Persona Branding Accelerator Masterclasses

Branding is NOT marketing or design but the bedrock foundation underpinning your whole business so these branding masterclasses are perfect for helping you accelerate your brand growth because they’ll help you re-evaluate and make your brand strategy stronger.

 

In fact, 60% of branding is perception and only 40% is about your product or service.

 

Join me inside my new 6 week complimentary, fast injection, live streaming, brand building masterclasses to unlock the systems and processes used to build standout brands with big-brand know-how to:

  1. Enable you to grow your brand and business faster
  2. Answer your most pressing questions
  3. Master your biggest branding stumbling blocks

 

These branding masterclasses are perfect for Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, SMB/SME Business Owners and Managers.

 

 

Dates and Times

  • Wednesday 28 February 13:00-13:40 GMT
  • Wednesday 7 March 13:00-13:40 GMT
  • Thursday 15 March 13:00-13:40 GMT
  • Wednesday 21 March 13:00-13:40 GMT
  • Wednesday 28 March 13:00-13:40 GMT
  • Wednesday 4 April 13:00-13:40 GMT

 

The Persona Branding Accelerator Series

Week 1: Design is NOT Branding, 10 Things Every Business Leader, Owner, Brand Manager and Entrepreneur Should Know

Week 2: Boring Brand? How to Use Brand Positioning to Stand Out From The Crowd and Attract Your Ideal Customers

Week 3: Personality Matters! How to Bring Your Brand to Life to Grow Your Profits

Week 4: Purposeful Brands: Why Customers are Prepared to Pay More and How to Develop Your Brand Purpose to Increase Sales

Week 5: Weak Brand? How to Audit Your Brand to Evaluate and Inject it With Profitable New Life and Customer Attracting Magnetism 

Week 6: Rebranding, Refreshing or Revitalising Your Brand? 15 Do’s and Don’ts for Brand Success

 

Complimentary eWorkbooks with Attendance at Each Live Streaming Masterclass

You’ll also get my complimentary workbooks with each live streaming session to enable you to implement all these insider professional tips so you can get results faster to grow your brand and business.

When you participate in the live masterclasses you get a copy of the eWorkbook relevant to that session’s topic

 

 

You’ll walk away from these fast injection, branding accelerator sessions with:

  1. Clarity on the what, why and hows essential for building your more successful brand together with actionable takeaways and workbook tools giving you direction to get results
  2. Brands and branding demystified so you’re empowered to analyse and formulate the strategies required to build your brand profitably (branding is not about designing your logo or website!)
  3. Direction in how to build the bedrock strategy underpinning your whole business so you can increase your profits

 

 

This brand building accelerator series is for you if:

1. You’re a business leader, brand owner, manager or entrepreneur

2. You want the top 10 professional big-brand insider tips on how successful branding works to generate the greatest profit

3. You want to take your business further, faster but you need support, skills and direction to make it happen 

4. You can’t clearly articulate what your brand stands for and what makes it different to your competitors

5. You’re considering rebranding, refreshing or revitalising your brand or launching a new brand to market and you want to ensure a successful outcome

6. You want to make your brand stronger, a bigger profit powerhouse so you need to discover how to identify its strengths, weaknesses and areas for innovation and growth

7. You want your brand to become a highly recognized name amongst your ideal customers nationwide or globally

8. You want to avoid discounting and price wars so your customers pay you the proper price reflecting the true value of your product or service

9. You want to know the top 4 most costly branding mistakes to avoid 

10. You want to increase the perceived value of your product or service so you can charge a premium

 

About Lorraine Carter

Lorraine Carter is founder and principal of Persona Branding & Design, an award-winning, multi-disciplinary branding and design company leading their clients to become No. 1 in their target market. A winner of numerous awards over 20 plus years, she’s worked with brands from a multitude of sectors for both the national and international markets, many of which are household names.

