Resoundcast - the branding podcast from Resound, a creative agency

Did you know your content ideas can give you monopoly power in your market? That's because when you really know your audience, your content tells them what they're thinking and then answers it directly, helping them to know how to think about a topic. And when they think about your topic in exactly the way you do, you win. But before you can connect, you have to listen. Today, I want to talk about how authentic branding, paired with an understanding of your audience, will activate relationships at the top of the marketing funnel, and all the way down. Remember, this all doesn’t have to happen today. But if you’re intent on brand and service strategy by including your audience in the conversation, this process is for you. Don’t stress about doing this overnight. Keep it simple and then focus on the next thing. https://youtu.be/eggheR2Mgls Identify the Audience You Want to Understand "Understand who you should be talking to for maximum brand resonance." What does this mean? Brand resonance is a fancy way to say your brand makes sense to your audience. Have they been beaten over the head by the industry, and you’re making them feel like you’re on their side? Do they have a frustration with the industry that you’re solving? You know, because you listened? Are they sick of seeing every firm acting like every other firm? In a world where everyone’s trying to be relevant and current, you stand out by focusing on what’s important. You rely on your values and brand personality, showing that you care less about impressing people with external things and more about timeless values—focusing on things that really matter. Define your ideal client by creating a persona. This process involves going to different resources and finding out where your potential clients hang out. The key is to place your brand where your ideal clients already are, as they usually won't come to your brand on their own. Give the persona demographic data, problems they're encountering, key values they hold, and psychographic information about how they think. Demographics can encompass details such as income, job title, type of firm they work for, and the size of the company. Understand Your Audience Using Inside Knowledge "Tap into internal insights to authentically reach your target market." All this means is that you should talk with other people in your firm about your clients. Build an understanding of who they are based on shared internal knowledge. What's going on when they're trying to take their kids to school? What's going through their mind when they wake up in the morning? Is there anything you don't know about the cycles of their business? So it’s not a scientific study or focus group. Oh well. It’s easy to do, and It’s more information than you had before, and now you can test the insights you gain from each other in other ways, such as by talking to clients. Plus, it builds a client-focused culture and lets everyone know that you’re interested in providing leads for them. Understand Your Audience's Preferred Channels "Explore unconventional marketing channels" Simply put: Find where your audience hangs out and engage them there. This is the core question of all media buying. Do they all have offices in the same part of town? Do they all go to the same hot dog stand or deli for lunch? Are they all in one LinkedIn group? Related: how does your competition try to reach them? If everyone’s using the same medium or marketing channel, you just need to think things through. Maybe you go back to sending postcards or invite them to a webinar. It helps to go back to your brand and product, and just think “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could advertise on a blimp downtown.” You may not pull that off, but that’s the kind of thinking that leads to some pretty cool ideas. Understand Your Current Audience "Use existing client patterns to identify your ideal customer profile."

Accounting firms are all the same, right? Nerdy, dad-joke-telling professionals who drive sensible cars and wear beige suits to work every day. Unless they’re feeling saucy, in which case they throw caution to the wind and go with the branded polo. Of course, these accounting stereotypes come straight from the ’90s and, more recently, Parks and Rec. But the industry isn’t exactly doing its job in busting that myth. Most accounting firms: Claim to be “more than just accountants.” Use blue and sometimes green in their branding. All on a mission to come across as a little more human than a calculator. Of course, we know these stereotypes don’t reflect the people working in the industry. And we’d like to help. https://youtu.be/GRal1TSGuGU The Index Here at Resound, we thought it would be interesting to see exactly how differentiated—or how homogenous—the industry actually is. So we grabbed 40 data points across 1,485 accounting firms, crunched a little data, and named it the “Remarkabrand Index for Accounting Firms.” The index reflected our desire to give firms a measurable standard against which to judge their branding efforts. Basically, “Are we different, or are we undistinguishable from our competition?” Why? Because differentiation is a real challenge. Accounting firms struggle to distinguish themselves in a competitive market. And until now, there was no quantitative, benchmarking tool to objectively measure brand differentiation. …until now. So How Did We Collect the Data? Tons and tons and tons of manual, sometimes painful, data entry (we're working on automation for this now). But other than that, it was easy. We looked at 40 data points, including SEO scores, naming conventions, word-choice differentiation (e.g. in tagline), and color and logo style ratings, to name just a few. The index revealed insights into effective differentiation strategies used by top firms. Here’s an overview of the data collection: SEO via Domain Authority Score We used a standard measuring tool called Domain Authority from Moz, which acts as a good summary indicator of SEO strength. For additional context, we looked at inbound links as well. Can Small Firms Compete? Toward the end of data collection, we started asking what company size and revenue had to do with the index score. Surely, bigger firms by revenue and employee count would do better, right? We’re glad we asked, because the results were a bit surprising, with many of the top-performing firms having fewer than 200 people. Visual Was Huge Through the Eyes of a Designer Some of the data wasn’t so straightforward from an evaluation standpoint. After all, there’s no math formula we know of to evaluate the quality of a logo or even the decade that inspired it. So we brought in the professionals. And lest you think designers are kookie, impractical, blocky-framed-non-prescription-glasses-wearing artsy types with no grounding in reality, we’ll have you know…our designers are pros. And it’s a good thing they are because we have deadlines. We asked them to evaluate based on design and branding principles. They tagged the logos and websites, collected colors, and, yes, even estimated the decade of the logo based on style. Does Accounting Look Old? In addition to how firms differentiate, we wanted to know: is it time for a rebrand? Has there been deferred maintenance on the brand? Who needs a new brand makeover? To get to the bottom of this, we ask a few questions: Design Era Classification: Was the logo designed in the 2000s by a guy who’s been unemployed ever since he designed the Windows 95 logo? Was it designed only this year by a design school student who’s so progressive that she lives in the future where styles from 20 years ago are cool again? To find this out—or at least assign a decade—designers went all antiques-roadshow and used style indicators to put the logos on a timeline.

Every brand gets its power from connecting with people and delivering on its promises. And that starts with internal branding. I’m taking inspiration from a conversation I had with David and Sam, where we emphasize internal branding: taking an internal focus before taking your brand identity to the world. We’ll explore why internal branding should be your first focus, the pitfalls of neglecting it, and how to implement it successfully within your team. By aligning your internal stakeholders first, you set the stage for a more cohesive and powerful brand presence in the market. https://youtu.be/hlG0ojbxGo0 Focus on Your Team First Nobody advocates for your brand like employees. Their words and actions tell everyone what your brand stands for. If they know your brand—and you hire well, based on your brand—your employees will see the connection. And that consistent brand experience—through the words and actions of your employees—connects with customers more than your claims ever will. Create clear guidance and your employees will give you a cohesive internal brand that enhances customer service, employee satisfaction, and overall business performance. Not Convinced Internal Branding Matters? Here’s what happens when external branding fails to connect with your employees. Lack of Cohesion. Without internal branding, your team acts and speaks inconsistently, confusing clients. Employee Disengagement. When employees don't feel connected to the brand, their engagement and productivity suffer. Reputation Risks. Inconsistent branding can damage your reputation, making it harder to attract both clients and talent. Missed Opportunities. A team that's not aligned with the brand won’t know how to represent the firm in social settings or online platforms. Neglecting internal branding can have real financial consequences, from lost sales to increased employee turnover. The Overview: Implement Internal Branding Branding starts at the top but doesn’t stay there. We’ve all seen companies that embrace amazing-sounding values but don’t live up to them. You might be at the counter at the car rental desk, and you can’t get the agent to live up to their own values. The values are literally on the wall behind the person helping you. They’re just not lived out. So how do you build out those brand values properly and honestly? Start with Leadership. The first step in internal branding is getting buy-in from the top. Leadership needs to exemplify the brand values. Synthesize. People grow in understanding when they’re asked to think through the brand regularly. Ask everyone to apply them to a situation that happened recently. Did they live up to them? Is there room for improvement? Make sure everyone understands the brand's values, mission, and vision. Give them Guides. Don’t give them long paragraphs to read. Give them workshops, handbooks, or even regular internal communications. Know the Tools for Internal Branding Internal branding uses different tools than external. But they all do the same thing in the end: instill an understanding of the brand to humans who can either be encouraged and excited about values or eventually forget. Here are some ways you can keep everyone engaged internally. Brand Handbook & Workshops: Combine a comprehensive guide with internal training sessions to educate team members on brand elements, values, and practical applications. Digital Communication: Use platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams for consistent, brand-aligned messaging and updates. Employee Engagement: Implement regular surveys and distribute high-quality branded merchandise to assess and reinforce brand understanding within the team. Prioritize the Launch Employees get engaged when they see the commitment from the firm's leadership. The most obvious way to do this is through a brand launch event. However you do it, make sure you launch in a very visible way that involve...

