I am active in different markets, can I have different stories for each market?
Yes and no. There should only be one story per brand, so communication efforts are coherent across all markets. If your various markets or audiences are too different, you may want to use different brands for each. Toyota created Lexus because its story of reliability and price-value balance did not fit the requirements of a luxury brand. But while the core of a story must be the same brand-wide, some aspects can be highlighted based on market specifics. Toyota might communicate its engineering quality and excellent four-wheel drive in a certain market, and the quality of its eco- cars in another.
Can a brand story be used for a B2B business?
Yes, of course. The principle and the structure is the same for B2B and B2C brands, but in the case of B2B brands the context may be more business-focused and the overall story may put more emphasis on the B2B value proposition. For example KUKA, a Chinese-owned manufacturer of industrial robots, built a story about “making automation intelligent” for their business partners.
Brand Storytelling Handbook (EN)
We are a start-up without history nor resources. How can we build our story?
If you have little to say about yourself, talk about the (bigger than yourself) cause you represent. This way, you shift the narrative from an internal to an external focus. For example, TransferWise, a British peer-to- peer money transfer service, openly took on big banks that overcharge people for money transfers. It is a powerful “David vs Goliath” story, yet it doesn’t say anything about Transferwise’s technology or processes.
“If you have little to say about yourself, talk about the (bigger than yourself) cause you represent.”
How long can we use the same brand story?
For as long as the context stays the same. E.g. British soaps and cosmetics retailer Lush capitalises on its story of “a responsible cosmetics maker in an industry where animal testing and chemical ingredients are common”. As the context evolves and industry players become more responsible, Lush’s story will have to change to retain customer interest.