Brand storytelling services

Brand storytelling services

Brand storytelling

Channeling the power of story-driven marketing to make connections that help your business grow, you’ll get measurable results. Logic leads to conclusions, emotions lead to action. In other words, we turn the beating heart of your business into an inspiring story that hits your customers where it counts – in the feels. Here’s a brief overview of what we do: brand storytelling

Brand Story Development

We use our unique “strengthen the core” process to help you get clarity on your core brand story, customer personas and key messaging. This is done through strategic workshops followed up with a brief report. See more information about this service below.

Narrative Mentoring For CEOs

We teach business leaders how to use storytelling effectively to communicate their business strategy, inspire belief, embed values, unite teams and accelerate performance. We deliver this through one-to-one coaching, internal communications campaigns and presentation development.

Business Storytelling Workshops

We run interactive half and full day workshops giving you and your team the skills to use story-based techniques to tackle a range of business challenges from culture development to sales and marketing. The sessions are hands on, practical and give you the opportunity to work on real world stories.

Story-Driven Culture Change

Cultures are built on stories that shape and support the saying “how we do things around here”. We help leaders develop inspiring, shared narratives that overcome resistance to change and create momentum and growth in their businesses. The end result: inspired and empowered employees.

Story-Driven Content Marketing

We are more than just a content marketing agency, and deeper than a creative agency. We work on content strategy, and produce your content using our knowledge of story structure and talented team of designers and writers. We can manage it all, from long and short form articles to infographics, animated gifs, eBooks, whitepapers, videos, e-newsletters and websites.

Digital Storytelling Strategy

Feel like your brand is invisible online? We’ll help you use innovative digital storytelling tools to captivate online audiences and generate sales. Our digital services include Google Adwords, SEO, display advertising, social media curation, online video production and article seeding.   

The recipe for a great story

This is our favourite description of what makes a great story. It comes from Shane Meeker’s fabulous book called StoryMythos. Shane is the Corporate Storyteller at Proctor and Gamble.

“I always compare a store-bought apple pie and my grandmother’s homemade apple pie. Both use apples, both have crusts, both use sugar, and both are baked. But I would never trade one for the other.

Story IQ business storytelling like warm apple pie

My grandma’s apple pie has a family story, soul, heritage, memory, secrets, special adds, and hard-won know-how. The other, meanwhile, is automated and made by a predictable, repeated method.

Story is heart, it is craft, it is practice, it is know-how, and it is emotion—just like a good home-baked apple pie recipe handwritten on a card.”

Brand storytelling

Channelling the power of brand storytelling to make connections that help your business grow, you’ll get measurable results. Logic leads to conclusions, emotions lead to action. In other words, we turn the beating heart of your business into an inspiring story that hits your customers where it counts – in the feels. Here’s a brief overview of what we do:

Brand Story Development

We use our unique “strengthen the core” process to help you get clarity on your core brand story, customer personas and key messaging. This is done through strategic workshops followed up with a brief report. See more information about this service below.

Narrative Coaching For CEOs

We teach business leaders how to use brand storytelling effectively to communicate their business strategy, inspire belief, embed values, unite teams and accelerate performance. We deliver this through one-to-one coaching, internal communications campaigns and presentation development.

Brand Storytelling Workshops

We run interactive half and full day brand storytelling workshops giving you and your team the skills to use story-based techniques to tackle a range of business challenges from culture development to sales and marketing. The sessions are hands on, practical and give you the opportunity to work on real world stories.

Story-Driven Culture Change

Cultures are built on stories that shape and support the saying “how we do things around here”. We help leaders develop inspiring, shared narratives that overcome resistance to change and create inertia and growth in their businesses. The end result: inspired and empowered employees.

Story-Driven Content Marketing

We don’t just work on content strategy, we can also produce your content using our knowledge of story structure and talented team of designers and writers. We create it all, from long and short form articles to infographics, animated gifs, eBooks, whitepapers, videos, e-newsletters and websites.

Digital Storytelling Strategy

Feel like your brand is invisible online? We’ll help you use innovative digital storytelling tools to captivate online audiences and generate sales. Our digital services include: Google Adwords, SEO, display advertising, social media curation, online video production and article seeding. https://storyiq.co.nz/work

What’s the recipe for a great story?

This is our favourite description of what makes a great story. It comes from Shane Meeker’s fabulous book called StoryMythos. Shane is the Corporate Storyteller at Proctor and Gamble.

Apple Pie

“I always compare a store-bought apple pie and my grandmother’s homemade apple pie. Both use apples, both have crusts, both use sugar, and both are baked. But I would never trade one for the other.