As a professional branding expert, international speaker, writer, designer, and mentor her skill is empowering you to transform your brand so you increase your sales. In doing this Lorraine helps you identify, define and articulate your brand’s position and purpose, be that company, product or service, so that it’s highly visible, different, distinctive, memorable and loveable in a way that’s relevant to your primary target audience—so that you command lead position with your standout brand, increase your success, and most importantly, grow your profitability.

 

A regular speaker at international conferences and seminars, she also delivers programmes in effective brand creation, building and management, is Winner of Best Blog Ireland of an SME and is also a former winner of Business Woman of the Year, Dublin and listed as one of the top 1,000 Women of Influence in Ireland in the Irish Tatler Business Annual. She’s also featured in The Sunday Business Post Newspaper, ICOGRADA, The Economist Group, Irish Times Newspaper, Law Society Gazette, Design&Design, Retail News, Creativ Verpacken, Irish Packaging Year Book, Irish Tatler Magazine and Food Ireland to name a few.

 

 

As Featured In

Branding Masterclasses

Build Your Brand Strategy So It Drives Your Growth and Punches Above Your Weight

It’s amazing, but even with all my branding articles, videos, brand-building masterminds, workshops and speaking engagements, people still ask me, “Do I really need to brand my business or brand strategy?” Or they’ll say, “I’m a B2B startup; can’t I postpone this branding stuff for a bit?”

 

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My answer’s are always the same, “Why would you want to? What makes your service or product special? How are you going to make your brand matter to customers? Why should they choose you over well-established competitors with an established track record? What are you going to do to earn their trust, generate higher perceived value and earn their custom?”

 

 

Take Warby Parker, the fashion eyewear startup that in 2010 decided to take on the establishment — a handful of companies with a virtual lock on the eyewear industry.

 

 

warby-parker-home-page

Image via Warby Parker

 

 

From the first, co-CEO and co-founder Neil Blumenthal and his fellow Wharton School MBA partners stressed over their brand strategy. And it’s paid off: In six years, Warby Parker has grown 500 percent,[1] and Bloomberg reports that investors now value the business at more than $1 billion USD.[2]

 

Suffice to say, if you want to punch above your weight — in terms of the competitors you can take on, the target audiences you can reach and the impact you can have in your industry — you need a really strong brand strategy, a compelling reason for customers to notice, trust, like and buy what you have to offer — product or service. Just consider:

 

  • In 1981—the year Absolut Vodka launched its highly branded ad campaign — it was selling around 20,000 cases of vodka annually. By 1995, annual sales had grown to 3 million cases — a 14,900% increase in the business.[3]

 

 

andy-warhol-absolut-vodka

Image via Wikipaintings.org

 

 

  • The “Hashtag Nation: Marketing to the Selfie Generation” study looked at more than 10,000 teen and young adult customers and their relationship to brands. More than 60% of 16-34 year olds agreed with the statement, “I encourage my friends to use the brands I really like.”[4] Think how much easier it is for friends to share your message when your brand strategy is clearly articulated — when both you and your customers know what your brand stands for and what makes it different, distinctive, memorable and more likeable compared to your competitors.

 

  • When Singapore’s oldest telecommunications service, SingTel, wanted to promote faster connectivity, it took to Twitter with a highly branded flash campaign: #Need4GSpeed. For more than a day, it trended in Singapore, controlled more than 54% of the country’s Twitter conversations and increased website visits by 39% (visits remained above 30% for the month).[5]

 

  • And if you want to beat the competition, take a page out of the Dollar Shave Club playbook. In just five years, their well-articulated brand strategy attracted more than 3 million members,[6] and Unilever’s decision to buy the startup for $1 billion USD.[7]

 

Having a brand strategy lets you promote the value of your products and services rather than the price. It’s that simple. And who wouldn’t rather sell value than try to compete on price?

 

 

Top Six Steps to Build a Powerful Brand Strategy

 

Here are six steps to help you develop a powerful brand strategy for your SMB / SME or new business. Although many of the examples and case studies below are from B2C businesses, virtually everything these businesses are doing will work in your B2B brand strategy.