Tech innovations, like AI, come along every few years. The real question is, how will you leverage it—understanding the advantages and disadvantages of AI—to elevate your performance? AI improves automation and efficiency. It can analyze data, generate content, and even interact with customers. And it’s tough for humans to match the speed and cost. But ultimately, AI only replaces you for routine and repetitive marketing tasks. Maybe it’s time we talk about all its shortcomings, and what you can do to rise above yet another “disruptive” technology innovation. I talked with Anait Zubia, former marketing manager at Quora, about how she sees AI, and these insights came from that discussion. Let’s cover a few things AI’s not very good at and a third piece of advice for how to put it to work, pushing your career forward. https://youtu.be/N6teW246RdA You Dictate the Why: Measuring AI against real marketing objectives. For all of the benefits of AI, it doesn’t know how to create objectives, strategies, or even executions for your brand without your help. AI isn’t a project manager. You decide where AI fits in the process and what you expect it to do. Like any tool in your stack, keep it simple and build from there. AI isn’t a brand manager. It may understand your color scheme, but it doesn’t know how to connect with people. Your brand needs to do that. It can do a lot of work, but it needs accountability. This is where you put your brand manager hat on. AI isn’t a leader. Leaders make moral decisions. Sure, we think of leadership as everything from strategists to theorists who help us understand practical ways to get from here to there. But at their base, we expect leaders to be moral actors. It’s a prerequisite (except, apparently, in politics). The bottom line is that marketing leaders are still needed to make sure that what we do—and how we communicate—is moral, not just expedient. AI is not a replacement. It’s a support. It’s a tool, not a worker. But if you think about it the right way, it can free you up for other things. For example, the time you’re saving from writing a blog outline could be spent reading about leadership, or even walking around the office, exercising leadership by encouraging, problem-solving and helping others make good decisions and get work done. Leaders bring a sense of order and brand to the work. AI is just a tool that can help you execute. Leaders should view AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, human capabilities, allowing them to tackle more significant challenges in an AI-augmented world. The Dangers of Blind AI Trust For brands, we’re bringing a point of view to the areas we speak to. Your ability to evaluate and respond to new trends based on your brand makes your content interesting and gives it depth. But if you rely on AI to speak into your topics before you get a chance to analyze them, you may lose your edge, creating content that’s predictable and not valuable to your audience. Refresher: How Point of View Works in Creativity. Students of the creative process know there’s a thing called “top-down” thinking, which refers to your ability to form an opinion and dig into a topic before you start receiving information about it from outside sources. This gives your content originality. By forming an opinion based on your values first, you’re creating thought leadership in a way that makes sense, unpolluted by the complicated and often-convoluted thoughts of others…or the oft-misapprehended outputs of AI. This is especially true with political topics. AI is likely to take an inoffensive approach, which sometimes puts politeness over truth. So if your brand takes a truth-first approach—as part of its values—to making sense of topics, you’ll find AI lacking. The goal is not “diversity” or “homogeneity.” Rather, it’s helping people make sense of the world, and business, from your brand’s point of view.

In marketing, authenticity builds lasting connections. This means creating content that matters to your audience. But what happens when we introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) into this equation? Can we really maintain authenticity while leveraging AI for content creation? To understand the topic better, Sam and I interviewed Anati Zubia a seasoned marketing professional with stints in tech startups and, most recently, Quora. What are the rules for using AI to bolster your marketing efforts? Here’s what came out of that conversation. https://youtu.be/lX7edQm6Qxw Remember Your Goal: Create Content that Matters Technologies and fads change, but meaningful content will always build relationships. Don’t lose sight of this, because it’s your job. Anati stressed the importance of crafting content that truly resonates with your audience and addresses their core problems. Know your audience’s pain points. Content starts with understanding the customer's problems. If you know their problems—and how they speak about them—you can cut through the clutter. What are their needs? What are their goals? What’s between them and those things (that you can help with)? AI doesn’t understand these things. It doesn’t grasp the complexity of human problems and changing preferences. The dynamic nature of customer needs and market trends adds a layer of intricacy that AI is still evolving to navigate accurately. This affects the ability to write strategy (understanding problems) and to write copy (to connect with people). AI can certainly aid in content creation, but authentic human insights into customer pain points and desires remain at the core of content that resonates. As businesses integrate AI into their content creation strategies, the alignment between AI assistance and human understanding becomes the key to producing content that genuinely matters. So how do you align those things? Keep reading. 1. AI Can't Generate Original Content, but It Can Help AI tools like ChatGPT aren't innately original, but they boost your creative process by leaving you lots of energy to put toward other things, like editing and asking questions. You can use AI-generated content as a springboard for your marketing materials. By merging AI-generated ideas with your human insights, you can craft standout content while retaining authenticity. Why can’t AI create new ideas and connections? Because at the center of creativity is the ability to connect with people by connecting ideas that aren’t explicitly related to ideas. And how do you train AI to see the funny side of something if the idea of “funny” is different in every situation? The human brain possesses a unique skill in linking seemingly unrelated concepts. Effective content sometimes pairs ideas that initially appear unrelated, resulting in a perspective that conveys a sense of discovery. Only the human mind can do that. And AI can free up more of your time for things like that if it can act as your secretary, doing the simpler tasks for you. Where AI is strong: Using tools like ChatGPT can serve as a compass to gauge language trends and content styles. These outputs give us insights into current usage and style. In a way, it shows us what everyone else is doing. 2. Use AI to Create Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) We mentioned using AI to do the more menial tasks of marketing and content creation. Creating an FAQ is a great use and one that Anati recommends. Since AI-powered tools can aggregate and organize industry info, it’s great at generating, organizing, and refining FAQ content to provide web content. Here's how AI can help with building FAQs: Make it generate initial content. AI can analyze large volumes of data, including customer inquiries, industry-specific information, and existing FAQs, to generate an initial set of questions and answers. Find relevant topics. AI algorithms can analyze website content,

