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A customer who lands on your website asks three questions before anything else. Is this for someone like me? Do I understand what you offer, and why it is different? Can I picture what happens if I say yes?
Most brands answer none of them. Their story answers a question nobody asked: who we are, and how long we have been doing this.
That was where my conversation with Mick Smith on The Doctor of Digital started. Storybuilding, the method I wrote the book about, begins on the customer’s side and takes those three questions in order: recognition, perception, projection. Recognition is the moment the customer sees their own situation in yours. Perception is understanding the solution and what sets it apart. Projection is being able to picture working with you before they ever have.
We talked about why so many brand stories fail to connect. It is rarely the writing. They are told from the inside, so the company is the hero and the customer is the audience. Swap the roles and the same facts start to work.
And we talked about something that surprises people. When you build the story from the outside in, problems turn up that have nothing to do with words. You cannot say clearly how you are different. Three people on the team describe the offer three different ways. The story did not create those problems. It made them visible.
What we covered
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Three questions every customer asks
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Recognition, perception, projection
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The customer as the hero
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Why brand stories fail to connect
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What a clear story exposes
That last point is the commercial one. A story that has to be clear forces decisions on positioning and difference that a vague one lets you put off. Make those decisions, and your marketing no longer has to cover for them.