 

 

1) Put Strategy Before Tactics…Find Your Point of View

 

Before you create a logo, pick your brand colours, settle on messaging or design your brand collateral, you need a brand strategy. Everything you learn in the process — about yourself, your customers and your competition — will help direct your tactics, your brand voice, your media choices. It all becomes so much clearer when you know your point of view and what you stand for. Apart from anything else, creativity without strategic rigour is a waste of money.

 

 

warbyparker-weve-got-our-eye-on-you

Image via Warby Parker

 

 

With a clear brand strategy, you won’t wonder if the world needs yet another cookie company, holistic healthcare business or financial or professional services business. You’ll know your reason for being and what makes you different…even unique.

 

Case Study #1: Warby Parker

 

Warby Parker co-CEO / co-founder Neil Blumenthal calls their brand strategy having a “point of view.” In turn, that point of view has helped establish a company culture that:

 

  • Appeals to the value buyer (quality, style and affordability)
  • Helps others with its CSR at the heart of the brand (“buy a pair, give a pair” helps low-income people who need glasses)
  • Cares about the environment (the only carbon-neutral eyewear manufacturer)

 

 

warbyparker-home-page

Image via Warby Parker

 

 

The funky name, based on a couple of Jack Kerouac characters — Warby Pepper and Zagg Parker — the great customer service, brand culture, what the brand stands for and its fabulous user experience are all part of executing on the brand strategy. As Blumenthal explains, it’s easier going forward when you have everything worked out up front:

 

 

 

Takeaway: Notice how Warby Parker distills the financial premise behind its brand strategy: Intuitively it didn’t make sense that glasses cost as much as an iPhone. That’s brilliant.

 

 

2) What’s Your WHY?

 

You can’t have a truly successful strategy until you get down to the essence of WHY you are doing what you do…and then finding the words to explain your why to your audience. Listen to Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, “Start with Why:”

 

 

 

 

As Sinek explains, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”

 

When you can bond with customers at an emotional level, you have brand loyalty. According to the Gartner Group, “80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers.”[8] These are your loyal fans.

 

But what if you could expand your loyal fan base and even increase their ardent devotion? That’s the potential when you can map your WHY, HOW and WHAT (Sinek’s Golden Circles) to how our brains make first an emotional connection and then a rational decision:

  • Why – Lizard Brain (the old brain/our emotional gatekeeper)
  • How – Amygdala (part of Limbic brain/responsible for emotional motivation)
  • What – Neo-cortex (the rational brain)

 

It’s in the WHY where we feel and trust and develop loyalty. It’s emotion that drives behaviour. It’s emotion that drives customers to purchase your brand before over a competitor. Rational decisions only kick in after emotions are satisfied — the rational reinforces the emotional decision to buy.

 

As an exercise, think about what you believe in and the brands you admire because they share your values.

 

simon-sinek-golden-circle

Image via Simon Sinek

 

 

To help you focus on your WHY and integrate it into your brand strategy so you can leverage throughout your SME / SMB business, Persona Branding and Design offers a variety of branding masterminds and masterclasses. These programmes are transformational. In particular, the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind is a comprehensive, two-day brand building intensive. In fact its an in-depth 10-step programme that will enable you to create your brand strategy from the ground up whether you’re revitalizing an existing brand or creating a new one.

 

 

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Case Study #2: Apple Inc.

 

Although Apple makes great computers, tablets and phones, that’s not the message that generates brand loyalty. It’s the company’s willingness to think differently about how people interact with products, and that’s the message that comes through loud and clear in their brand strategy, product design and marketing.

 

Take a look at the legendary 1984 ad that only ever ran once — during Super Bowl XVIII. Notice how Apple connects emotionally through visual cues and very few carefully chosen words:

 

 

 

 

In 1997, Apple gave words to their WHY—“Think Different.” Almost two decades later, in its 2014 Perspectives ad, the company has remained focused on this enduring brand strategy:

 

 

 

 

Takeaway: While it doesn’t take a lot of words to convey your WHY, it does need to permeate everything you do. When you live and work by your Brand WHY, you generate incredible loyalty among your customer base.

