Inside the Brand Clarity Framework™
The 8 Resonance
Story Types
You have the words. What stories will help people carry them?
The 8 Resonance Story Types are the eight types of stories I use in my Brand Clarity Framework to help you communicate your Brand Echoes. They are Origin, Values, Offering, Societal, Audience, Collab, Mythos and Future. The idea is to find stories that grab people and bring them along with you.
Wondering how to use this in your business? See how we can work together.
Origin Stories. Where did you come from?
Your Origin Story is about credibility and relatability. Here's where I come from. Is it the same place as you? Great, come along with me. Or, here's where I come from, have I proven my expertise? Come along with me. You're giving someone a reason to trust you or a place to see themselves in your story.
Find your story.
Where did your work begin, and what about that experience helps someone trust you or say, I've been there, too?
Start your Origin StoryValues Stories. What makes your work possible?
As an organization, what do you believe is important to make your work possible? How do you treat your employees? What are the ways you're uplifting your internal organization? Your Values Stories give you a place to talk about those beliefs through the choices you make inside the business.
Find your story.
How do you treat the people who make your work possible, and what decision shows that?
Start your Values StoryOffering Stories. What are you solving for me?
What is it that you're actually offering? I'm asking, what are you solving for me? What are you actually giving me? An Offering Story gives you room to explain the problem your product or service solves and why that matters to the person in front of you. In some of my talks, you'll hear me call this a Product Story.
Find your story.
What does someone get from your business beyond the product's features? What becomes possible for them?
Start your Offering StorySocietal Stories. What kind of world do you see?
What do you as an organization believe in? What kind of world do you see? If I choose to wear your logo on my clothing, on my body, I'm letting the rest of the world know that it says something about me. Before I can do that, I need you to be clear about what it says about me. Your Societal Stories help explain where your brand stands in the world around it.
Find your story.
What kind of world do you want to help create, and what action can you point to?
Start your Societal StoryAudience Stories. Who do you do this for?
Who do I do this for? Who am I trying to assist? Can I create stories in which you see yourself and want to be a part of my world? Your Audience Stories show the people you're serving, their lives and the moments where your work belongs.
Find your story.
Who do you do this for, and what would help that person see themselves in your story?
Start your Audience StoryCollab Stories. Where can one plus one equal eleven?
Your Collab Stories show the people you've worked with and what you've been able to do together. A collaboration can also reinforce one of your other stories. The question is, what does working together help people understand about the world you're building?
Find your story.
Who have you worked with, and which of your other stories does that work help people understand?
Start your Collab StoryMythos Stories. What world are people becoming part of?
The myths, the legends around your brand, the unique terminology, the things that help people feel like they're part of a much larger ecosystem than simply the product they're buying. That's what I mean by your Mythos Stories.
Find your story.
What are the references, stories or unique terms that help people feel part of your world?
Start your Mythos StoryFuture Stories. Where are you headed?
Your Future Story maps out where your organization is headed, what you're trying to do, or where you're going as an individual. It's about inspiring others to come along with you. Give people a direction they can understand and a reason to want to be part of it.
Find your story.
Where are you headed, and what about that future would make someone want to come along?
Start your Future StoryThe stories can work together.
What happened behind the announcement?
When I was asked about fraternity and sorority marketing, I pointed out how much of it was updates. Someone made the Dean's List, an alum came back, or we hosted an event. Great. Tell me about the behind the scenes. What went into doing that? Who is the person, and why should I care?
Those questions give you somewhere to start. Sit down with someone, tell them the story and record it. Now you have your own words to work with.
Read the announcement-versus-story exampleA story can do more than one job. Beautyblender's Origin Story also helps explain what the product solves. Liquid Death's collaboration reinforces its Mythos. Use these types to find the stories in your business and see how they work together.
When someone asks what I do, I can pull a sentence from my Origin Story, I grew up in a small business family. A sentence from my Offering Story, I'm the Brand Historian. A sentence from my Mythos Stories, I've created the Brand Clarity Framework. And a sentence from my Future Story, one day I want to speak at Madison Square Garden. Knowing the stories means I can build an answer for the person in front of me.
Start your Confidence Document.
Take each story type and write about 500 words. Once you've written the stories, go through and pepper in your echoes. You now have roughly 4,000 words in your tone, in your voice, in your language, a shared document your team can return to.
Build your document within step two
Build your Confidence Document Back to Brand EchoesPut it to work with me
What would help you take the next step?
Wondering how to apply this to your business?
Bring a question about your brand, your message or the stories you're telling. In a private session, we'll work through your challenge and identify practical next steps.
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About this teaching
Adapted from my recorded explanations of the eight story types and my talks for The Flavor Experience, NTCA and Good Brands Don't Whisper. Brand examples link to the companies' own accounts. How I group and interpret them belongs to my framework, and a story can serve more than one purpose. Google's 20 percent time example describes the historical practice in its 2004 Founders' Letter. The announcement-versus-story example and recording exercise come from an earlier Fraternity Foodie Podcast interview.
These concepts form part of the Brand Clarity Framework I teach through Good Brands Don’t Whisper.
