How putting your audience first can help you escape the messaging net

How our Storylines clarify Brand Strategy and Marketing Positioning

As organisations evolve and grow, they shift and expand their offerings in response to client demands. Over time, this can lead to so many conflicting minor narratives that the organisation loses sight of its core proposition and becomes tangled in a messaging net, creating internal confusion and inertia. The bigger the organisation, the more complicated the net can become.

When a company finds itself in this predicament, freeing itself from the messaging net can be overwhelming. Where to begin? What to prioritise? What to keep? What to lose? Faced with this situation, many organisations try to maintain the status quo out of fear of change, but without proactive adjustments, the problem will only become increasingly complicated, and the net will get tighter.

Having a robust brand strategy proves invaluable in situations like this. If we think of brand strategy as a plan and the messaging net as an opportunity to take stock and get to the heart of who we, as an organisation, really are, then the task becomes much more straightforward. Like any good story, the process tends to formulate itself around three key questions:

Where have we come from? Where do we want to go? What stops us from getting there (and how do we solve that)?

At the same time, we need to think about our audience. What do they want to do? What is stopping them from achieving it? How can we help them to know that we are their solution?

Resolving these two Storylines helps to bring clarity and focus – and where these two stories bisect is our messaging sweet spot.

This process is what forms the backbone of our Storyline Solution.

Why defining your brand purpose, proposition, and personality is important

Brands are living entities. They don't appear from thin air; they emerge from flashes of inspiration and lightbulb moments that have caused their creators to realise that they have the potential to alter the world through a new solution. The simpler the solution, the easier it is to articulate. At a crude level, it runs along the lines of

"Do you have dirty dishes? Our washing-up liquid will get them clean."  The challenge is to make your solution sound better than your competition. When multiple suppliers are offering the exact solutions, that is harder than it sounds.

Conversely, the more complex the problem, the more likely the solution will be unique. The downside is that the solution is also likely to be complex. The challenge here is translating your complex solution into the simple language your potential customer understands, which is where our brand Storyline process comes into play…

We research your market, ask questions, listen, and ask more questions until a picture of your business, proposition, values, market, and unique Storyline starts to form. Unpicking the complexity to pinpoint what you (and most importantly, your customers) love most about your product or service and where you (and they) would like to take it is essential when defining an organisation's market position, maximising competitive advantages, and prompting us to consider how to communicate what differentiates your brand effectively.

Ultimately, we’re here to help you see your brand or product through your audience's eyes. After all, if you clearly understand your offering, your audience will understand it better, too.

How does our branding, rebranding and repositioning process work?</

When it comes to branding and strategy, many people in an organisation will have different ideas and opinions, so the reasons for rebranding must be clear and understood by all the key players before the journey starts.

At the start of the process, we use positioning workshops and interviews, which explore organisational backstory, character development, market position, brand proposition and point of difference. Getting under the surface to identify your commercial and communication objectives helps to accelerate our brand Storyline development work, including polishing your proposition and creating streamlined messaging with a consistent, authentic, and personality-rich brand voice.

We will then provide guidelines with vital information on brand architecture, tone of voice, and key messaging steers so that you fully understand how your brand speaks and feels.

Constructing an innovative brand narrative and strategy allows logical, integrated visual ID development to unify and reinforce your brand story, clear-sighted marketing channel selection, smooth internal onboarding, and well-planned brand activation.

Getting to the end of a brand or rebrand project is a cause for celebration

Once the Storyline process is complete, you're almost ready to roll out your marketing strategy - but before you do, take a moment to ensure your internal culture is excited, engaged, and on message.

A successful change programme hinges on everyone understanding why change is happening and feeling ownership of the company's new direction. An effective internal brand launch can be an excellent opportunity for senior leaders to set out the latest vision positively and excitingly. Following that, introductory workshops can help address questions, ensuring alignment across the organisation as preparations for effective public activation begin.