 

 

3) You Can Brand Anything…and Probably Should

 

Intel’s distinctive bing…bong, bong, bong, bong is the audible signal that your PC is loading and all is right with your computing world. For us, it’s also an important reminder that you can brand virtually anything. Even products and components that are part of other companies’ finished goods. It’s called Ingredient Branding, and Intel first proved its effectiveness.

 

 

Case Study #3: Intel Corporation and Swarovski

 

In 1991, Intel Inside® revolutionized branding and proved that you can brand something that most customers will probably never see. In this case, Intel successfully branded a bit of silicon real estate on the computer’s motherboard. As Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, explained, “…with consumers at a loss in trying to figure out what made one [computer] better than the other, Intel saw an opportunity…Intel’s leadership was convinced this was the way to grow market share…”[9]

 

 

intel-inside-logo

Image via Intel

 

 

Intel wasn’t selling speeds and feeds; it was selling trust and peace of mind. This branding strategy drew customers to computer brands with Intel Inside and refused to buy products without the Intel Inside brand promise. Through its revolutionary ingredient branding of an essentially invisible product, Intel achieved incredible trust with its customers.

 

 

swarvoski-logo

Image via Swarovski

 

 

Today, many companies use ingredient branding to build awareness and generate demand with manufacturers. Swarovski does this with its quality crystals. They’ve created such a high degree of caché for the Swarovski name, that its primary consumers seek it out on everything from clothing to shoes to quality lenses for eyeglasses to crystal-encrusted fake fingernails and more.

 

 

 

 

And even Jimmy Choo shoes:

 

 

 

Takeaway: The next time you wonder what an innovative branding strategy could do for your product or service, do like Intel: Open your mind to the possibilities and dare to think in a more original and creative way.

 

 

4) Be Your Authentic Self

 

There’s a phrase popular in American business, especially among SME / SMBs and startups still looking for their first big breakthrough: You have to “fake it until you make it.” In other words, you have to look bigger, more innovative, smarter and more established than, perhaps, you are…and certainly more than the competition. The good news is this is precisely what a strong, well developed brand strategy can do.

 

be-authentic

Image via Digital Intelligence Today

 

 

Faking it should never be about lying to or deceiving prospective customers. That’s always been unethical. And today when customers are looking for authenticity, anything less than your best will destroy your relationship with prospects and customers alike.

 

Here’s author Mike Robbins on the Power of Authenticity:

 

 

 

Co-founder of the Covey Leadership Center, Will Marré, talks about what authenticity means to your brand:

 

 

You become authentic, you convey your authenticity by walking the walk and making that part of your who, what and why. Think of it this way: If your WHY helps you build an emotional connection with customers, your authenticity enables you to keep those connections and even strengthen the bond.

 

While authenticity certainly is the way to the Millennials’ hearts,[10] it works with everyone — as we pointed out in our post, “Branding with Authenticity to Achieve Massively Increased Market Share.”

 

But beware. You can lose your authenticity with a few missteps…all the more reason to make it part of the core of your brand strategy.

 

 

5) Now Tell Your Amazing Story

 

So how do you begin to bring your brand strategy to people? How do you tell them your amazing WHY? How do you convey your authenticity? One way is to share your story — a topic we’ve discussed often here on our blog.

 

Our most recent two-part post entitled “Brand Stories: 5 Compelling Examples That Sell Themselves” is a good place to start: Part 1 and Part 2. And make no mistake, stories that are yet another extension of your brand strategy need to be part of your growth strategy.

 

We all love a good story. It connects with our hearts and sticks in our heads longer than a recitation of facts and figures and bold claims. But before you panic, you don’t need to be a novelist or even a great writer to tell your business story. You just need to speak from your heart, dig deep and tell the world who you really are and why you do what you do.

 

If you need help telling your story, Persona Branding and Design offers a six-step Brand Story Selling System™ designed for SMEs / SMBs, business owners and brand managers that want their stories to resonate with customers and prospects.

