HOW TO DISCOVER AND PERFECT YOUR

BRAND STORY

Jeff Korhan | Landscape Digital Institute

Do you know why your customers do business with you? Can you clearly articulate that as an elevator pitch? In other words, can you do it in 30 seconds or less?

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When you attend networking events, mingle at parties, or wait for your

airplane to board, you can unlock new op-portunities if you can tell your brand story well. Some businesses never figure this out because they are not willing to try. Others simply give up too soon.

Here’s how one small business owner figured it out.

Sounds Like It’s Almost HandmadeJim Koch is the Chairman of the Boston Brewing Company, brewer of Samuel Adams beer. He founded what is now a billion-dollar business by making it a habit to have one-to-one conversations with beer drinkers to understand them and share what makes Sam Adams unique.

Your current customers know, like, and trust you. They understand and appreciate the passion and care that drives your busi-ness. That passion is a significant factor in buying decisions and it comes through in your story.

Jim Koch learned this while having a conversation with a beer drinker that pre-ferred one of the imported beers. The man reasoned that imports are backed by genera-tions of talented brewers, whereas American beers are mass-produced. When Mr. Koch explained that he brewed his first batch of beer in his home kitchen and to this day it is still “handcrafted in small batches that he personally approves,” he made a connec-tion. “Sounds like it’s almost handmade,” the man said.

Just like that, the now booming craft beer industry was born. Or at least it had a name that resonated with consumers. They were called micro-breweries back then and there were hundreds of them. Now there are thousands of craft brewers across the United States.

That conversation changed how Jim Koch marketed his beers, and one like it can change how you market your landscap-ing and lawn care products and services. In his recently released book, Quench Your Own Thirst, Jim Koch notes: “Eventually, we would become known as a leader of the craft beer movement. All from listening to a guy in a bar.”

Now that’s a story.

Cushman Motor Company, Inc.2909 E Franklin Ave • Minneapolis, MN (612) 333-3487 • 1-800-759-5343www.cushmanmotorco.com

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Unleash Your SuperpowerAren’t your landscape and lawn care projects handcrafted in small batches too? A craft is something you do because you love it, and that love should come out in your brand story. Your brand story starts with you.

In a world of product and service sameness, you are the reason your customers want to be aligned with your business. Think of that reason as your superpower. Your superpower is the one thing that makes you invincible in the hearts and minds of your customers.

At a recent landscape industry event we discussed this topic and everyone around the table instantly named their superpower. This included retaining customers for many years, consistently generating new ideas, and developing a company culture that speaks to their core values. You probably know yours too, but to be sure, talk to your customers like Jim Koch did. Then talk to everyone who is not your customer, but should be, and learn how to connect the dots. Within that gap is the story you must discover and perfect if you are going to grow your business beyond your current customer base. Here’s why. Your current customers know, like, and trust you. They get you because they know your story. The challenge is perfecting that story so that it resonates with complete strangers.

A brand story is content marketing. It educates and inspires new customers to do business with you. It’s a complex brew, so to speak, of what you do and why you do it that is infused with your passion and unique methods for getting beautiful results.

Tell Your Story Like HollywoodAre you wondering how to tell your brand story? Follow the lead from some of the greatest storytellers: Hollywood. Every successful Hollywood film follows a basic structure that you have intuitively come to know from watching hundred of films.

The template that legendary Hollywood producers religiously follow is a simple three-part structure: Beginning, middle, and end. More specifically, the three essential components are:

• The Beginning Hook

• The Middle Build

• The Ending Payoff

There’s always a beginning hook that draws you into a film. It’s what sets everything up to give it context for the target audience. For your business story, this is your superpower that connects with your ideal buyers.

For example, let’s say your superpower is creating innovative design-build projects. That’s the beginning hook. It attracts the buyer’s attention long enough for your team to determine the specific solution that emotionally grabs and propels them, and the story, forward. Now, stay with me for just for a moment because we are going to get a little technical. The beginning hook is the context that sets up the story. But filmmakers say the film really starts with the inciting incident. For Jim Koch, this was the aha moment when the term ‘craft beer’ was coined.

In the film Rocky the inciting incident is when Apollo Creed says, “I’m going to give this chump a shot at the title.” Boom! You now see where this is going. It will be a fight to the finish. In fact, embedded in every inciting incident is the climax of the story.

And so it is with your brand story. When you use your superpower to deliver the one solution that engages your buyer they instantly see the finish line. All you have to do is lead them to the climax of the story, which is your business delivering an exceptional experience.

That customer experience is the middle build. There’s drama, excitement, and discovery that builds with buyers once they see the light. What’s really happening is they are beginning to take your story and make it their own. That’s what buyers do. They tell them-selves a story that validates their decision. It’s the same one they’ll tell their friends and neighbors. That story always answers why they decided to move forward with your company.

Finally, after the middle build is the ending payoff. This is the climax. It’s your company delivering on the promise of your brand story.

To be clear, your brand story is not about a transaction. It’s a representation of something greater, namely a memorable and marketable relationship with a growing community of loyal customers.

JEFF KORHAN, MBA, is a landscape industry author, speaker, consultant, and the founder of Landscape Digital Institute. He helps organizations create exceptional customer experiences

that drive business growth in a digital world. Learn more at www.landscapedigitalinstitute.com.

There’s always a beginning hook that draws you into a film. It’s what sets everything up to give it context for the target audience. For your business story, this is your superpower that connects with your ideal buyers.

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