write your brand's story, consider the following structure:

1. Context & setting

   Name a big, relevant change in the world that directly affects the way your customer is doing business. The old world where the “old way of doing things” was normal and the new world where we have to do things differently. And guess what, the new way of doing things is the way you think they should be done. (200-300 words / 1-3 slides)

2. Conflict

   Show there’ll be winners and losers. This can be those in the field who are doing really well vs those who have already lost. Think for instance, Blockbuster and Netflix, Ford and Tesla. Find statistics and or different evidence that prove this change is occurring and don’t be afraid to back them up. This is meant to capture the attention of your audience. We want them to think, “I’d better keep listening because I’m putting myself at risk if I don’t.” It’s the what if scenario. “What if I don’t act when I know the path?” (100 words  / 1-2 slides and include a few examples)
   

3. Introduction of Resolution

   Tease the promised land or Planet B. Where you want to help your audience go. Also, think about where they don’t want to go. The key here is to be as specific and as vivid as possible. The Promised Land is not having your solution, your help or your advice, but rather what life is like thanks to having it. For instance, it’s not “having a strong and sustainable investment portfolio” but rather, “the ability to navigate an uncertain future due and increase returns whilst minimizing environmental impact.” (200 words  / 2 slides)
   

4. Tools:

   Introduce the ways that you want to help your target audience from A - B as tools: “Magic Gifts” for overcoming obstacles to the Promised Land. Framed like this, your features are no longer benefits to your product, but value propositions (think back to the first week) positioned in the context of transitioning from an “old world” (the way things are done now) to a “new world,” (the way you're proposing to do things). (200 words  / 2-3 slides and include 5 examples)
   
   These tools are the foundation for an engaging conversation with prospects—technical and otherwise—about why it’s so hard to reach the Promised Land with traditional solutions. They first require you to identify the obstacles (what’s standing in the way of your target audience reaching the promised land) and then proposing a solution to overcome the obstacles.
   
   Ask yourself, what are the obstacles to the client’s goal and frame your product’s features in this way. Anticipate the challenges. What’s stopping them from getting there? Your features should be the answer to a problem.
   

   • List 5 obstacles to reach a more attractive future

   • Rank them in order

   • For the top three, ask yourself, “what’s the answer to this problem”? Is it something that you can provide?

   • Then write one paragraph about how each solution helps them get around the obstacle standing in their way.
     
     If you’ve clearly stated your Planet B and the obstacles to it, prospects have the context they need to understand why your capabilities matter.
     

5. Validation and Conclusion

   Present evidence that the story can come true. Proof that it’s possible to get to the promised land. That you’re not just making it up and that you’re the right person to take them there. In telling the sales narrative this way, you’re making a commitment to prospects: If they go with you, you’ll get them to the Promised Land. This is where you can tackle a skeptical audience. Evidence could include success stories of those who’ve done it before to ways you’ve helped. Anything that shows that the transformation (A -> B) took place. (100 words  / 1-3 slides).

A few final tips to improve your storytelling?

1. Have a focus on the audience not yourself

2. Set the scene well.

3. Have a clear structure.

4. Embrace conflict or develops tension: Go against the status quo.

5. Have a single message.

6. Base it in facts.

7. Let it come from personal experience.