Five Ways to Reset Your Brand Story
In Walden, American naturalist Henry David Thoreau stressed the power of mindset in manifesting one’s reality. “It’s not what you look at that matters,” he wrote, “it’s what you see.”
Chef and humanitarian Jose Andres recently told journalist Mark Kennedy that “Everybody thinks that you have to go to the most remote parts of your world. The excitement is not in the places. The excitement is within yourself.”
In other words, the tools for resetting are always at hand.
Some may ask whether a reset is right. When one’s brand value proposition is successful, reluctance to stray from its winning narratives is inevitable. To a point, of course, any attempt to change messaging that resonates with target audiences and builds engagement, momentum, and loyalty, is a risk. But eventually, without new value for your audiences – think products, platforms, experiences – even tried-and-true messaging may need a fresh voice.
In the space where I’ve worked most – luxury hospitality – this is especially true. So many beloved and exceptional properties are a source of joy for travelers, which, of course, translates into high average daily rates (ADRs) and steady revenue streams.
But if those properties don’t regularly introduce new experiences, while they might continue to bring in repeat guests, but first-time guests and younger generations – every travel brand’s true love – will wane. The fact is, competition is fierce, and when other properties are refreshing and renovating, new brands are entering the destination, and nontraditional offerings and shifting booking windows are upending long-held seasonal patterns, doing nothing new is a surefire way to have nearly nothing said about you.
But even when nothing significant is planned in terms of a renovation or refresh, or a robust programming lineup, you can ensure that your stories don’t stagnate, and attract new audiences in the process.
Like Thoreau and Andres said, everything you need to create excitement is at hand. Brand storytellers, too, know how to look for ways to tell your story in wholly unexpected ways, and if done right, audiences who already know you and love you will feel validated and excited, and new audiences will have a reason to look at you more closely.
Here are five ideas for how to begin to reset your brand story:
Go back to basics. Simplifying the standard elements of any story to the big three – characters, setting, and plot – consider whether you can shift your tried-and-true stories with a new perspective.
Know what people care about. Community and sustainability are two examples of values that are important to today’s consumers. How does your brand connect consumers to what they feel is meaningful?
Understand that nothing beats emotion. The deal-seeker may seem to base their decisions purely on logic, but even doing that feels a certain way, and they like it. Advertising guru Bruce Turkel summed this up brilliantly with his “Hearts, then minds” mantra.
Be true to your (brand’s) self. Don’t try to be something you’re not. If you aspire to grow or expand and you want to share that vision with your audience, great. But always focus on the powerful truth of what you do better than anyone else.
Incite FOMO. While I generally advise against nudging anyone toward any sort of fear, fear of missing out is an exception, particularly when it comes to brand stories. In fact, one might argue that the entire point of any brand narrative is to incite so much FOMO that the audience is spurred to take action. If your message has been crafted to evoke the feeling you want them to have, FOMO will kick in, and engagement will increase.
Stories are everywhere. Look at things differently, and your own notions about your brand will start to change shape. Nurture that evolution and you’ll soon begin to feel as excited as your target audiences, about all that makes your brand unique.