What is the heart beat of your brand’s online presence?
What equity do you offer members of your brand?
It’s all about the story.
We are symbol using (misusing) creatures- we crave meaning and how it relates to our perception of reality. Think of any memory or funny story you tell at parties- we take our perceptions of reality and share it as a narrative, with characters that have desires, who need to overcome/accomplish something in order to discover purpose or satisfaction. The stories we tell are symbols of a reality we are absorbed into and share passionately- it is innately designed within our humanity.
Communication at it’s core is symbolic. We search for the symbolic message and how it relates to the story. The cycle of “social media”-really human behavior- longs for depth and breadth- action, momentum, a real connection.
Walter Fisher explains this in his theory of Narrative Paradigm that all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling.
We experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives (stories), each with their own plot, Fisher argues that “the way in which people explain and/or justify their behavior, whether past or future, has more to do with telling a credible story than it does with producing evidence or constructing.”
I see a direct correlation with the power of story-narrative & the adoption of YOUR brand becoming THEIR community.
When we build our communities on the credibility (ethos) of our brand with emotion (pathos) and logic/truth (logos)- it’s not only sustainable, it’s SHAREABLE.
The better the content/story- the more the members can interact and engage with media. As we continue to generate quality stories, the tribe begins to refine the community and defines the brand’s story. Each person plays a key character to the plot. The future of “membership” will become increasingly more responsible and responsive, refining the vision and demanding better stories as the community develops.
Community happens beyond the surface of transactions. Beyond the hype of gimmicks. It’s the AH HA moment when your brand becomes REAL. HUMAN. RELEVANT.
Community and the communal sharing of the message creates a story worth telling and builds the symbolic legacy- the shareable narrative.
How are you building a shareable community? How are you sharing the STORY online throughout media? What are you doing to invite characters along the plot to help write the rest of the story? When you connect the dots of the micro-blogs, tagged pictures, hash-tags, images, and campaigns- where do those breadcrumbs leave us?
The key contributor is YOU. The person managing the day to day, the logistics, the consistency. Maybe you are a supporting character or a part of a background ensemble- regardless, your role is critical and vital to the human story being told- one that resonates in the souls of your readers, followers, friends, connections, “likes”, reblogs, retweets… all are an echo of the larger narrative.
What story are you going to tell today?
Here at Brandtailers, we value Social Media which is why we asked Justin Brackett, Chief Weather Maker at SocialVillage.net and Co-founder of DevelopSocially.com, to contribute his voice.
Story. Each of us has one to tell- especially your organization: who you are, what you do and where you are going. Nobody can tell your story better than you, it is in your DNA, culture and inside of you. And with the age of digital media, you now have, more than ever, the opportunity to tell the world about your business or organization.
Digital media is key in telling your story, yet so many organizations are now saying: “We have digital media; what now?”
These five simple steps will help guide you in curating the relevant and timely message for your organization:
Step 1: Go where your audience is.
It’s important to identify the digital platforms your target audience gravitates toward so you can meet them there. Go where your tribe aggregates. Contrary to what you may think, digital media is not just the latest craze for high school and college kids. Those 25 and over account for 84 percent of Twitter users, and the fastest-growing demographic for Facebook is people over 35. More than 5 billion pieces of content, such as videos, blog posts and outside links, are shared on Facebook every week. So take the time to do your research, listen and find out which digital media platforms your target audience uses the most. Then build your marketing plan and strategy around the best way to share your story on those platforms.
Step 2: Dialog with your audience.
If your organization wants to successfully utilize digital media, you have to create a dialog. Don’t just use digital media to inform people about what is new, what is next or what discount is now available- that can be one sided and bland. Add content that your target audience will value, whether it’s links to other sites, informative videos or encouraging blogs. Ask thought-provoking questions and solicit opinions about your posts. And always, always respond to any and all comments your fans leave on your organization’s Web sites. The more your fans feel connected to you, the more they’ll tell others about what you’re doing! Never leave any comment, @reply or feedback be unnoticed or unanswered.