Mergers and acquisitions can ruin a B2B brand. Even the best-intentioned M&A can take a toll on a brand when rushed decisions lead to a lack of coordination in the culture and a timid approach to the market. I had a conversation with Jaimi Koechel who’s a veteran of both a firm rebrand and a B2B brand merger about how to execute a merger well, from a branding perspective. https://youtu.be/YjBNFIHU0BU B2B Brand Mergers: 2 Views Firms take different views on M&As. Some see it as just an opportunity to expand, adding a book of business and making the firm’s strengths available to a wider audience and geographical area. But while the firm’s management may be thinking about expansion, and making higher-level decisions about naming, the accounting firm marketer’s job is to think about how the brand gets lived out over the course of the merger. Anyone who’s been through a merger knows that, although the technical aspects of a merger take only months and end when the announcement is made, everyone gets new office signage, new email signature lines, and t-shirts with the new logo, the effects of the B2B brand merger last until everyone understands the new brand. It can take months and years to get everyone to embrace the new brand, especially when two companies form a merged brand, and two cultures come together. The Marketing Goal of a B2B Brand Merger As a marketer, your job is twofold: End up with a strong brand whose values are understood and mean something, along with the requisite visual and verbal assets and guidance. Shorten the time between the merger and a strong culture that will consistently and convincingly live out the firm’s values. We can’t control how quickly people grasp the culture at the individual level, but we can think ahead and make the path clear. The Remarkabrand podcast was joined again by award-winning accounting marketer and former client Jaimi Koechel to help us understand what’s coming down the pike when two firms form a single, merged brand. https://youtu.be/YjBNFIHU0BU 3 Decisive Moves Toward Brand B2B Brand Merger Success I asked Jaimi about some of the challenges accounting marketers face during a merger. How do you maintain the strength of a brand when a merger presents every opportunity to dilute the brand? How do you help everyone make sense of the rebrand and keep them focused on what’s important? Brand managers face a unique challenge when their firm merges with another firm since planning isn’t always straightforward. How do you make a merged brand that makes sense? Let’s continue on and talk about things you can do to solidify the brand during a merger or acquisition. Predict Brand Disagreements Nobody’s more likely to see potential brand disagreements than you are. As the caretaker of a brand you may have had a hand in developing, you’re likely more aware of the conflicts you see coming. And if you can express your concerns well—and think of ways everyone involved can work together to solve them—you could turn a problem into a big win for everyone—especially you and the firm. After all, it’s not the order-takers who help the leadership make sense of things. Rather, it’s those people who can solve problems, make decisions and get people working together. A Few Examples Whose logo and brand name will we use? Although this decision is usually implied by the structure of the merger/acquisition, it opens up a broader question about the rollout: how will we make this make sense to our clients? How aligned are the two brands to begin with? Do the voice, tone, mood, and values complement each other, or do they conflict? Are the two cultures able to work together? Is one more focused on individual relationships while the other sees clear processes as better for everyone? Clients are accustomed to a particular treatment, and your staff is used to having the flexibility or formality to carry out the same level of service. How will that change?

Accounting firm rebrands hardly ever happen in perfect conditions. But it's those challenges that grow us into leaders who can push through and win. For example, in my Remarkabrand podcast conversation with former client Jaimi Koechel—an award-winning marketing director with deep experience in accounting firms—we covered accounting firm branding, rebranding during transitions, and what a successful, inside-out brand build looks like. Jaimi’s approach to demonstrating the value of branding to her firm's partners reminded me of a few things. https://youtu.be/nfJdZkyioY4 Podcast Thoughts As I am wont to do, I’ll bring in my first point with an illustration from a TV show—the historical drama series "Chernobyl" that came out a few years ago. After the Chornobyl nuclear reactor melts down, the secretive Soviet government meets in Moscow to discuss what happened. One scene in particular puts us right in the shoes of Valery Legasov, a nuclear physicist who figures out that the reactor's core exploded. But at the table with Premier Gorbachev and his top advisors, Legasov realizes that his country’s leaders have no idea what happened. They don’t understand that millions might die from lethal radiation if they don’t act fast. This gives him no choice but to speak up—and risk his life and career in the process. Fortunately, Gorbachev hears him out, and after telling the horrifying truth no one wants to hear, Legasov finds himself advising the entire containment effort. It’s a far stretch from nuclear meltdowns, but the problem of preoccupied decision-makers not understanding something’s critical importance is one we can all relate to. Herein lies a branding point that accounting firms should consider: A firm’s leadership may not see or fully understand the value of authentic brand building. Someone, perhaps even you, might need to demonstrate that value before the branding effort can begin. As Jaimi, a longtime accounting firm branding advocate put it on my podcast, “They won’t know they need you at the table until you show them that they need you.” Accounting firms should be no strangers to the branding process. Instead of assuming a killer logo will just do the trick, firms that want to build relationships with their clients need to put the work in on the branding front, to the point of owning their authentic brand identity. Neglecting, misunderstanding or undervaluing brand identity makes for thorny problems: diluting brand and reputation or confusing the audience, to name a few. Outside of building out a true, authentic, consistent brand identity, how will everyone else know how remarkable they are? With these takeaways and Jaimi’s story as a starting point, here are my quick thoughts on what every firm should know about accounting firm branding, branding advocacy, and how brand identity helps firms build remarkable, lifelong relationships. Let’s dive in. Every Accounting Firm Needs a Brand Advocate First, I’ll pass a little more of Jaimi’s advice to anyone who might be in this position. If you have a seat at your firm’s leadership table, or if you’re simply making the case for some kind of branding effort to your firm’s team members, you probably need some wind in your sails. Hopefully, this will lend you some. As you think about how to show your firm’s partners the value of brand building, don’t forget… To play the long game. Building trust takes time. Even with Jaimi’s marketing background, adjusting her rebrand proposal to suit her firm’s needs took time and persistence. Eventually, as she won trust and got to know the firm’s specific needs, her firm’s partners saw the value in what she was proposing. After partners warmed up to the idea of a complete rebrand, Jaimi led the way. To always put the firm first Even if you majored in graphic design and have the perfect new logo ready to go…remember that accounting firm branding isn't about your ideas per se.

