What's your brand story? | Jeff Freedman | TEDxBeaconStreet

imagine you're at a party you're hanging out with your friends eating drinking laughing sharing stories you having a good time then out of nowhere someone jumps up on a table and yells out I am the best catch in the house I'm funny I'm smart I make a ton of money obviously I'm good-looking so if you want to have a good time come on over and let's get out of here chances are you and your friends will be distracted for a moment probably a bit shocked and mildly amused but then you just get right back to whatever it was you were doing that is after you make a mental note to avoid that person for the rest of your life that is not how you build relationships with people yeah that's how brands often try to do just that while we're listening to the radio watching TV checking our social media feeds or doing whatever else it is we're doing brands try to interrupt us to tell us how great they are why they're better than everyone else and ask us to do things for them well that works as much for brands as it does for that person at the party more than 75% of emails from brands never even get opened more than 99.5% of banner ads don't get clicked maybe Brad should spend less time bothering us and more time building relationships with us relationships are the lifeblood of brands the branch with the strongest relationships are the ones that prosper and persevere think of a brand that you believe you have a strong relationship with chances are you're more likely to spend a little bit more nit more money on their products and services if they mess up you'd probably forgive them you know more likely to open their emails click on their ads take their phone call or speak positively about them you do that not just because you like their product and services you do that because you feel like you have a relationship with them you feel like you're a part of their story I've been working with brands for more than 25 years to help them share and tell their story and what I've learned there in that time is the brands with the strongest relationships view share and live their story differently they don't constantly brag about themselves and beg people to do things instead they share from their heart and demonstrate what matters most to them they connect with people and invite them into their story and that's the type of story I want to speak with you all about today when I work with brand executives to help them with their story one of the first questions I ask is what is the ultimate goal of your brand why does your brand exist of course they're often quick to jump on their website and show me their mission statement which they perfectly crafted with their marketing and sales teams I think that some people take a laminated card out of their wallet so they can literally read me a script that sounds something like this to achieve profitable growth and be the leader in every market we serve through superior customer service innovation quality and commitment sure those are admirable business goals but the brand's we love have much more aspiration goals that we all want to be a part of non profit - the epitome of this right Habitat for Humanity wants everyone to have a decent place to live American Cancer Society wants a world without cancer think about it these are the brands that we often give our time and money to in exchange for no direct product or service that's a pretty good relationship I call this reason for existing your happily ever after the brands we love truly believe that a they guess exists for something much more important than market domination or profitability they believe they can make a difference in the world and the people they serve their products and services are merely just a means to a greater end harley-davidson they want people have more exciting lives the north face they want people to appreciate and preserve the outdoors when brands think of themselves from this perspective we view them differently we don't think of them as selling to us we think of them as helping us imagine if people saw your brand from that perspective in order for brands to have strong relationships with people they must have a happily ever after that everyone in their story wants to be a part of but that's step one just having a happily ever after isn't enough surely having one will make your brand more attractive than other brands with more selfish goals but a happily ever after is really differentiating so the second question I asked for and executives is what makes your brand so special of course they'll jump right back to the mission statement some actually flip over that laminated card to show me their core values innovation inclusive quality because those we know are unique of course most will just jump to their products and services the bank will talk about all they do for their community they're great rates their personal service or the technology company will talk about their amazing functionality their patented approach or their great user interface and yes those are differentiators but more often than not they're just temporary advantages that any competitor can meet or beat at any moment in time in fact the more they talk about them the more they sound like their competitors what Altan makes of brin unique is not what it does who it does it for how it does it what makes a brand unique is why it does what it does what is that core belief that guides them to do what they do it's no different from what makes you and I unique all right it's not what we do or how we do it it's why we do what we do I mean there are many brands that make motorcycles but only Harley truly believes freedom is exhilarating that's why they make bikes that let you ride on the open road it's why they give you the freedom to customize your own bike and it's why they're