 

Angela Ahrendts, former Burberry CEO and now senior VP of Apple retail, explains how to weave authentic branding into story:

 

 

 

You can tell your story on YouTube and post it on your website. You can even share it on social media as an ongoing story that keeps people coming back for more as your story unfolds.[11]

 

 

Case Study #4: Norrøna

The Norwegian outdoor clothing company Norrøna has been a family-owned business since 1929. Today they are passionate about manufacturing durable, highly functional clothing and gear for adventurers — hikers, skiers, mountaineers, bikers and hunters.

 

norrona-history

Image via Norrøna

 

 

In their video “Who Am I?” Norrøna tells its story in parallel with imagery that tells the story of its customers. In effect, Norrøna conveys its passion through the passion of its customers.

 

 

 

Takeaway: Be authentic, share your personality, create characters and give your story a beginning, middle and end. Above all, be compelling.

 

 

6) Brand Persistently, Extensively and Consistently

 

In addition to telling your story, your brand strategy needs to permeate everything you do. That’s the true key to being authentic. But extensive and persistent expression of your brand strategy is also about creating a consistent brand message and presence — giving your customers a safe harbour on which they can rely and trust.

 

And don’t forget to involve your employees: “Maximizing Profitability: Training Your Employees to be Brand Champions.” When you involve them in planning your brand strategy and keep them informed and engaged, they are your best brand ambassadors.

 

Here’s Sabrina Stoffregen, Intel’s former director of Intel Ambassadors, on the power of engaged employees:

 

 

 

 

Be bold. Be original. Be yourself. Just as your product, service and company are distinctive, so too should your brand. Consider the ways you can leverage your business through your brand so you won’t be dragged into the price or discounters rat race. That’s a losing game.

 

When you have a robust brand strategy, you’re ready to go out and share it with the world and compete above your weight.

 

And now you’re ready to think about tactics, but that’s a story for another day.

 

lorraine-carter-persona-brand-building-mastermind-700x344px

 

 

8 Tips for Using Your Brand Strategy as Your Business Blueprint

 

  1. Your brand strategy is the blueprint for your brand that keeps you focused on your WHY, your unique point of view and your message.

 

  1. Outline your target market — detailing who they are, what they want and what they expect from a brand. If you decide to change or expand your audience in the future, make it a strategic decision that is reflected in your brand strategy.

 

  1. As you develop a brand personality that represents you, your business, your sense of purpose, codify that into your brand strategy so you don’t lose your focus or deviate from a consistent presentation of your brand.

 

  1. Understand where you fit in the competitive jungle. While you don’t need to be overt in positioning yourself against the competition, you do need to understand how you fit…so you can find and carve out your own space.

 

  1. As you identify your most competitive or disruptive features, use your brand strategy to define the promise on which you will deliver.

 

  1. Use your brand strategy to cement that critical emotional connection with customers and prospects. Empower them to feel they are a part of your story.

 

  1. Be consistent; that’s key to establishing a brand identity that resonates viscerally. Whether people see your logo, a brochure, a video or a social media comment, they should immediately know it’s you.

 

  1. Make certain that your brand strategy permeates every aspect of your business.

 

 

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[1] http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/3-reasons-warby-parker-is-killing-it.html

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/warby-parker-said-to-draw-fund-interest-at-over-1-billion-value

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Absolut-Book-Vodka-Advertising-Story/dp/1885203292

[4] http://www.slideshare.net/HavasWorldwide/hashtag-nation-marketing-to-the-selfie-generation-3942773

[5] https://hbr.org/2013/06/make-your-brand-story-meaningf

[6] https://www.unileverusa.com/news/press-releases/2016/unilever-acquires-dollar-shave-club.html

[7] http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2016/30706/market-disruption-your-brand-needs-to-create-a-ruckus

[8] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerryjao/2014/11/19/why-customer-retention-is-king-the-evolution-of-retention-marketing-part-1/#72bd1cfe3eb7

