How to Hack Humans: Storytelling for Startups by Erickson Seth

Author:Erickson, Seth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2021-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

THE BRAND FOUNDATION

♫ I Can’t Stop by Flux Pavilion ♫

Ok, so you put your story blueprint together. Now, what the hell do you do? The following few chapters will talk about how you can apply storytelling across many different channels. You can use it anywhere that you use words. All the best words! It doesn’t matter if it’s an email, website, morse code, or “Do You Like Me?” notes in class. Oh, and if you were wondering, I marked “no” on your ”Do You Like Me” note. Cause I love you! (queue cheesy 80’s laugh track)

Since stories work as a blueprint, we’ll continue using the building analogy to discuss setting a foundation. I mentioned earlier the idea of a “Brand Foundation.” This is where you’ll start to apply your story as the foundation of your brand. Hmm, that sounded a little redundant, but I wanted to make sure that you understood.

I see the brand foundation as being made up of a few parts. First is the story, second is the core messaging that comes from the story blueprint you’ve created, and third is a website. Of course, those aren’t the only things you need, but often companies already come to me with a logo, color, and fonts picked out. It’s usually the first thing people do when they have a concept. They hire their friend, hire a designer or sketchup something themselves. Then, they get all excited and drop a dead bird on my doorstep like a cat who’s proud of itself.

I’m starting with the assumption that you already know what you want or have these things in place. As a side note, if done well, your identity can also tell a visual story. I’m not an identity designer, so I’m not going to talk about that. I just wanted to bring it up because it’s an important consideration. If you go to a visual designer with a story in place, it will help inspire the design of your identity better than saying, “I like blue and the sea. Can you make me a blue sea logo?” Yeah, designers hate that with the burning intensity of a thousand suns—just an FYI.

Ok, we went off the rails a bit there, but I wanted to handle any objections that might come up in my description of a brand foundation. I also acknowledge that if you’re a brand strategist or are in a similar field, you might have just fallen out of your chair by my oversimplification of the brand process. It’s ok; just breathe and tell yourself everything is going to be ok. So, getting back on track, let’s break down the three components of a brand foundation.

Story Blueprint

The first part of your outline covers who your hero is. What problems they face, who or what is stopping the hero from achieving their goal, and how they feel about it. The second part of the blueprint includes an understanding of the type of mentor you want to be. This would consist of

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