If you know so much about it, why don’t you write a book? Imagine being able to say: “Yeah, I did that... and here it is.” Mic drop. Here, in part II of taking your brand anthem to a thoughtful, well-developed book that demonstrates your expertise, I’m making the argument that every firm (including yours) should chase that feeling. Building on last month, when I made the case for writing a book with co-authors with the partners of your firm, and over a calendar year of recorded conversations, I’ve got more thoughts on the writing process itself. But before I dive in, I’ll go ahead and tell you why. https://youtu.be/tNio5GpRXxU Why write a book? Why take the effort to plan, write, edit, and publish a piece of content that based on your brand anthem, if we’re being honest, probably won’t be a bestseller, or even a moderately successful seller? Because publishing a book is a powerful long-term strategy to build your firm’s reputation for thought leadership, and at the same time, define its position in a marketplace filled with noise. In another article we’ve published, Chief Operating Officer Chris Stadler puts it this way: “If your firm writes a book, it’s a sign that your thoughts and processes are time-tested and organized. Anyone who can talk deeply enough about a topic to write a book demonstrates depth and experience.” This is especially true in professional services, where brands develop their reputation and define their place in the market through knowledge, competence, word-of-mouth, and in-depth experience with a particular topic. If you’re in accounting, law, or engineering, then your respective knowledge of case law, financial trends, or the geographical layout of the Colorado River basin is your bread and butter. With that in mind, a brand anthem book gathers all that knowledge into an eye-catching, tremendously helpful brand asset. Of course, knowing what you do is different from communicating that to everyone else. Before you get cracking on a book, your best bet is having your firm’s brand story right. Brand Anthem Squared This is where your brand anthem comes in. Whatever your content strategy looks like—and trust me, articles, brand videos, a podcast, a killer website, and social media accounts filled with clever posts are all a pretty great start—it should be centered on a clear, memorable brand anthem. That is, on a memorable story of how you help guide your clients to the solution they need in your unique, unduplicated way. The same goes for a book; it should wave your brand’s banner in an unmistakable way, even as it dives into your point of view, experience, and comprehensive knowledge of a particular topic. Even where it dovetails with your regular ongoing strategy, a book built from a truthful, memorable brand anthem should take things further. More than standalone blog posts, and even more than a viral brand video that’s trending with your target audience, a book fleshes out your brand anthem in a definitive way. One that commands your audience’s attention. Put Another Way A book takes all the content strategy that you’re already putting out, and condenses it into a sophisticated, reputable piece of brand content. All together in one package, with a clean title and an author from your firm on the cover, and listed on Amazon or stacked on a table at an annual convention, a book speaks volumes. It produces a level of reputational trust that I haven’t seen with other pieces of content that firms put out in the marketplace. As you can imagine, a book is even more than a summary of your brand anthem, or one source volume of content strategy. Rather, it’s a valuable, sophisticated asset for your firm and your firm’s brand. Not to mention a reputational investment in your firm’s role as a thought leader. Your Brand Anthem: Going Beyond ‘Write What You Know’ You’ve probably heard that you should ‘write you know.

As we all know, there’s more than one way to get your firm’s brand out into the world. Traditional content strategy with a website, ad campaigns, articles, social media, and a skillfully edited brand video is increasingly common—and not necessarily ineffective. If it’s done well and authentically, not by a long shot. Trust me, you don’t have to go super-outlandish with free air guitars or pregnancy test coupons in magazines to get your brand seen. As I wrote about last month, short videos are probably the most potent, shareable way to capture your brand anthem and communicate it with a wider audience. Video taps two of the five senses, taps memory and emotion, and speaks the common parlance of phones, tablets, and computer screens that take up people’s time. But even if you’re dropping money on filming or professional editing, there’s one final strategy you should not overlook. Writing (and, of course, publishing) your brand anthem in a book. A brand book, or perhaps a book containing your collected thoughts on a relevant business or marketing topic, gets people excited—especially in professional services. Think of a brand book as a printed, sophisticated piece of thought leadership: a respectable piece of developed, long-form content that contains your brand anthem and even raises it to a higher level of conversation. But writing a book raises pointed questions, with the first one being: How do I get there? How do I get my brand anthem into an actual book someone can hold in their hands? Do I have to write? What about editing and publishing—aren’t those lengthy journeys in and of themselves? Great questions. But before I dive in, let me recap what any brand or topical book should be doubling down on: brand anthem. If you want to do something right, there’s no getting enough of the basics. https://youtu.be/7eJqjJevgEc Brand Anthem If your brand anthem is the starting point—your north star for a killer video, slick visuals and marketing, or even a product rollout—you should know exactly what it is and why it resonates with people. Lest we forget, a good brand anthem builds on elements of a good story (one about your clients, and how you help them) and waves them into a clear, vibrant banner. I walked through the elements of a brand anthem in detail, but they’re worth repeating—there’s the hero (your client), the problem they’re facing, the guide (that’s YOU), and then the solution. As you can probably imagine, the story goes like this: the hero had a problem, and with the help of a trusting, knowledgeable guide, the hero solved that problem. That story, of course, contains your brand’s unique traits and values. If it’s uniquely you—and don’t forget, whether you’re an accounting firm or a law firm or an engineering firm, you’re still the guide—then your brand anthem should set you apart from the stories that other brands are telling… in a pretty big way. How do you uniquely help the hero? Which kind of hero (or better yet, which problem) are you focused on solving? How do you uniquely solve it? With what philosophy or fresh vision of a better world? How is your solution different from other brands? If your brand story sounds a little too familiar… then it might be time to tease it out a little more. Getting your brand anthem clear, and polished, and getting your message about who you are on point means carving out your position in the marketplace. What’s your approach to the hero’s problem? What’s your unique solution? Your answer for a segment of the market that’s not being fully served? Potent brand anthems are usually the focused ones… and if we’re talking about writing a book on it, the more potent, the better. Starting the Book Process Say you’ve got all that—a brand anthem with a tight, well-messaged story, and maybe even a tagline to go with it. Say you’re developing that brand anthem with your website.

“Do you have videos? Videos are the best! Oh you’ve got to have videos,” … said every SEO and marketing guy ever. For the most part, and in a world that’s increasingly defined by phone screens, video uploads, and short, watchable content, I’m on board with that. Of course, I’m not talking about tapping your inner Hollywood director and going wildly off color—if you’re a highly-ranked law firm with a long standing reputation, would you really run a cheesy, late night T.V. commercial? Or if you’re a no-nonsense wholesale store, do you really want to post Tik Tok videos with customers getting their twerk on? Maybe you do… but I digress. Having made the case that every brand should be telling its remarkable story in the form of a potent brand anthem, I will say that video, more than any other mass media or medium, captures that anthem in a shareable, authentic way. More to the point, and remembering that your remarkable brand identity boils down to you, video far surpasses written copy, visuals, or even audio as a way to show your authentic self. Provided it’s done well, and built on the truth of your brand story. Keep reading and I’ll gladly tell you why. https://youtu.be/qtfnej5C4pQ Brand Video Taps the Senses Why are videos so effective? A short answer is that they tap into two of the most important senses people have—hearing and sight—at the exact same time. When it’s done correctly, (and you don’t need $30,000 cameras to do that), video weaves sight and sound together in a seamless, memorable way. That being said, I will say that at least half of a video’s effectiveness is actually the sound. Being able to hear someone speak without interference, or choosing the right music track to go behind the visuals might be just as important as what people see when they watch your video. Recording garbage audio usually makes for a terrible video, even if you’ve got A-list actors, perfect lighting, and so on. Of course the visuals are important—I’m not talking about radio shows or podcasts. Video is, of course, visually moving, unlike still graphics and illustration. As such, the visual, even in the old time, black and white motion picture sense, is stirring. If we think of brand video as a trifecta that brings our senses together, its elements would be visual, audio, …and the story expressed through both of those things. More on Brand Story You might have a great video. Killer sound, a visually compelling subject that captures the eyes with style and color… but if you’re completely missing the final element of storytelling, you probably won’t be holding anyone’s attention spans. On that note, they’re increasingly short and getting shorter by the day. More than written content, visuals, or even audio in isolation, a video with a story packages all those elements together in a way that quickly gets someone’s attention and then keeps it long enough for you to show your brand anthem. What’s in a brand story? I talked more about this in previous articles, but here’s a recap. In your own brand story, you’re not the hero. Rather, your customer or client is the hero, and you’re the guide, the one making the difference that enables the hero to achieve their goal and make the world a better place. When you set to making that Oscar-worthy brand video, remember this template: hero, (your client), guide (your brand), the hero’s problem, and solution. The solution, the thing that solves the hero’s problem and enables them to cross the finish line, is what you offer: your benefits, what you deliver, and what makes it unique and suited to the hero. On a deeper level, it’s also the benefits you (through the hero) deliver to others at the end of the story. What’s the difference that you, as a guide, make in your hero’s world? In the broader world for your customers and your clients? Framing your video’s message and any marketing content within a story makes things crystal clear for ...

