2 Questions To Ask About Your Organization Using Story-Branding
Who didn’t love field trips as a kid? I am sure you can remember field trips as a kid and I know there might be a few that stick out to you. I know I have one...and it isn’t necessarily my best moment.
I was in fifth grade. We were learning about nature and recycling at an old park rangers office outside of a small town in Minnesota. This was one of the few places where they still had old-growth trees - trees that hadn’t been cut down for their wood. It was awesome to see the difference between the old-growth forest and new growth forest.
But my shining moment came during lunchtime. During lunch, we all got a bagged lunch. It had a sandwich, a bag of chips and a milk carton in it. The ranger was giving a speech and all the kids were listening to him present ideas on how we can save space in our recycling bins so we could recycle more.
One of the things he brought up was to smash your used milk cartons, you can probably see where this is going. He wasn’t talking about the child-size milk cartons we had in our lunch bags, he was talking about the big ones we had at home. But 5th grade me did not understand that.
As he continued, I finished my milk. So I set the empty milk carton on the ground and I raised my foot. The anticipation was killing me. I wanted to smash that little carton flat to do my part for the environment. As my foot came down on the carton, a small amount of air became trapped inside. As my foot pressed down hard, the air ruptured the side of the milk carton letting out a huge bang. Droplets of milk flew through the air and landed on my teacher's shoe.
My teacher was not pleased. And I think slightly embarrassed in front of the ranger, so he laid into me, yelling at me for my disrespect. I didn’t mean to make such a commotion, I just wanted to do my part. The teacher did not have it. My name was mud to him.
I remember feeling terrible the rest of the trip. I didn’t talk to anyone and no one talked to me. I was low….I was nothing. I didn’t want my name to be known as mud. But that’s what I was on that trip to the teacher.
Your Organization is Known for Something, Just as You are
I’m sure you could think of your own stories about field trips, but like ourselves, our organizations are known for something (Hopefully not mud!). Our brand is known for what others say about our organization.
That’s the difference between branding and marketing. Marketing is telling customers what you are known for. Branding is what others tell other people about your product brand or service.
Jeff Henderson wrote a book called, “Know What You’re For.” In this book, he discusses 2 questions every organization needs to ask themselves…
2 Questions Every Organization Needs to Ask Themselves
1. What Do we want to be known for?
The first question is easy. This derives from your passion, why you started the business. You probably have a mission statement that helps answer this question.
The second question is a little harder to ask and gets to the heart of your brand. What would people say about your product, brand, or service? Is it something good or would people say that you don’t live up to the first question? This second question helps you focus on what it is you need to do to improve your own brand.
2 Ways to Improve Your Story Based Brand
2 things, you can do to help improve your own Story Based Brand. You can celebrate others in the community you serve on social media. If another organization is doing good in the community, come alongside them and celebrate what they are doing.
Secondly, you can post on your social media silly things that get people to engage. For instance, with Creative Studio Productions, we post something called #mondayvibes. These are silly gifs or pictures that are just meant to put a smile on your face. They aren’t overly complicated and coming off the weekend into Monday, people just might need a chuckle...or a groan if it’s a dad joke.
Answering those two questions and celebrating others in your community is a sure way to get more community engagement and getting people to talk about your brand. After all, your brand isn’t what you say it is, it is what people tell other people it is. So start getting people talking about your organization by asking the two questions above and see how it can make a difference in your own branding.
