The Moral of the Story: A Storyteller's Guide to Helping Brands Build Relationships with People

This experience caused us to take a step back and question everything we were taught as marketing professionals—the positioning statements, unique selling points, key messages, and so on.

But for the two years that followed that dreaded phone call, I realized our survival was not due to my complex spreadsheets and beautiful PowerPoint presentations. When I took an honest look back, I realized that the real reason for our survival—and our growth—was because of relationships. Relationships that Mike, more than anyone, took the time to

With brands you love, you feel like you have a relationship with them. You are proud to be associated with them. The brands you love stand for something that is bigger than any product or service or unique differentiator. They have personalities that you are attracted to. They have beliefs that you share. And most of all, they have a story that you

When you have strong relationships with people, they trust you. They listen to you. They forgive you for your faults. They introduce you to their friends. And they are there for you when you need them. This is true for people, but it is also true for brands. When you have a relationship with a brand, you open their e-mails. You take their calls. Wh

Harley-Davidson has a cult following, but their motorcycles are not really any better than BMW, Kawasaki, or Ducati. Apple’s iPhone clearly started a revolution, but Samsung, Nokia, and others also have some amazing alternatives.

Brands like Apple share their stories by carefully demonstrating what they believe as opposed to telling you what they do. They share their souls. This is how brands bring people into their stories. And once you are a part of the story, you want to know more.

He did more than share stories with us, he shared his soul with us. That’s also what great brands do.

The pieces of information within a positioning statement are important to know and communicate. Who is our target customer? How do we define our space/category? What is the benefit we provide to our audience? Who do we compete with? How do we do things differently?

our work had to be good. We had to have the experience the client needed, and we had to be priced on par with everyone else they met with. But that was just the baseline to be in the game. When virtually all else was equal—or even when the score was slightly out of our favor—we would come out on top. They liked us. They trusted us. And they wanted