Sunday, August 4, 2013

What story are people sharing about your brand??

Mortgage Industry: What Story are People Sharing about Your Brand?





Once upon a time

In our highly commoditized industry, we know that differentiation is the key to success. Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz about the “brand story” as a necessary component of your brand in order to drive differentiation. The importance of having a brand story, or many stories, that connect you with your audience is immense. This is especially true in the mortgage industry where so much competition exists and differentiating factors between competitive entities can many times be hard to put your finger on...even if it’s your own company.

Whether you're selling mortgage insurance, SaaS, wholesale lending partnerships or you're a mortgage broker or banker, a great brand story can do wonders to differentiate your brand from that of your competitors. Without a brand story, you are a commodity. The ability to tell your brand story, whether online or in person, will provide further reinforcement for your company as its own unique entity deserving of being in the final "consideration set" for any prospect.

Brand stories are what drive our critical interactions with prospects, customers and clients. They propel awareness, consideration, trial and buying. Your brand story answers the question “Why?” behind everything you do. Why do your clients need you? Why do you make one decision and not another? Why would someone choose to do business with you and not someone else? Why can you meet your clients/customers needs better than anyone else?

"Customer Experience Management and Brand ROI"Mortgage Industry White Paper

Great stories don’t need direct promotion, they travel by word-of-mouth…they go “viral” in a sense.

Recently, I came across an article written by Douglas E. Albertson that does a fantastic job of relaying the importance of a brand story. He's with Albertson Consulting Group and is also an Adjunct Marketing Instructor at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon. Here's a story he shared about an experience he learned of that speaks well to the Nordstrom brand…

"Many moons ago, I hired a very engaging author and syndicated business columnist to speak at one of my tradeshows in Portland, Oregon. When I picked him up from the airport, he seemed in a lather about something. I had spoken to him on the phone many times prior to the engagement and he seemed a fairly laid-back guy. Eager to set his mind at ease I asked him if something was wrong.

As storytellers are wont to do, he launched into a soliloquy about the troubles and travels he had endured trying to find an Armani tuxedo for his daughter’s wedding. “If I don’t find one while I’m here, I’m never going to have enough time to get it altered before the wedding,” he said.

armani suits

He went to a couple of places looking for the tux, but a town the size of Portland is not exactly a hotbed of Armani activity. If he had been looking for a flannel tuxedo, he might have had more luck.

Finally, almost as a last-ditch effort, he wandered into the local Nordstrom. His personal shopper asked him to give her a little time to work on it. While he was there, she said, she wanted to get his measurements just in case they could match him with another tux. Dejected and nearly out of options, he left the store not really expecting too much.

The next day, he received a phone call from Nordstrom asking him if he was still looking for an Armani tuxedo. He leaped out of his seat. “Absolutely!” he shouted into the phone. They had found him a tux and it would be ready for him to pick up the following day.

Elated, he hung up the phone and, by his account, had one of the best speaking engagements of his career. The next day, when he walked into Nordstrom to pick up his tux, he decided he would try it on to see how much alteration would be required. To his utter amazement, the tux fit perfectly. Nordstrom had altered the tux for him. Almost as an afterthought, he asked how they had managed to find an Armani tuxedo when he had searched most of North America trying to find one, to no avail.

His personal shopper just smiled and coyly mentioned something about “magic.” He pressed a little further; he really wanted to know where they had gotten the tux. The personal shopper said she immediately began working on his request after he left and, through her connections, she found an Armani tux in New York. After calling New York to inquire about the tux, the distributor informed the personal shopper that they had put it on a truck bound for Chicago that very day. The personal shopper worked another web of contacts and, coordinating with the distributor, located the truck. The personal shopper then called the Nordstrom in that area and dispatched someone to meet the truck at a rest stop and retrieve the tux from the container.

Keep in mind that my friend had to press her for this information. She would have never told him the story unless my friend had asked.

Not only did Nordstrom go to those heroics to find the tux, the personal shopper was aware of my friend’s time constraints and instructed the local Nordstrom to quickly alter the tux according to his measurements. It arrived in Portland, via overnight carrier, the next day, ready to wear.

The kicker? Nordstrom doesn’t even sell Armani tuxedos."

What a great story! What kind of stories are people sharing about your brand? If people aren't sharing good stories, then are they sharing bad ones? It's not good enough anymore just to exist and do your job...you have to have "fire in your belly," a passion for what you do and doing great things for your customers and prospects so that they can convey your passion by sharing what you do or have done for them.

12 Steps to Great Story-telling


A great story needs to have a “what,” a “why” and a “how.” Here’s a great infographic from Content Bridge that gives you a 12-step framework for telling your stories. Please note this is only a guide…so don’t fret if your story doesn’t fit perfectly and steps are skipped to keep your stories clear and concise…

Storytelling Techniques

"Customer Experience Management and Brand ROI"Mortgage Industry White Paper

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