When comparing successful brands to successful countries, the parallels are clear: both have foundations, they have stories, their own ethics, a unique way to communicate, history, strong leaders and their own traditions – when defining your brand culture, you need to look closely at its history, in order to plan for the future.

By applying these principles, brands can manage their cultural assets to deliver deeper meaning to both employees and customers.

Before you look to rebrand your business, you need to look at the history of the organization. Understanding your past is an important step in developing your future.

Brand Culture: Your Brand’s History

The oral tradition of history is the age-old custom of sharing cultural stories by word of mouth, from one generation to the next. This narrative approach to community history is still relevant today, both for human and business history.
If you can tell a better, more accurate story about your business and your brand’s origin, you will have a better chance of resonating to a bigger audience. People are inherently more likely to act on a personal recommendation than reacting to the words of a copywriter in an advertisement.

If you and your brand have a cracking story to tell, people will happily re-tell that story, for free.

By carefully curating your brand culture & story, you can empower customers and employees with a powerful resource to market your business. Stories are a great way of grabbing the attention of consumers and can convey ideas and important information in a memorable format.

Consumers connect emotionally with history by emphasizing with the people at the heart of these historical events and stories. A good story leaves a better impression when the consumers can personally relate to the emotions of the people involved.

When Writing Your Story, Consider the Following:

Keep it simple – long stories with no clear direction won’t work, it will only serve to bore the reader.

Be credible – Tell the truth. Do not thumb-suck a story because the truth always comes out.

Use your emotions – The best stories are those that allow the listener to emphasize with the plight of the protagonist.

Include an element of surprise – Tell the listener something that they did not expect to hear. These are elements that make a story worth repeating.

Make sense – Stories can only be effective if they are easy to understand.

Types of Stories to Consider

The founder’s story – their personal motives and goals

The employee’s story– notable employees and their brand-affirming behaviour

The inside story – fly-on-the-wall insights

The epiphany story – the stories customers tell their friends that attract new followers

Once you have considered and formulated your brand’s history, you’ll need the creative elements that communicate that story to the word.

If you’re ready to communicate your story to the world, get in touch with Digital Drawing Room and let’s discuss how we can help you.

Email us on hello@design.digital-hq.com