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Stick to Your Story to Make Your Messages Stick
May 09, 2008
Expert Tips for Tapping the Power of Consistency to Build Your Brand Story
By Arthur Germain
There's been a lot of talk about community and conversations lately, and it seems that every company is running around to make sure it has a blog, is connected with LinkedIn or is all a twitter on, well, twitter. But these are all just vehicles for conversation. It's the conversation itself that needs to be genuine, interesting and relevant. Perhaps most importantly, you need to stick to your story.
Audiences like the messages they receive to be consistent—and there's plenty of sayings you'l be bombarded with when something is inconsistent. You'll find this is especially true if you speak to a variety of audiences and your message changes. People might say that you're "all over the map" or "don't have your story straight." If they really don't like what they've heard, they may say you're "not telling the whole truth," or worse, that you're a "flip-flopper."
What's clear is that a consistent well-told story is a powerful tool for how a brand (company or product) will be received. As an added bonus, you'll find that a consistent story is also a sticky story—it stays with your audience and leaves an impression.
A consistent story, however, does not mean that you will have only a single story that you tell all the time. No, your product story will change as you introduce new products. Your company story will change as you refocus your market strategies. But once you’ve set a direction, your core or central message must be consistent, reliable and repeatable. A consistent story also doesn't mean simply saying the same thing over and over again. It needs to tell the same basic story in a way that allows it to be directly connected with your company and your customers.
Here are a few guidelines that will not only help you develop and deliver more consistent messages, but will also make your messages more powerful and memorable:
1. Make it simple.
Your messages must be simple to say, to understand and to repeat. Everyone in your organization must be able to repeat the same messages in the same way as you. It's easier to repeat a message that uses simple themes. The more complex you make your story, the more difficult you make it for your audience to receive. Ever listen to a fourth grader tell a story? Enough said.
2. Make it bold.
If you’re going to tell your company stories, you want to make bold statements. Bold statements become easy to associate with your brand. Consider strong, memorable company taglines. For example, what does Apple say? Think Different. It's a perfect tagline for its forward-thinking brand. How consistent would the company's brand image be if its tagline was "We Make the Second (or Third) Most Popular Computers?" Please. "We make widgets" is completely forgettable and is probably not consistent with what your company really does either. Think about your message and say it out loud.
3. Make it colorful.
There's no point in telling a boring story. You need to color in the details for your story to stick. Is your story about how your customers love your products? Then describe the way they demonstrate that love. The unlikely named Research in Motion makes a product that its customers are completely addicted to: the Blackberry. When it comes to their devotion to their devices, Blackberry users may only be considered sane when compared to iPhone users. Tell stories about how your customers use your products, where they take them and what they do with them that wasn't in the instruction manual.
Keep these guidelines in mind when you're developing your next product launch news release, writing a speech or creating customer communications and you'll find that there is amazing clarity in consistency. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Arthur Germain is principal and chief brandteller at Communication Strategy Group (www.GoCSG.com), a strategic brand marketing agency, where he helps brands become remembered, repeated and rewarded. He can be reached at info@gocsg.com or 631-239-6335.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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