Get back on the path – how to tell your story

Stuck in a strategy rut? Feeling directionless or plateauing sales-wise? Perhaps you’ve lost your way. Maybe you’ve forgotten who you are. It’s easy to do when you’re stumbling around in the mire of the everyday grind. To put you back on your path and get you on your way it’s a great idea to recall your journey, tell your story, remember why you set out in the first place.

It’s no secret we rate stories as one of the most important aspects of your brand personality. It’s the first thing we do when we get together with a new client – find out everything about you, listen to your story. And we really listen.

All ears

Each client has individual objectives and we tailor each storytelling experience to you. We take time to research and we take even more time to listen to your journey, what you want to do, where you’ve been and where you want to be.

As experts we run discovery workshops to uncover your unique story and strengthen your brand personality to grow a stronger presence, but you can run a session of your own to identify themes and make a start on understanding your brand story in more depth. Depending on the size of your management team and business you can go a couple of ways with this:

Free form

The free form is basically chatting, with a few structured questions to fuel the conversation. Run with a smaller group – two or three people max. Grab a quiet space, uninterrupted for a couple of hours. Make a brew, get biscuits, get comfy. Set up your voice recorder and start at the beginning. What you’re trying to get to is a story that incorporates:

  • The Hero (that’s you): Who are you? What’s your background? Who inspires you? When did you first discover your talent / calling?
  • The Villain: the problem, the challenge: what got under your skin that you just couldn’t ignore? Why did you begin? What question do you strive to answer? How did you fail?
  • The Journey: How did you overcome? What did you learn? Where did it take you? Did you detour?
  • Happy Ever After: What’s your product or service? Who does it help? How does it change the world? What’s next?

Write up your transcript, highlight key messages, core values, approaches to work, the type of clients you like to work with etc. This document can inform all areas of your strategy and personality.

Workshopping

Activities and tasks bring out aspects of your story required for a complete picture of your brand personality. Workshops accommodate a bigger group, anything up to 10 or 12, including one or two facilitators. Try out these activities for starters:

  • Brand mapping: split into groups and do a brain dump of everything you associate with your brand. You could start with these categories:
    • What do you do?
    • Who do you do it for?
    • Why do you do it?
    • What difference do you make?
    • How do you make people feel?
  • At your best: In your smaller groups, pick your top 5 business moments: perhaps a customer interaction, or a fun night out, or an innovation you were all really proud of. Report back to the group – you’ll see themes of your business personality emerging.
  • Headlines: 10 years from now, your business is on the front page for achieving greatness. What does the headline say? Have you solved a problem? Revolutionised a supply chain? Who’s happiest about your success? Do this activity individually then feed back to the group to pick out similarities and themes.

After running your discovery sessions, either free-form or as a workshop, you’ll have a clearer idea of the themes that inform your story, the building blocks of your personality and of the direction of the business as a whole. You’ll soon discover your path once again and feel confident striding off in the right direction for you and your business.

If you need any help or you’d like us to come in and give your personality an overhaul, get in touch, we’d love to hear your story.