Step 3: Start a groundswell.
Your organization has a built-in, ready-to-go fan base and tribe—your digital media fans and followers. People become loyal digital fans when they or their kids have had a positive experience with you. Empower these people to talk about your organization and what makes you unique. Ask them to guest blog for you, post about you on their Facebook wall and Tweet about you. This will add valuable content to your search engine results, as well as exposing your organization to people who will listen to your fans but not you.
Step 4: Enlist and Empower your staff.
Seventy-five percent of your staff already has their own Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Four Square accounts, and many of them are actively blogging. Ask them to spread the word about the events, offerings, philosophy and culture of your organization. But set up guidelines to encourage your staff to be conscientious of what they are posting and how it reflects on your organization. Help them understand what’s acceptable to post and the damage that could come from a careless comment or photo posting.
Step 5: Look ahead.
Build on your current marketing strategy. Move ahead of the conversation by listening for new opportunities to meet your digital media fans’ desires and requests. Supplement conventional forms of media like print and traditional events like home shows, open houses or conventions, with social media. By combining traditional and digital media, you’ll get a better return on your marketing money with deeper ROI and connected relationships.
Imagine that you’re moving your company to a new office space. You have the opportunity to let it say everything about you that you want your customers, business associates, and vendors to know. You spend time with an expert contractor coordinating improvements. You work on room designs with a space planning specialist. You use your IT guru to ensure your computers, phones, etc. will operate effortlessly. You do this because when it’s finished you’ll have work space that not only helps your company’s productivity, but also defines your brand for every visitor to see.
Now, replace this office space design process with your website development process. These days, there’s not much difference. You’re just replacing tangible brick and mortar with virtual space. But if you consider which of these walls and roofs more people visit, you’ve figured out the true value of your website.
So back up for a moment and ask yourself, “How much am I willing to pay for experts who know how to turn a cookie-cutter office space into my company’s brand?” Chances are good you’re willing to pay more than a few dollars. So, why, when your website is your opportunity to show your unique brand, would you settle for one that has nothing unique?
Interesting paradox, huh? Websites are much less expensive to build than they were just a few short years ago, but if you want to make yours stand out, to represent your brand and do a big part your selling for you, you’re going to have to pay for some real experts. Not just programmers who know html, php and css, but designers and brand strategists who know how to represent your best assets online. And writers who know how to take the hundreds of keywords necessary to help your site show up well in search results, and incorporate them into enticing content that flows seamlessly.
Websites like this are not just necessary for e-commerce businesses, they’re imperative for any business that wants to take advantage of the wonderful benefits the web has to offer your brand. It’s a new way of thinking, isn’t it?
You’ve just been asked to help bring your company’s brand into the 21st Century. Yipee? People with backgrounds in Marketing, Advertising and PR know it’s not always as fun as it sounds. Especially when the process involves asking the same old branding questions that result in the same old non-distinct answers.
But help is here. Take a look at these five questions and see if you can answer them for your company. (Even if you can’t you’ll look like a genius presenting them)
1. Purpose: What would we be if we were a movement instead of a business?
2. Principles: What will we always do and what will we never do? (“A principle isn’t a principle until it costs you money.” Bill Bernbach)
3. Positioning: What about us is authentic, exclusive, and mesmerizing?
4. Processes: What does the way we operate say about us?
5. Place: What does the way we look say about us (offline and online)?
Granted, it’s a little weird. But it works. We adapted it a few years back from a great guy, Tim Williams, and his book Take a Stand For Your Brand.
What do you think?
John Jantsch has been called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies.
Based on the latest reports, the question is no longer will our mobile phones replace our wallets, but when. Forrester Research believes that the 2012 Olympics in London will be the first major event where mobile payment systems will be used in a big, big way. PayPal recently acquired mobile payments provider Zong for $240 million, declaring the wallet will be dead by 2015. Google has launched Google Wallet, its own payment system. Then there’s Square, the mobile payments platform that Visa just made a major investment in, now worth more than $1.4 billion. Meanwhile American Express has new payment system, Serve, that will have a payment to payment and mobile payment component. These major players have done their homework, and are preparing for the virtual wallet to come fast.