[9] https://www.fastcompany.com/3004135/marketing-backstory-how-intel-became-household-name

[10] http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2014/08/14/authenticity-the-way-to-the-millennials-heart/#19221983444a

[11] http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2016/02/22/how-to-tell-your-brand-story-on-social-media/#bc6487b2d3a6

 

Brand Stories: 5 Compelling Examples That Sell Themselves (Part 2)

(see Part 1 here)

 

“Exactly how do I tell my brand’s story?” is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive. Simply start at the beginning and consider the following guides as you draft out the core ingredients of your brand story:

  • Do: Tell a story
  • Don’t: Fudge the facts
  • Do: Use visuals and photos
  • Don’t: Use copyrighted photography
  • Do: Use numbers
  • Don’t: Write a novel
  • Do: Show your brand’s personality[1]

 

If you’re struggling with writing the heart of your compelling brand story so it’s shared time and time again by word-of-mouth then the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind is the perfect fit for you. There are ten key areas we focus on during this two day brand building intensive all of which are fully immersive and strategic in nature. Your brand story is one of the core areas of immersion.

 

lorraine-carter-persona-brand-building-mastermind-700x344px

 

If you want to transform your brand and increase your sales then this two day intensive shared with a small group of like-minded peers is a must for you so you can take your brand further, faster.

 

More information and registration for the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind can be found here.

 

The Small Business Brand Advantage

Small businesses are at an advantage. Everyone can identify with an authentic, personal story in a way that big brands cannot achieve. We commonly see these kind of ‘About Us’ write-ups on the websites of SME’s, and they’re just about right.

 

emerald-auto-story

Image via Emerald Auto and Brake and Vertical Response

 

Small to medium-sized businesses can also tell a brief personal story about each employee, another opportunity to claim real estate on the web, to create pride among staff, to introduce ice-breakers for clients, and to humanize the brand — an opportunity not to be overlooked.

 

marker-real-estate-story

Image via Marker Real Estate

 

In part one of this blog title, we introduced 5 exceptional big brand storytelling examples: Airbnb, Amazon, Dollar Shave Club, Facebook, and Guinness. Part two takes a look at five more brands that have hit the nail on the head and discusses universal takeaways for marketers of brands, no matter what size.

 

 

  1. Brand: Harry Potter

 

Backstory:

Author JK Rowling’s own story is one of rags to riches, from living on state benefits, catapulted to multi-millionaire status within five years. The book grew into a series, the series became blockbuster films, and then came the theme parks and global entertainment franchising…some real magic indeed.

Problem:

Literacy. James Thomas, professor of English at Pepperdine University, says the books do more than entertain. “They’ve made millions of kids smarter, more sensitive, certainly more literate…I don’t know of any books to have worked that kind of magic on so many millions of readers in so short a time in the history of publications.”[2]

 

Solution:

Perfect timing, perfect emotional connection. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” released in the UK in June 1997, was the first book in decades that schoolboys (including those who weren’t avid readers) just couldn’t put down. At that time, the internet was dial-up, Google wasn’t yet founded, and Nintendo 64 had only just hit the shelves. The thriller storyline of Harry Potter books delivered addicting fantasy adventure in large, un-Disney, doses.

 

jk-rowling-story

Image via JK Rowling

 

Success:

The Harry Potter brand is worth $25 billion. The movies grossed $7.7 billion worldwide and the best-selling series of books in history, translated into 73 languages, have made just as much. J.K. Rowling has been named the world’s richest author, with a net worth of $1 billion.[3]

 

jk-rowling-worlds-richest-author

Image via Money Magazine

 

Takeaway:

Start small, be patient, persevere. Bloomsbury offered JK Rowling $2,250 and agreed to print 1,000 books after she’d been turned down by many other publishers.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Brand: SoulCycle

 

Backstory:

A decade ago, SoulCycle was a boot-strapped startup by two mothers who met over lunch and decided there was a hole in the market for fitness classes that didn’t require a gym membership.