so loud if you believe freedom is exhilarating and you want to have a more exciting life you should consider jumping on a Harley or the very least buy a t-shirt I call this core belief the moral of the story and just like in the fairy tales we read it the moral is rarely stated directly or called out but it's implied to throw it every aspect of the story I mean nowhere in Tokyo does it say lying makes you look bad but that's clearly the moral of the story or North Face no where do they necessarily say exploration empowers us but that's the core belief that guides them to their happily ever after it guides their philanthropic approach it cuts their supply chain practices and its course it's why they go to great lengths to create technology and outerwear and footwear and equipment and other things so that people can explore virtually anywhere the moral of the story is the core belief that guides a brand to its happily-ever-after and just as you and I connect with people who share our beliefs brands connect with people who share their beliefs and the deeper the stronger the belief the deeper the connection but that core belief the moral story has to be authentic to the brand a brand can't pretend to be someone it's not in order to build relationships with people that wants to attract that works as much for brands as it does for you and I those relationships never last the moral also have brands also can't have a different moral for each different audience that's like having multiple personalities again not a great formula for building relationships with people of course brand executives will often say to me there is no way we can find a core belief that is shared among all of our audiences right we serve people across different industries different geographic regions different demographics it's impossible and I'll agree audiences are different for brands brands have many many different audiences but they all share a belief their hearts are all in the same place and that's what connects them I'm gonna share a story with you when I was working with Boston Medical Center to help discover their story and help them find their morale it seemed almost impossible to find a core belief that was unique to them and that they shared with all of their audiences specifically patients who are primarily lower income racially diverse people living in the inner city and the donors who are primarily wealthy individuals living in the suburbs of Boston but we knew a core belief existed but we needed to find it and to do that we needed to speak with the with the people who worked at Boston Medical Center and represented the brand and asked them why they did what they did why do these amazing doctors and surgeons choose to work at Boston Medical Center when they can work at any place in the world why did all these people work so hard and often volunteer their time for some of the programs like the domestic service domestic violence services or the substance use disorder programs or the food pantry and why was everyone there so committed to providing exceptional care without exception it was because they all shared one core belief from the bottom of their heart they all truly believed that life's greatest privilege is taking care of those around you what was that a belief that they shared with their audiences well clearly the donors believed that they were giving thousands of dollars to help people in the communities around them well what about the patients they weren't treating anyone and they weren't generally giving substantial donations to the hospital but when we spoke with them and met with them at their homes we saw a different perspective we learned that they were missing critical doctor's appointments so they could stay at home to take care of a child or a family member or so they can go to work to help make sure that they had food on the tables for their families they had friends and relatives staying at their houses and sleeping on their couches because they just need a large anyone needed a few dollars or a meal they were the first to give it perhaps more than anyone they believed life's greatest privilege is taking care of those around you and that's the moral of the story that is the core belief that guides everyone at Boston Medical Center to do what they do that's the core belief that ultimately differentiates Boston Medical Center from all those other worlds around hospitals just a stone's throw away and it's the core belief that defines every one of their audiences regardless of who they serve and how they serve them when Boston Medical Center framed their story around this moral around this core belief instead of bragging about themselves people and they gave more money they made more doctor's appointments and ultimately they built stronger relationships with Boston Medical Center relationships are the lifeblood of brands and the strongest relationships are built upon shared beliefs so brands need to stop jumping up on those tables and screaming about how great they are they need a different approach brands don't need a script they need a soul of course you can't define a soul but when a brand discovers its happily-ever-after why it truly exists and they live by the moral of their story it's that core belief that guides them to do what they do their soul shines through and when a brand reveals its soul everyone who represents the brand can act accordingly everyone who shares that core belief and that goal will be attracted to the brand the relationship between the brand and its audiences will grow stronger and everyone will live happily ever after thank you [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 87,915

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Business, Advertising, Marketing, Passion

Id: ad2i8ZgS2aE

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 08 2017