What gives them so much confidence consumers will adopt this technology? In addition to their own testing, they’re following the success stories of businesses like Starbucks, who in January began accepting mobile payments via the Starbucks Card Mobile iPhone and BlackBerry applications at 6,800 company-operated stores. Within 90 days more than 3 million people had paid using Starbucks Card Mobile, twice their expectation.
But what about consumer fear? If there’s risk with transactions on computers, won’t security be an even bigger issue with mobile devices? This will be the challenge to overcome. And yet, history will most likely repeat itself. Remember the introduction of ATM cards? The idea of having your checking account directly connected to a piece of plastic with only a four digit pin as protection was met with huge hesitation. It lasted just about as long as it took the convenience of this process to overpower the fear of this new technology.
Time will tell, but time is moving fast. To us, it would be no surprise if we’re bumping and flashing over swiping by 2015. And what will happen to pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters? They’ll end up somewhere, but probably history museums.
I originally wrote the blog post below in March of 2010, when we made the decision to move to a new kind of office space as soon as our lease was up. We are now just two weeks away from moving to our brand new office. I revisited what I wrote 16 months ago, to see if our rationale for moving had changed. It hasn’t. But something I didn’t realize back then was how many businesses are moving to shared work space environments. Most surprising, it’s not because of the economy.
Shared space is not a new idea. Remember Chiat Day’s virtual office disaster back in 1999? But it has certainly grown more popular for companies that used to make bigger offices on better floors more important than money. For many businesses now being run by energetic entrepreneurs this seems like a ridiculous idea. Why separate brain power? Why limit collaboration to conference rooms? And why make office size a competition between co-workers?
I personally give a lot of credit for this change in thinking to Tony Hsieh, CEO and founder of Zappos. As Zappos grew from a small online shoe seller, to the mammoth business that Amazon purchased in 2009 for $1.2 billion, Tony never thought twice about moving out of his same-size cubicle located in the middle of all the other Zappos employees. Certainly it was an act of humility, which Tony is known for, but he also knew how important it was for the company’s success that he stay in the midst of the action. In his book, Delivering Happiness, he credits the most successful collaborations came from people having direct access with him, and each other.
That’s pretty much what you’ll see at the new Brandtailers office. And, even though it’s been a little scary for us to realize we’re going to be working literally side-by-side and face-to-face, we have the team to pull it off. Stop by after August 1st and see for yourself. Our new address will be posted shortly on our Contact page on this site.
March 2010:
Brandtailers has moved four times during our 20 years in business. Each time we’ve moved to a bigger (although not necessarily better) space. Before we made our last address change a little over four years ago, it felt like we were stepping over each other just to get around the office.
So we made the move from 5,800 square feet to just short of 14,000. For the first few months the extra room to breath was so refreshing. The Creative Department had their own wing, the Media Department had theirs. The Interactive Department was on the other side of the building, while Account Services and Admin were off in a whole other section. Ahhh, space.
But guess what happened over just a couple of months? People stopped talking to each other face-to-face. They weren’t collaborating like they used to. Instead of getting out of their chairs and walking 100 feet to talk to someone in another department, they’d send them an email. We thought we came up with the brilliant solution of encouraging instant messaging to make the communication feel more personal. That was dumb. People stayed in their offices even more.
Our lease is coming up for renewal in the next year and, yes, we will be moving to a different type of space. No more “wings” for us. It just doesn’t work. Hopefully in our next office instant messaging will involve vocal chords, emails will be for external purposes, and collaboration will be spontaneous moments of smart, creative people within ear shots of each other.
For those of you who like coming to our office, don’t worry. We’ll be taking the pool, ping-pong and fuss ball tables with us. And our walls will still be bright and tell their stories. Yes, we’ll take the African spears too. But we may be stepping over each other again, so bring your own chair.
