Storytelling Can Make Your Brand Live Forever…
By Jeremy Gotwals | Founder & Creative Director at Holon Publishing, Founder & Strategic Director at Geronimo
In a world of infinitely many choices, in which your potential clients are swimming in a vast ocean amidst a myriad of options — your story is what sets you apart. The marketing of today is not distinguished from storytelling.
This is not something you embellish, but it is your truth. You and your team as you are. All of your imperfections on the table, as well as your perfections. This transparency is contrary to the 20th Century Model, where companies were supposed to pretend to be machines. This way of thinking was inspired by the industrial revolution. The faster you were, and the more humanless you were, theoretically, the more perfect you could be. But this way of thinking is dead and dying.
This is also true for individuals who are trying to get jobs or move up in their org. If you take two people of equal skill and experience and you put them in a room, who gets hired? Sometimes, the most likable person, and also the person with the most compelling story.
Marketing companies of today do two things exceptionally well: they leverage data in powerful ways not possible before in human history, and they tell stories. The best firms do both.
“Your Brand is what other people are saying about you when you’re not in the room.” — Jeff Bezos
Wear your truth on your sleeve every day. Maintain only enough mystery to keep them wanting more. Bleed who you are, beyond the aesthetic of the brand alone. Leave your mark in a way that makes people WANT to talk about you. When others start telling your story… what’s when you know that you’ve won.
Keep it up, and your brand lives forever, even after it’s long gone.
Jeremy Gotwals is a designer, publisher, multimedia storyteller, and digital marketing professional of 10+ years , based in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he’s not running his publishing company, Holon, and his multi-channel ad agency, Geronimo, he’s traveling and performing as a musician — opening for such people as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and John Mellencamp. He’s starred in two shows on MTV Networks, and even made a brief appearance on American Idol.