When you think of the American National Anthem, what comes to mind? Is it the melody? Or the first lines that many of us sang in grade school, or before a baseball game with thousands of people? ‘Oh say, can you seeee…by the dawn’s early light.’ If you’re more pedantic, you might think of more lyrics and the imagery of the ‘bombs bursting in air.’ Or if you’re into history (like I am), you might think of the context—author Francis Scott Key, who watched the all-night bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British vessel in the Chesapeake Bay, and then scribbling down the words when the Fort’s flag was still flying in the morning. All those things touch on the anthem in meaningful ways. But if you think about it, a country’s anthem is really more than the words, the melody, the history, or even our own memories of it. All of those things spring from it, but stripped to its core identity, a country’s anthem is a collective story—a lyrical one to be sure. It’s a story that embodies national history, values and aspirations, but also, and more powerfully, the feelings, ideas, and associations people have, and share about their country. Pride, camaraderie, historical events collectively remembered, honor for those who sacrificed for their country—everything’s wrapped up in that story and what it means to people. You’ve probably heard another country’s national anthem…but unless you’ve lived or spent some time in that country, hearing it probably didn’t prompt all of the thoughts and feelings that come with hearing your own national anthem. There’s nothing wrong with that. The point is that people are wired with deep, personal loyalties, and those loyalties are tied to stories. Just like someone who appreciates a national anthem, a good brand builder does well to understand that. https://youtu.be/7xW8aeSrQCw Brand Anthem Defined I know what you’re thinking…great topic for the Fourth of July. Fair enough. But when it comes to thinking about your brand’s story, how you tell it, and how that telling of it makes people think and feel, thinking in terms of a national anthem makes sense. With that in mind, your brand’s ‘anthem’ is more than good content, great marketing, or obviously, an incredible product or service that keeps people coming back. Rather, it’s your unique, remarkable story, and telling it in a way that unifies all those things with personality, emotion, and authenticity that people relate to. I’ll talk more about this later, but I will say that one of the best ways to express and share your brand anthem is through video. As far as putting your brand anthem out in the world both visually and audibly, it seems to be a natural way to do that. Obviously, you can do that in other parts of your brand, your website, your collateral, and the way that you talk to clients, but the video side is an optimal way to capture and communicate it. Of course, there’s a temptation to cram everything—every service or product you offer—into your brand’s communication. But more than likely, that will come across as confusing or overwhelming to your audience. If you find yourself cramming everything in, take a step back, because you shouldn’t be. A solid brand anthem video dodges that problem while communicating something evocative—starting with your brand’s story. A Good Anthem Starts with Story As I’ve said and written about before, your brand story is the foundation, the starting point for everything you’ll communicate through marketing, visuals, and a cohesive brand expression. Along with your brand’s purpose, history, and mission—your brand’s story is no small ingredient in your brand’s anthem. There’s any number of storytelling formulas. For more digging, I’d recommend reading up on Joseph Campbell’s (no relation to Campbell’s soup) template called the Hero’s Journey. Campbell based his template on what he found after looking through thousands of stories spanning ancient his...

More than ever, everyone works, meets, and shops online. It’s no surprise that companies which previously insisted on a brick and mortar location for their workers are now almost completely remote. But regardless of that steadily encroaching fact, your brand’s geographic, physical location still matters. In fact, and for a few primary reasons, I’m going to spend this month’s article arguing that it matters even more than you think. The main reason why location matters—and a kind of catch-all summary for more reasons—is that we’re physical beings…obviously. We exist in physical locations. Even with the likes of e-commerce, virtual reality, and opportunities to work online embedding themselves into the fabric of daily life, geographic locations and all their sensory, historical-cultural, and experiential particulars still pique and intrigue us—or in some cases, repel us. You don’t need to look very far to find examples of this, (unless you’ve been dutifully under a rock this last month.) If you think physical locations and all their colorful baggage don’t matter, look no further than people and companies moving from coastal states to other states in record numbers. Or just look at all the hype and controversies that surrounded Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. As the old realtor’s adage goes, there’s no beating—or at least, no factoring out—location, location, location. Fair enough. But what does all this have to do with brand building? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ1H7SugaeY Brand Location Quiz Here’s a brain-teaser. Each of these brands and companies drew closely from a physical location for their name and brand identity. Can you guess that founding location for… Patagonia (outdoorsy clothing based in California…but where does its name come from?) Haribo (gummy bears) Big Sky Brewing (glug, glug) Cisco (digital technology and communication) Valero (gas stations) Carrefour (a French grocery chain…no hint with that one) And, last but not least: Bank of America (a little trickier…but worth looking up if you don’t know the answer) There you go. I’ll include the answers at the bottom of this article…scroll ahead if you can’t wait to see them. As you can probably tell, I really enjoy this topic. In fact, I wrote and published a previous article on location branding, how important it is, and how B2B’s can incorporate their location into the winsome mix of an authentic brand identity. Here, I’m keeping this topic up-to-date with a more horizontal focus on location, and its role in your organization’s day-to-day, operational landscape. Even if your workforce is all remote–or if you’re like most companies in that you’re still trying to figure out this work-from-home, shop-from-home, some people back in the office hybrid thing out–your location matters. Even if you’re an e-commerce business that sells to customers who don’t interact with you, and who simply buy your product without ever coming into any kind of physical, real-world environment. Nevertheless, depending on your brand strategy and perhaps to a lesser degree than other circumstances, location is still important. With that in mind, the question I’ll be focusing on is how. How does location matter to a brand or company? In what ways and to what extent? Geography and Location Basics As it usually turns out, the branding’s in the details. Historically, and before it became hard to find a company’s physical address on their website, physical location embodied a large part of a brand’s identity. More than that, claim to a particular location often, and still, shapes a brand’s strategy and expression, playing on how people around the world perceive that location. While that claim takes many different forms and shapes a brand in countless ways, a lot depends on branding efforts that might or might not be taking location into account.

Here’s a riddle…although if you’ve been reading or listening recently, it’s more of a review question. What do slick, wildly successful brands like Salesforce, Nike, and Apple have in common with England’s historic royal families? Aside from hype, hefty name recognition, sky-high valuations that might compare to the Windsor family’s personal fortune, what’s the common thread? Give up? From a brand-builder’s perspective, there’s a right answer—they’re all distinguished, organizational, or ‘household’ brands that stamp their values, history, and reputation on every product. Or in the case of the Windsors, every family member. When we think about branding for individual products versus branding for organizations, household brands present one kind of overlap. Usually, it’s the good kind. Whether they’re putting out a new pair of basketball shoes, a line of kids’ athletic shorts, or an app that can track your biometrics while you work out, all of Nike’s products are clearly Nike. Though varied, built for different purposes, and even aimed at different audiences, each product reflects Nike’s core values. Those shoes, sorts, and app all exude its mantra of just do it, and carry that same reputation for stylish, athletic excellence. Each has the swoosh logo in a place where you can see it. In other words, that strong, overarching brand carries a lot of weight and communicates a distinct identity. But while they all get a lift from that household brand, all of those individual products need to maintain trust and consistency. Of course, Nike, Apple, and even Disney are not indestructible. If a company with a high-flying reputation puts out one bad product, and then another…soon enough the entire brand will suffer. https://youtu.be/k2T7EFVG5g0 Moving on From Product Branding Last month, I talked all about product branding, and how making really amazing products (or, if you’re a business to business company, offering really amazing services) is a prerequisite, but not enough. Without a cohesive brand expression, marketing, and a strategy for gaining the trust and attention of those who might need that product, or service, chances are few people will know about it. To that end, thoughtful product branding strategy hinges on the audience. Knowing who your audience is and what relationship you’re building with them by way of your service is the starting point—and for many successful companies (Jeep, for one, comes to mind), it’s one way to build a widely recognized organizational brand. People get to know that overall brand, and in the future, they return to them, because of their relationship with a product or service they really love. The association of the product transfers over to the household brand, and hopefully to more products or services that household brand might offer. While this makes sense if you’re building outward for a product, or a service, there’s another, and I’d argue, a more advantageous way to approach branding for an organization. Branding Your Organization Starts With…Your Organization. No, I actually mean that. While it might sound somewhat corny or on the nose, please bear with me: Rather than starting with the audience (as you might with product branding…or as you’d probably have to if your whole brand is wrapped up in one product), start with yourself. I’m not saying your audience, your customers, or the corner of the world that you’ll be interacting with day in, day out is irrelevant. Don’t throw everyone else overboard while you go on some pilgrimage to another dimension. Instead, do yourself the courtesy of realizing you, your team, and your entire organization is remarkable. From there, start digging…and just like you’d examine your audience, their needs, their history, their location, their purpose, their unique traits, values, likes, and dislikes as if you were marketing a product,

