On a high street filled with venues, what cafe do you go to?

In a bottleshop cluttered with labels, what wine do you pick?

Staring at a supermarket shelf, what brand do you buy?

Searching the zillion results in a Google search, what do you click on? More importantly, what do you bookmark?

A brand story goes beyond the About Page, the collection of blog posts, even the entirety of the copy on your website.

The words (and each element of the brand for that matter) are a piece.

The brand story is the entire puzzle. It encompasses the product, service, colours, logo, font, photos, the people a company hires, values, the internal culture, the customer service team, the promises you make, ads, packaging (*big breath*)...You get the idea.   

Every element is a subliminal signal put out into the world and amounts to a collection of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

Companies can’t choose how consumers perceive them. But they can strategically choose what signals to send and the ones who do so with intent—who know that every signal counts—create the brands that people admire and adore.

But what happens when you don’t have a brand story?

A company becomes another replaceable cog in the industrial consumption machine. There’s no way to show value beyond the commoditised offering: No way to differentiate, to stand out, to frame one’s scarcity.

More than that, there’s no way to build connection, trust, and affiliation. Companies today have to do more than just stand out. To build a sustainable business, they have to build a loyal following, too. So what signals are you going to send?

Until next time, 

Jayden O’Neil 

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