 

Problem:

Gyms are everywhere. Why would anyone need another fitness centre chain that only offers 45-minute cycling classes? Or, is a no-membership fee model enough to carve out success?

 

soulcyle-about

Image via SoulCycle

 

Solution:

Imagine a darkened room lit by candles scented of citrus, rows of stationary bikes, deafening music pumping away, a good-looking, fit, inspirational instructor urging you to spin faster in your special shoes clipped onto the pedals of a yellow bike with wheels decorated like a lemon. That’s SoulCycle…it’s meant to go beyond a workout — to be good for your body and nourish your soul. It’s as much a cult as a class, thanks to a deeply loyal following that’s sprinkled with celebrities.

 

soulcyle-story

Image via SoulCycle

 

Success:

A leader in the luxury exercise trend. Nearly 70 prime studio locations in 11 states, concentrated in New York City and California, which accounted for 97 percent of the $112 million in revenue in 2014, 50 percent higher than the year prior.[4] Equinox purchased a majority stake of 97 percent and the two founders walked away with $90 million each.

 

soulcycle-700x291px

Image via Racked and SoulCycle

Takeaway:

Relate to a niche audience and put a spin (pun intended) on a core product. Wearing the tagline, “Aspirational lifestyle brand,”[5] SoulCycle markets itself as “the place people come, regardless of their age, athletic ability, size, shape, profession or personality, to connect with their best selves.”[6] In 2016, Fast Company placed SoulCycle on its list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.[7]

 

 

 

  

  

  1. Brand: Spanx

Backstory:

“Spanx founder Sara Blakely was getting ready for a party when she realized she didn’t have the right undergarment to provide a smooth look under white trousers. Armed with scissors and sheer genius, she cut the feet off her control top pantyhose and the Spanx revolution began.”[8]

 

Problem:

Eliminating VPL (visible panty line) and offering an alternative to uncomfortable body shapers.

 

get-your-spanx-on

Image via Spanx

 

Solution:

Armed with $5,000, a focus on solving wardrobe woes, and a brand persona (meet Sunny) to make the packaging stand out, the Spanx brand has grown to offer dozens of products including leggings, bras, maternity shapewear, a men’s line and more.

 

spanx-home-page

 

Success:

Meet America’s youngest female self-made billionaire. With annual sales of $400 million-plus[9], Sara Blakely’s nonprofit foundation has contributed $24 million to women’s causes.

 

spanx-inc

Image via Spanx


Takeaway:

On the pages of a trusty spiral notebook, the kind where her first scribbles and notes appeared in 2000, Sarah Blakely keeps the narrative going with “Years of Great Rears” published on the Spanx website.

 

 

 

 

  1. Brand: Uber

 

Backstory:

The app-based car service was hatched pretty much on the back of the napkin, according to Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber. The co-founders were a couple of serial entrepreneurs hanging out together after hours during a tech conference in Paris.[10]

 

Problem:

People want reliable, affordable, fast door-to-door taxi service. San Francisco had a notoriously lousy taxi service, where Uber was launched as an experiment in 2010 following a three-car trial in Manhattan.

 

 

 

 

Solution:

One long-time user explains the Uber lifestyle thinking:[11]

  • They realized they’re not a transportation company, but a logistics company to dispatch things to people who want them. Usually it’s cars, but sometimes it’s ice cream, a mariachi band, or even kittens from shelters.
  • If you can do it in San Francisco, you can do it in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Sydney, Paris, and anywhere in between.
  • Since a lot of people use the service not because of how good it is, but how bad taxis are let’s make a cheaper option.

Plus, you don’t need cash. You just hop out.

 

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Image via Uber

 

Success:

Uber is one of the world’s fast-growing companies. Currently valued at $63 billion, Uber operates in 527 cities in 77 countries.[12] However, like Airbnb, another giant industry disruptor, the area in which Uber struggles is regulatory; there is room for improvement in their storytelling.