Is your brand imprisoned by a single product? Don’t worry…we know someone on the inside who can help you escape. Some guy with an insane plan and a blueprint of the prison facility tattooed all over his body. Once you’re out you’ll be on the run, wanted by the Feds—and of course, you’ll be caught up in a steamy love triangle. But don’t worry…we’re gonna get you out of here. Let’s Try This Again. All right. Now that Prison Break’s out of my system…let me properly introduce this month’s branding topic, along with the overarching question. If your company finds itself branded all around ONE product, how does it pivot away from that? Should it? If so, then how does a company with a Johnny-One-Note product line rebrand itself so that people see a unified, authentic, corporate identity that stands behind all of its products? To anchor this in a real-world case study, how does a company like Axon, (formerly Taser International, the company known for building Tasers comes to mind…) steer away from being overly defined by one product in the first place? Tough questions…but if you feel like one product or service has put your brand in prison, here’s our thoughts on making a break for it. https://youtu.be/lgof12A0QPw Before You Rebrand Count the cost. Rebranding your entire organization is a huge endeavor, so before you go down that road, think broadly and strategically. Consider the big picture of your brand, your products, and where you might be heading. A little more about Taser International, which dominated the market for Tasers and then, (surprise, surprise), became singularly identified with selling Tasers. While Taser had other products, breaking out of the one-product prison came at a price — rebranding their entire organization as Axon Enterprises, a supplier of body cams, drones, and all kinds of law enforcement accessories. While we can chalk up Axon as a success story — one of a challenging, but necessary rebrand from a single product brand to a broader corporate identity — consider them an exception. They’re also a good case study of why establishing your organizational brand clearly, purposefully, and early on can give you a sense of where you want to go beyond one product. Brand Like an Extended Family If your company houses multiple products, define your brand in a way that allows it to house all of those products in a cohesive, authentic, and yet recognizable way. Piece of cake, right? We grant that it’s not a trivial undertaking. But if your company houses multiple products, developing your brand into one that can lend full support and identification with all those products is well-worth the thought and planning. When it works, it’s pretty phenomenal. If you think of companies like Apple or Nike, you see that this strategy of an overarching, organizational brand is one that drives demand for all the products they sell. Sure, the products themselves have their own brands, many with their own unique identities. But they all carry traits of the overarching corporate identity. They’re all part of the family. For a fun analogy, you can think of a household brand as similar to the royal families that ruled England in an unbroken dynasty. Every member of the family shared a recognizable surname, not to mention a set of colors, a legacy, and a distinct family crest. While some of those royal families had to rebrand themselves (I’ll tell you about how the Windors of Windsor Castle weren’t really the Windsors some other time), the concept of a royal family name leads me to another situation — one where companies and brands need to be careful because the single product is a person. When Everything’s in A Name You’ve probably heard of Dave Ramsey. If you haven't, he's a financial guy who became a household name for his advice about getting out of debt. He’s also known for Financial Peace University. But while his main thing,

Last month, I wrote about how authentic brands that last and endure build a loyal community. This month, I’m tackling a logical, highly relevant follow-up question. Given the polarization that’s put everyone in our country under increasing pressure to take sides, can authentic brands be canceled? It’s possible… and with an ever-increasing list of notable examples, brands facing backlash and cancellation are becoming less and less of an anomaly. While there are many ways to embroil your brand in some kind of viral, meme-worthy controversy, (if that were my topic, that might be a fun article…) the question I’m asking is: how do authentic brands serve their customers and continue to resonate, even amid a highly politicized culture war? Furthermore, aside from walking the tightrope of not offending—or to be realistic, of offending some people in a way that doesn’t do lasting damage—how do brand and company owners know when it’s time to speak up or stay quiet? When it comes to politics, conventional business wisdom says always stay out of it. While I see the level-headedness and caution inherent in that approach, it’s actually not a one-size-fits-all for every brand. So, is there a right time to take a stand? If there is, and if they must wear one jersey or another, how do authentic brands do it without getting canceled, forgotten, and booed out of existence by everyone in the stands? It’s a thorny question but, by all accounts, a good one. Like many thorny branding questions, the answer takes us down to motives, intentions, and the extent to which a brand or company, its team, and even its customers understand identity. https://youtu.be/S5i79bVKKLI To Thine Own Self, Be True Believe it or not, the first and foremost defense against getting canceled is a good offense. Brand companies that, for any number of reasons, step away from the consistent, authentic identity that they’ve built to score political or social points pay the biggest price…and usually see the biggest backlash. The rule of thumb here can be expressed in a simple question—does taking a political stance (or refusing to take one when it's all the rage and the pressure’s on) make sense given who you really are? Given your brand’s authentic identity? Is it a clear and logical extension of your values, who you are and who your customers know you are, and the overarching purpose behind everything you do? If not, and if stepping out into a dicey conversation has no connection to what you do and who you are, should you expect that new, controversial website banner or political hashtag to come across as genuine? Probably not…and chances are, it won’t. What if commenting on something does align with your brand? On the other hand, if your band has had a clear ideological strain from the beginning (brands like Ben and Jerry’s, Chick Fil-A, and Rolling Stone magazine come to mind) and if your values, message, and actions have reflected those political leanings for a long time, taking a stand might be consistent with your values. Chances are, the customers you resonate with will recognize that and the outrage that leads to calls for cancellation will be minimal. In short, and to the extent that any first line of defense is probably a good thing, a brand that knows itself, and navigates political winds in a way that’s consistent with its purpose and core values, is more likely to keep an even keel. Even, as you sometimes hear when war breaks out, the game goes to overtime, or a jury goes to deliberate, when all bets are off. In the Crossfire As we increasingly see political stands and calls for cancellation on both ends of politics in America and even the world, more and more brands are getting caught in the crossfire. Running with my first premise—that a brand which is authentic, which has done the hard work of finding its frequency, knowing its purpose, its values and who it is has a built-in defense against ...