My grandma’s apple pie has a family story, soul, heritage, memory, secrets, special adds, and hard-won know-how. The other, meanwhile, is automated and made by a predictable, repeated method.

Story is heart, it is craft, it is practice, it is know-how, and it is emotion—just like a good home-baked apple pie recipe handwritten on a card.”

Your core brand story and how we help you find it.

Your core brand story isn’t just who you are and what you do and how long you’ve been doing it.

It’s why you do it. It’s the driving force, the central reason for being. It’s the heart of your business. It’s the bit that people can relate to on a human level, the bit that connects us. It’s your nucleus, your marrow, your nitty-gritty and brass tacks. It not only answers the question Who Are You? But also, Why Are You Here?

So how do we find your core brand story?

We start by researching your market and competitors to develop a frame of reference. Next, we host a series of strategic workshops with you and your staff where we use our creative interrogation and brainstorming methods to draw out thoughts and ideas – things that often haven’t exactly been voiced, but felt – from the people who live the brand day-to-day.

Then we work on building the structure of your story and give it architecture. We apply our knowledge of how stories work and how to make them effective, powerful and engaging to what we’ve learned about your brand.

Our knowledge of the science and psychology of storytelling will make sure your core brand story reflects the heart of your brand and connects with your audience. We’ll identify exactly who your audience is, how they interact with you, and how your story engages them and drives them to action.

Once your core brand story is ready, we work out a detailed plan for you and then we get started on the content. The writers get to write, designers get to design. Everyone does their special bit to perfect your story and release it with an impact. Steve Ballantyne helps CEOs and their executive teams align around a high-level narrative that clarifies strategy and powers success, in sales, marketing, fundraising, web design, product development and recruitment.  

Blonde girl holding a cloud in cupped hands

The 3 most important stories in your business

There are many stories you can tell, but these are the 3 most important you need to start with.

Elephant on Moon
Zebra with illustrative heart coming from stripes above it
Light Bulb

How did you get here?
Your origin story.

We all started somewhere. Your Origin Story gives your customers a sense of the foundation upon which you built. It tells of the birth of your business, whether it was a well-researched and planned out process or an a-ha moment that got things going. It forms the basis of the personality behind your brand and continues to evolve as your business grows. Your Origin Story is uniquely yours. By developing the narrative to tell it we’ll make sure you’re capturing the hearts of your audience, right from the beginning.

Why are you here?
Your purpose story.

What’s your why? Simon Sinek has nailed down the heart of the Purpose Story – connect with people by going beyond what you do and sharing why you do it. What are you trying to accomplish, whose lives are you affecting? What drives you to get up and do it again day after day? And no, ‘to make money’ is not your purpose. There are millions of things you can do to accomplish that. Your Purpose Story reflects the motivation to do the particular thing that you do. It makes you human, relatable, authentic, and draws an audience that wants to champion your cause.

What’s unique to you?
Your product story.

Your product gives your customers the tools they need to be the hero of the story. Gone are the days of showing how well your product works and expecting that to be enough to engage customers. People want to know what they stand to gain. Is it environmentally-friendly, appealing to their sense of ethics? Or is it the cutting-edge of technology, appealing to their desire to have the latest and best? We’ll craft your Product Story narrative in a way that gets to the heart of what your customers want.

Elephant on Moon

How did you get here? Your origin story.

We all started somewhere. Your Origin Story gives your customers a sense of the foundation upon which you built. It tells of the birth of your business, whether it was a well-researched and planned out process or an a-ha moment that got things going. It forms the basis of the personality behind your brand and continues to evolve as your business grows. Your Origin Story is uniquely yours. By developing the narrative to tell it we’ll make sure you’re capturing the hearts of your audience, right from the beginning.

Zebra with illustrative heart coming from stripes above it

Why are you here? Your purpose story.

What’s your why? Simon Sinek has nailed down the heart of the Purpose Story – connect with people by going beyond what you do and sharing why you do it. What are you trying to accomplish, whose lives are you affecting? What drives you to get up and do it again day after day? And no, ‘to make money’ is not your purpose. There are millions of things you can do to accomplish that. Your Purpose Story reflects the motivation to do the particular thing that you do. It makes you human, relatable, authentic, and draws an audience that wants to champion your cause.

hand coming out of cardboard carton holding illuminated lightbulb

What’s unique to you? Your product story.

Your product gives your customers the tools they need to be the hero of the story. Gone are the days of showing how well your product works and expecting that to be enough to engage customers. People want to know what they stand to gain. Is it environmentally-friendly, appealing to their sense of ethics? Or is it the cutting-edge of technology, appealing to their desire to have the latest and best? We’ll craft your Product Story narrative in a way that gets to the heart of what your customers want.