This is Part II of our review of Vincents work, Legendary Brands: Unleashing the Power of Storytelling to Create a Winning Marketing Strategy. Remember, the main thrust of this book is how a brand can interact with a customers own story. Its worth repeating this important quote: It is how you activate the personal narrative that determines your ultimate connection to the customer. (p. 96)

The second part is essentially the how to portion of the book. Chapter Five, Investigating Brand Narrative, offers guidelines on what to do as you go about uncovering the ways in which your customers story can interact with your company story. Revisiting again the Kodak Moment ad campaign--Kodak didnt try and tell its customers Youll take award winning photos with our filmthat wasnt what was important to most of their customers. Rather, preserving the great memories of the good times they had experienced with their families was far more important to a greater number of consumers. Pages 109 and 110 are especially useful for the Chief Marketer.

Chapter Six is Crafting Brand Narrative, and it is here that you are going to determine what story you are going to tell. We found great tips in pages 144-150, and more practical guidelines for the small business owner.

Another of Vincents useful insights is his idea of creating a brand bible. This is a physical guideline to use to help you double-check that your marketing and promotion efforts stay true to the brand. We discussed the value of archiving past promotions in an earlier article when we outlined the merit of a promotions vault. The value of tangible guides to help us in our marketing cant be overstated. Smart marketers often come up with great ideas, but then at times our own inspiration can be a bit off or possibly overzealous and we can stray from our mission. Vincents idea of a brand bible to help you stay on track with your brand is a great idea for anybody involved in small business marketing.

Another very important topic Vincent covers is the idea of brand stewardship. For many successful brands, the company doesnt completely own the brand, it actually guides it. So the role of the marketer becomes that of steward or guardian but also shepherd of the brand. Yes of course, the company may own the logos and sayings and trademarks of a brand, but the way in which the brand interacts with a customers life cant really be owned.

This is a key concept for small business marketing, as well. You simply cant control what the customers say about you. At best, you can influence what they mention about your company.

Vincent has some valuable insights for the brand steward. One important note is that you need to listen to the people who are most fanatical about your brand when they give you feedback (p.206). He examines the phenomenon of the launch of New Coke and the instant negative reaction some of the Coke faithful had to the new product. This type of brand fanatic brings to mind the mavens Malcolm Gladwell mentions in The Tipping Point. Small business owners need to pay attention to these people because they are often devoted to the companys product at an extreme level. If possible, seek them out for some feedback on your next marketing campaign before you launch.

Lastly, we know that many of you work with a very established brand in your small business. Your small business may have been around for decades; it may be on its second or third or fourth generation owner from the same family. Legendary Brands delivers an informative case study in Chapter 12, Rescuing the Troubled Brand. Although this chapter deals with the West Coast fast food chain Jack in the Box and how it was able to recover from a crisis, the chapter includes some interesting ideas for a small business which has possibly strayed from being true to its former brand roots.

If you wish to use story at all in improving your small business, we urge you to give Legendary Brands a read.

Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success.

2006 Marketing Hawks