But what separates the mediocre branding experts from the genuinely great is their ability to communicate and execute a proven framework.
Frameworks are repeatable, predictable, and offer clients a blueprint for moving forward.
However, great branding frameworks are not as easy to come across as branding experts.
If you’ve been introduced to StoryBrand, however, you’re a cut above the rest of the brand strategists out there.
In this post, we’re going to show you how to be a branding expert using StoryBrand and a BrandScript template.
Get your StoryBrand BrandScript ready and be prepared to bring your brand to life!
First, What is Branding?
Branding, according to HubSpot, “is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.”
In other words, branding is the heart of your organization and it is often the intangible elements associated with your organization, product, or service. Put even simpler, it’s how a customer feels when they think about your organization, product, or service.
Is StoryBrand Branding Work?
Duh! It has the word “brand” in it!
But in all seriousness, yes, StoryBrand is branding work. Whenever you add to an organization’s intangible elements, like its story, you are doing branding work. The same could also be said for tangible assets the organization has too (packaging, product design, asset creation/design, etc.).
Whenever you use StoryBrand to craft a company or product message, you are doing branding work.
How to Use StoryBrand to do Brand Work
Most of the time when people think of branding work, they think of typography, color palettes, and tone-of-voice tasks.
But we would argue that branding goes much deeper than just these tasks. Again, branding gets at the heart of your organization, so developing its brand story is certainly one of the aspects of branding.
If you’ve read our comprehensive guide on StoryBrand marketing, you’ll know that StoryBrand is a set of principles that when applied leads to greater message clarity.
You can use StoryBrand to enhance your brand work by keeping these principles in mind when you are designing a product or putting together a color palette, for example.
At the heart of StoryBrand marketing is the question, “Does this connect with and make sense to the customer?” Good branding also asks the same question.
So, by keeping the StoryBrand principles in mind when you are designing an ad or creating a brochure, you’ll effectively use StoryBrand in your brand work.
How to Use the BrandScript in Branding Work
Another clear StoryBrand branding act is when you put together a BrandScript.
If you are tasked with creating a brand’s tone-of-voice or style guide, you can enhance those branding assets by also including a BrandScript.
This way, you or your client will get a big-picture view of their brand (the BrandScript) as well as details of that brand laid out (tone-of-voice or style guide).
If you’re a branding consultant, you could even offer the BrandScript as another service to offer to clients – fully rounding out their branding needs.
How to put it all Together to Become a Brand Strategist
We started this article with a tongue-in-cheek reference to brand strategists. If you want to deliver real value to clients (or your own business) as a brand strategist, however, here’s how you can put StoryBrand together with the branding work you’d do.
Start by offering to develop a client’s BrandScript first before doing any other branding work for them. This will only aid you in your future strategy and tasks and it will get you both on the same page.
From there, you can then develop a messaging guide for the client that details how to use their BrandScript. You can then follow that up with a tone-of-voice or style guide.
Once you’ve created those assets for the client, you can then develop brand guidelines, or as we like to call it, a Style Tile. This includes logo lockups, typography, and a basic color palette.
After this, the sky is the limit!
You’ll have a great understanding of the brand and a trusted relationship with the client.
You could then offer strategy packs for executing the client’s brand on social, email, the website, or other marketing channels they have.
These are all just suggestions, but the opportunities are endless when you combine the power of StoryBrand with branding tasks.
In Summary
Now that you’re a branding strategist with StoryBrand locked and loaded, where will you take it from here?
In this post, we covered the definition of branding and determined whether StoryBrand is branding work (it is).
We also showed you how to use StoryBrand and the BrandScript in branding work and how to put it all together to become a branding expert.
Have suggestions on how to incorporate StoryBrand with branding work? Hit us up on Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.