Takeaway:

Kalanick says, “Transportation should be like running water and we want to make that happen absolutely everywhere, for everyone.”[13] Make sure your brand has clearly identified its core message and crafted a story to tell it well. Furthermore, keep the narrative up-to-date if and when external factors impact it.

 

 

 

 

  1. Brand: Warby Parker

 

Backstory:

One of four co-founders from Wharton Business School, Neil Blumenthal, explains the idea came when a friend left a $700 pair of glasses in an airline seat pocket. Having seen how cheap glasses are made in Asia at the same factory that made the expensive ones, Blumenthal imagined a lifestyle brand that addresses price, style and the need for an optometrist visit.[14]

 

warby-parker-home-try-on

Image via Warby Parker

Problem:

As a technology that had been around for about 800 years, modern eyeglasses were needlessly expensive. Why? Because the industry was monopolized by one giant company. Warby Parker says everybody has a right to corrective lenses that are fun, free, and affordable.

 

Solution:

Warby Parker transformed the eyeglasses industry by designing in-house, selling direct-to-consumer to avoid retail markups and offering a free try-on at home service by mail. In addition, CSR is also at the heart of this brand story, for every pair of frames sold one pair is distributed to someone in need. So, “Buy a pair, give a pair.”

 

warby-parker-story

Image via Warby Parker

 

Success:

Eyeglasses for $95 was a groundbreaking proposition and an overnight success. Word-of-mouth took off (15 percent of the population wears glasses). Warby Parker now has 42 locations in North America in addition to e-commerce; the company founded in 2010 was valued at $1.2 billion in 2015.[15]

 

Takeaway:

Every brand idea starts with a problem. Express yours in plain language, such as this: “We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket. We also believe that everyone has the right to see.”

 

 

 

 

Want to write your compelling brand story? Want to attract your ideal customers so you can sell your brand way more effectively? The Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind is the perfect fit for you. There are ten key areas of immersion we focus on during this two day brand building intensive, one of which is your brand story.  You work on your brand over the two days with our direction so you can seriously accelerate your growth.

 

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If you want to transform your brand and increase your sales then this two day intensive shared with a small group of like-minded peers is a must for you so you can take your brand further, faster.

 

More information and registration for the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ Mastermind can be found here.

 

 

Six Questions For Brand Owner Managers to Consider About Brand Storytelling

  1. Have your defined your brand’s story and found a compelling way to share it with your customers and potential customers?
  2. Does your brand story present and solve a unique problem?
  3. Is your story told in an authentic human voice rather than a corporate one?
  4. Is there an emotional connection in your brand storytelling?
  5. Does your brand story have a beginning, middle and an end? Lastly, is there a call to action?
  6. Have you considered getting input from your customers to help you determine your brand messaging? Their feedback can help you clarify and define the voice behind your company.

 

 

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[1] http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/7-dos-and-donts-for-writing-your-companys-story

[2] http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html

[3] http://time.com/money/4279432/billion-dollar-spell-harry-potter

[4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3531018/SoulCycle-founders-resign-company-year-making-90-million-selling-Equinox.html

[5] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-soulcycle-ipo-20150731-story.html

[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/upshot/soulcycle-you-say-cult-i-say-loyal-customer-base.html?_r=1

[7] https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies

[8] http://www.spanx.com/about-us

[9] http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20161011_Reuters_tagreuterscom2016newsmlMT1VRT1201884257_Spanx_Founder_Sara_Blakely_Gives_Back_to_Empower_Women__Small_Businesses.html

[10] https://newsroom.uber.com/ubers-founding

[11] https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-story-behind-the-creation-of-Uber

[12] http://uberestimator.com/cities

[13] https://www.marketingweek.com/2015/09/17/uber-ceo-we-need-to-get-better-at-telling-our-story

[14] https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/07/the-three-things-warby-parker-did-to-launch-a-successful-lifestyle-brand

[15] http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/03/23/whats-behind-warby-parkers-success/#7d24b3406395

How to Transform Your Brand and Increase Your Sales