Today I want to highlight how telling a story with your brand can shape the perception people have about you. And when you control the narrative of your business, you attract the right kinds of people.

This is how you stand out in business. It’s not from having the best product or being the cheapest solution. It’s about having a solution that resonates.

A couple months ago I worked with a non-profit local to where I live. They have an awesome mission. They help educate the community and do projects to protect the lake water of one of the finger lakes in central NY (which is close to the Great Lakes). There is only a small amount of freshwater in the US and the quality of this water is important to more than just those surrounding the lake.

The problem most businesses think they have

My clients came to me after their website had become a dumping ground of content. Their goal was to consolidate content and move their website to a platform that made it easy to make updates to.

While they thought the website was the root cause of the problem, we realized there were a couple others. And these were having an impact on how their website was working for them.

What appear to be website problems usually indicate something earlier in the process that isn’t working.

If I only diagnosed the website problem, we would have been putting a bandaid on the wound, not healing it.

Why I start with messaging

Clarity is one of the largest culprits to your website not working. Your online presence needs two pillars to work. I call it verbal clarity and visual consistency. If you only have one, you’re going to have a weak structure. Both are essential for your brand to stand out.

This is where I begin with all my clients and this project was no exception.

Once we dove into my verbal clarity workshop, we realized two things.

1. Their current messaging wasn’t speaking to the right audience
2. They focused too much on facts about the lake and less about the people

They were proud of the lake and loved it. Which is why they wanted to protect it. But spitting out facts alone doesn’t give your audience any reason to care.

Clarity within your business can have a huge impact on your growth

Before working together their website headline said:

“Owasco Lake lies at the heart of our Finger Lakes community. The lake anchors our sense of place and our economic and community health depends on the lake.”

This didn’t speak to the younger audience and it lacked clarity in what the organization actually does. This old tagline was more of a description about what the lake is. Not what the organization does.

The new tagline we came up with:

“Protecting your lake for future generations.”

This is a story people can get behind. Empowering younger people to take action because it will have an impact on future generations. Telling a clear story to a specific audience is always going to be more impactful than trying to do everything in your marketing.

Take a look at your own message and ask yourself:

• Who am I speaking to?
• What language should I be using that resonates with them?
• Can I be more clear?

When you do this, you start shaping the narrative people have about you. Giving people a reason to buy into your brand.