Building a Community with a Story
By Bud Hanson

Pardon my redundancy, but this is a story about story-telling - a social art that has been around for centuries.  Roll the tape back to any random day in the life of the cave men (not in a GEICO way).  Joe walks in dragging the day's kill of antelope.  Bragging about the hours of stalking and in particular how well his newly crafted weapon, a crudely designed sling shot, worked better than his old club and saved many hours of frustration and missed shots.  The story grows and becomes more embellished as Joe's audience grows around the campfire.  OK You get the picture.  We have been telling stories since the dawn of time.  The art and practice of story-telling has become a critical part of the fabric of our social community.   But why do we feel compelled to tell stories and why do we listen to those in our social network tell us their stories?  And as brand builders and marketers what can we learn from this social dynamic to have our brands become intrinsically connected to the story line?

Before we address some of these weighty social issues, a bit of a primer on community is required.  Because after all we typically do not tell stories to ourselves.  We can define community loosely as any group of two or more people that are connected by one or more specific issue (or thing), relations, or values.  What's interesting about communities is that we are not tied to only one such as a geographic community like our neighborhood.  I have a community of marketers that I frequent through on-line portals, conferences, books, and podcasts.  I also have communities with my kid's sports, communities with other stereo geeks, and communities of local small businesses just to name a few.

These different communities formed around a unique set of subject matter conversations (or stories).  And even though the participants may overlap between the communities and conversations may vacillate between a variety of topics, the core foundation of the community (i.e. sports) always remains a constant holding the community together.  OK so how do these communities form?  Well, they usually start with a good story.  One person articulating an experience in their own words.  This is an important part of the authenticity which I'll address a bit later.  Communities formed on brand speak through guerilla blogging or other less than authentic means (forced word of mouth marketing) will soon crumble or not form at all.

And a good story teller will attract a crowd. That crowd begins to form a community of listeners.  Those participants quickly become story re-tellers (the original story and soon their own version). Now we have a community of likeminded individuals sharing conversation about similar experiences. The conversation leads to relationships within the community; relationships amongst the members, and if we're lucky relationships with the brand they are talking about.

In marketing, when everything works together, this very personal and emotional process leads to loyalty and affinity to the brand, its story, and the original brand experience. As the cycle progresses it pulls in more listeners, the stories grow, and more importantly so do the loyal brand advocates. Simple, authentic, and experience-based, this consumer dynamic is what strong brands should simply refer to as good marketing.

The first thing brands need is a story worth telling.  Many brands think they have one but the story is only relevant to the brand stewards themselves. This phenomenon of a brand "smoking their own fumes" is a recipe for disaster and will often close the door to consumers reading future chapters of their story.  Ultimately your consumers will create their own story based on the prompts the brand delivers.  A prompt meaning to "lead someone"; in this case to lead a consumer to create imagery and meaning around a brand experience or idea.

A great brand story should embody four things:

• Authentic and Believable:  Consumers can smell a fake a mile away and they will often not give you a second chance.  Is the story really believable?  Could a target consumer paint themselves in the brand setting?
• Relevance and re-tellability:  Speak the language of your consumer.  Don't try and appeal to everyone.  You'll end up engaging no one. Pique their passion points and hang in their circles.  People will listen to brands they feel know them and their lifestyles.  And not just will they listen; they will be inspired to re-tell it.
• Base it on experiences:  Don't base your brand story on features and benefits.  No one will listen, much less re-tell it.  Features link to benefits and problems solved.  Experiences evoke emotions and stories told.  Look at the lifestyles of your consumers and how they weave your product into their lives and daily routines.  The story will write itself.
• Leave a little bit to the imagination:  Let the consumer write the last chapter of your brand story.  Allow some ownership by leaving a piece out or keeping some parts a secret.  A little customizable riff that allows each person to write their own personality into it.  Remember, your brand stories are more likely to be told when the people telling them are a part of it.