How do you truly connect with your brand's audience? Through story. Great stories stick with us...and the reason why is no great mystery. They resonate. From Star Wars and The Godfather to the plays of William Shakespeare, a great story survives time and change because for audience after audience, something true and potent sunk in. Star Wars and Brand Story That is, if we break apart the plot of the first Star Wars film, we see a template of events that are millennia old — a young hero who yearns for adventure is pried from home after a trusting guide, and a chaotic chain of events thrusts him into the innards of the Death Star itself. The events are both deeply familiar and yet invigorating...because, on some level, we see our own life parallel the hero’s quest. So we watch. Story Involves and Motivates Your Brand's Audience In other words, stories like Star Wars don’t exist in a vacuum. They land, and land well, with their brand's audience...and with subsequent generations of audiences who love the story so much they consume fan fiction, dress up for conventions, and in some countries, lobby to make Star Wars an official religion. If you’re just joining us, don’t worry. This article isn’t part of a Star Wars series and we won’t be talking about the new Obi-Wan show. Rather, it’s a series on authentic B2B branding...and my point is that potent brands reach people with the posture and messaging of a timeless classic story. If you’re just joining by the way, you can read more about how the elements of a brand that guides its customer (the hero), mesh with the elements of story by reading this article on how to tell a remarkable brand story. https://youtu.be/jgXdwIebNHA The Final Piece of Your Branding Effort Riffin’ on story brings me right to the heart of it. On the top of the branding pyramid, way above the foundation of a true, authentic purpose — and above the narrowing, rising layers of personality, metaphor, archetype, history, location, and brand story — we find a sharpened, or…if we’re still talking pyramids, a crudely sharpened capstone. As magnificent as it may look, the whole structure is pointing at something: Your brand’s audience. Every author knows that when you’re telling a story, you need to pay attention to your brand's audience. The same applies for a large corporation, a regional B2B branding agency like Resound, and your own company. Who’s your brand's audience? Which hero are you aiming to guide to the finish line? While most companies have a good, or even a statistically sharpened understanding of who they’re trying to reach, the question is worth asking again, and as simply as possible, from a brand and brand story perspective. Your Brand's Audience Squared You might respond that I’m forgetting one thing — your brand or company has more than one audience. Take it easy. If you’ve got more than one audience, (or more than one product), you’re in good company. In fact, even if you create one product or offer one service, you’ve probably got a few audiences already in the bag. When we think of any given brand story, four distinct audiences come to mind: Your customers (or clients, or whomever you serve) Your employees (or volunteers, or members, or whoever is on your ‘team’) Your investors (or partners, or shareholders, or whoever your biggest stakeholders are) Your community (the people who share your location, geographically or otherwise) Depending on your type of organization, the specifics of each of your brand's audience will vary, but the categories will remain roughly the same. For instance, a non-profit doesn’t have shareholders, but it does have donors who make a financial investment. An ethnic grocery chain’s “community” may not only be its neighborhood, but also the ethnic community in the city in which it plays a role...and that “community” probably includes other competing businesses in the grocery industry.

This is it, remarka-fans. How to tell a remarkable brand story This month, I’m cutting right to brand story—the heart of a brand’s posture toward the world and its customers, and the final piece that ties a brand’s expression, identity, and strategy together. If you love a good story, (seriously…who doesn’t?), and if you know that telling one can mean the difference between scaling your brand dramatically or getting little traction with the same old strategies… then you’re in the right place. Welcome to the writer’s room. If you’ve been following my series on discovering your brand’s purpose and remarkable identity, and then using it to build a winsome, potent brand expression, then you might sense that we’re nearing the summit. And if you’re just joining in, that’s also swell… and if you enjoy the view then you’ll probably find the previous stages of our branding journey worth your time. All of the tools we’ve discussed so far, from your brand’s archetype, metaphor, and location to its own slice of history, culminate in your overarching remarkable brand story. A well-developed brand isn’t an image. Or a tagline. Or even a killer color scheme. Those are ways of expressing the brand…but they’re no substitute for its story. In many ways, and when it comes to what the busy world sees and hears, a brand is its story. https://youtu.be/CZ7FflRDxJ8 Whittling Story Down to a Remarkable Brand Story Hollywood screenwriters and those who study ancient civilizations love to tell us that there’s only one story. Maybe two… and on the note, the variations I’ve heard are: 1) a stranger comes to town. 2) a stranger goes on a journey. But if you’re a fan of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, then you’ve probably had a taste of how much debate, speculation, and back-and-forth exists amongst story and movie buffs. Seriously. There’s enough of it to fill a thousand masterclasses. But the good news for B2B’s is that the elements of story sharpen down nicely for those building a brand. A classic story has five key elements: the balance, the unbalance, the quest, the crisis, and the new balance. In plain English, here’s what those five elements look like: The balance is the “normal” state of the world at the beginning of the story, its status quo. The unbalance is the new event, intrusion or “problem” which disrupts the “normal” state of the world and sets the events of the story in motion. The quest is the pursuit by the protagonists (the “heroes”) of the story to find some solution to the problem or other ways of settling the unbalance. The crisis is when the drama of the quest and the drama of the underlying problem comes to a head, the key event which will determine the outcome of the story. The new balance is the resolution to the story in the aftermath of the crisis, which becomes the new “normal” for the end of the story, or the new “balance” to be upset again at the next stage of the story. Shall we try it? The 5 Sentences You Need to Tell a Remarkable Brand Story The key elements of any story can be stated in five sentences following this format. Balance: Once upon a time there was a quiet village where a humble dentist minded his own business. Unbalance: Suddenly, a dragon started attacking and burning down the buildings. Quest: The dentist went on a quest to find the dragon’s lair and slay the dragon. Crisis: He found it, and the dragon was about to kill him in a blaze of fire, when he noticed the dragon just needed a few root canals to relieve the pain in his mouth. New Balance: He helped the dragon and brought it back to the village as his loyal pet. To give another example… one in which you can pick out the elements for yourself: Sometime in the distant future, the crew of a starship is exploring the galaxy for signs of intelligent life. Suddenly, they are attacked and boarded by a horde of three-headed alie...

There’s any number of highbrow ways to kick this article off. Where to start? In going with a splendid example of a no-frills metaphor, I’m torn between: William Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage.” Vincent Van Gogh: “Conscience is a man's compass” Dr. King: “We will transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony.” Eminem: “You don’t get another chance / life is no Nintendo game.” Simon and Garfunkel: “I am a rock. I am an island.” And finally, assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight Shrute: “Always the Padawan, never the Jedi.” Decisions, decisions… Intentional and Artful Whatever you pick, an artful metaphor can prime our minds with a clever, inventive shortcut. If the comparison is clear, obvious, or something we use every day, we don’t even think about it. Although there’s no harm in slowing down to ponder the fact that an elephant in the room—an ultra-obvious, overriding fact or secret no one wants to talk about—weighs down the atmosphere, and creates the same claustrophobic tension as a seven-ton mammal wedged against the walls. Of course, metaphors aren’t literal. Ones that try too hard, make no sense, or get their wires crossed end up on internet lists of ‘worst metaphors written by high school students.’ Take THAT to the bank and smoke it! It was one peach cobbler of a tax audit. The backyard oak tree was a proud, brown, twelve-foot column… with branches and leaves. I could do this all day…but I’d rather pivot to how B2B companies, national brands, and pretty much everyone presenting themselves or their services to the world can, (and should), use metaphor to help people grasp their remarkable identity. Built thoughtfully, and with the truth in mind, a good brand metaphor fleshes out an organization’s qualities, strengths, values, expression—everything that helps someone resonate with that brand’s story. https://youtu.be/ReIOEXKW1iI Metaphor Brings Clarity to Your Brand’s Story In previous articles, I discussed all the components of building an authentic brand identity. I followed that up with a series on understanding your brand’s story through the lenses of a brand’s history, location, and archetype. Assuming you’ve done the work of pinning down those aspects of your brand, how do you go about actually composing and narrating your brand’s story? Lots of ways, actually. But the one way I’ve found especially helpful is the brand metaphor. The literal story of your brand, after all, is often not something that most people can grasp on an intuitive level…even if you’re able to see how your pest control company is the hero of a grand epic tale about termites and roaches. When you try to tell that story literally, the focus is going to get stuck at just killing bugs. Nothing wrong with killing bugs. But your brand story should be told in a way that resounds outward in distinctive visual and verbal expressions—something that can be uniquely expressed by a logo, a choice of typeface, or a company name. “We kill bugs” is not unique or distinctive. So, instead of a brand story that ends at what the brand literally does, in most cases, I try to work with a brand metaphor. Like a College Basketball Coach Metaphors work because they help us understand something unfamiliar through comparison to something familiar. Ditto for something abstract; we understand it better because a metaphor makes it concrete. Most of our language is metaphorical at its roots… and even the word ‘roots’ is a metaphor from plants. So a brand metaphor is a tool for understanding a brand’s story through a comparison— one that makes me feel the same way that people should feel when I interact with your brand. A Metaphor is Not a Perfect Analogy. Not everything in a brand’s metaphor has to correspond to something in the real company. Rather, the similarity is in how the metaphor makes me feel.

Unless you work in the candy industry, you probably didn’t know that M & M's only became a household name after selling their candy-coated chocolate exclusively to U.S. Servicemen in World War II. When the servicemen came back home, demand for those orange, yellow, and red candies we all recognize skyrocketed. You probably don’t know that M & M’s were the first candy eaten in space, or that there were no red ones between 1976 and 1987, when a bogus study linking red food dye to cancer scared the American public. Would the M & M’s you see at every counter be as famous, or as big a part of everyone’s life if World War II never happened? Perhaps the vast majority of people would have never heard of them, or perhaps they’d know them by a different brand name. While we’ll never know, it makes you wonder. If you think about it, the story of each brand we use and recognize is deeply tied to the historical events that shaped it over its lifetime. Along with a brand’s location or setting, a brand’s history leaves an indelible stamp on how that brand expresses itself, how it grows or shrinks, and how the world around it experiences and recognizes it. Even if no one aside from a brand’s founders knows that history, the events, trends, economic demands, and cultural appetites make a mark nonetheless. And in deeply important ways that contribute to a brand’s story, and even its eventual success or failure. https://youtu.be/MSdjavA0NLs Brand History Means Context The context of a brand’s story is not only its place, but also its time. If you’ve done the hard work of figuring out your brand’s identity, values, and core purpose, and if you’ve factored in the ways your brand’s location shapes everything about it, then a final step would be taking note of what’s happening all around you. Consider the recent years that have seen your brand grow, begin, or change course, and ask yourself: What’s been going on in the world? Have there been any major shifts in the status quo? Or is the world ready for one? What’s going on in your world right now? And what’s going on in the industry? What historical context helps define the changes in society, culture, or your industry? How did all these changes get to where they are? Answering these questions should give you a sense of your brand’s historical context… and your impression of recent history prepares you to ponder the follow-up: What does all this mean for your brand? How does recent history, or everything that’s happening today, contribute to your brand’s story and expression? How does it shape the way people think about it or respond to it? It may not be so easy to distill the answers… or to separate how time and history have influenced your brand from how your brand’s geographic location has. But a good way to practice, and no doubt a good exercise in and of itself, would be asking how our own individual histories shape the people we are today. Starter Questions for Understanding the Past We’re all shaped by the memories of our own history. No exceptions. How we think about ourselves has a lot to do with the story we tell of what has happened to us, and how we got to the present moment. Our fears, aspirations, and present behavior patterns are often echoes of what worked for us in the past. For organizations, looking back and reflecting on their history is an important component of their brand story… and with a handful of direct, but not necessarily easy questions, that history can be unlocked. When was your brand founded? Why was it founded? If the company has been in business for 30, 50, or 70 years, how has the industry changed? How has the company changed? How did the world change? What were the big, emotional moments in that history, either the successes or the failures, that shaped the way your company operates today? How did you react to big events that happened within your business, or on your team? Following Memories and Feelings

Here’s our elevator pitch—Star Trek on a pirate ship. Same cast. Same plotlines… but instead of the outer reaches of Deep Space Nine, everyone’s cruisin’ around the Caribbean. Or suppose Star Wars took place on an elementary school playground. Or Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice in the middle of a zombie apocalypse? Apparently, some have tried it. But setting informs a story as much as the characters do, and changing a setting obviously changes the entire story. The where of a story gives off a certain personality, just as much as the who and the what. The elements of a location, an environment, or a unique time and place shape how characters relate to each other, navigate the world, and compose the stories we watch, read, and listen to. The same is true of your brand’s story, culture, and overall identity. Trust us… locations shape a brand’s story in ways you wouldn’t expect. That includes our own story as a Tempe, Arizona-based branding agency—and that’s something you can read more about in our new book ‘You are Remarkable’ authored by our founders. Back to you and the simple, overarching question: ‘where are you from?’ https://youtu.be/xr0KW1Fe30c Not Forgetting Setting While everyone’s got a distinct nature, nurture (i.e. setting) still makes its mark. Of course, it helps to know your core purpose, what you value, and your organization’s vision for making a small corner of the world a little better. And while you’re at it, you need to know your character archetype. But knowing, and owning your setting is non-negotiable. The environment all around you, not to mention the values, history, and customs of the place where you set up shop matters more to your brand’s identity than you might think. Forget setting, and you ignore a huge chunk of what makes your organization remarkable. Having Roots in Two Locations So what’s the setting for your brand’s story? Is your location local? Regional? Global? Where, and just as importantly, when does it begin? One thing you often find out when you’re getting to know someone is where they’re from. Sometimes, it’s straightforward, but other times, not so much. In fact, if you think about it, many people are from at least two places. First, the place where they grew up—the locale or community where their formative years were spent. The place that, to a large degree, probably influenced what they see as “normal” in the world. Somebody who grew up in the Midwest has a different “normal” than someone who grew up in Los Angeles. Second, the place where they currently live, which influences and constrains their current choices. Somebody living in rural Kansas has to adapt to a different physical, cultural, and economic environment than somebody living under the clear, hot skies of suburban Phoenix. The same is true for a brand or an organization. When your customers are getting to know your brand story, part of learning that story is knowing where you and your brand come from. Location Influences All the Details Directly or indirectly, people will get a feel for the values, culture and customs of the place where your business started. They’ll also get a feel for where it is currently located or headquartered. This may be overt, in the way that Portillo’s Hot Dogs are explicitly from Chicago (even when they’re in Arizona), and Alaska Airlines explicitly serves Alaska (even if their hub is in Seattle). It can also be unconscious or implicit, such as when people get an intuitive feeling that a brand is southern, western, urban, rural, European, or even Canadian. Speaking with a customer service agent on the phone, it’s not too difficult to detect the politeness of Missouri, the gruffness of Philadelphia, or even the clipped, British pronunciation of someone in Mumbai or Bangalore. You probably know a ton about where you come from. But if it’s not that clear how setting influences the day-to-day life of yo...