The Fortune Cookie Principle

Develop a captivating story about your business.

Many enterprises appear with great offers in the market each year. A lot of them never achieve anything, and only few succeed. What is the reason behind their uniqueness? Is it luck? Or maybe its a huge starting capital? None of the two.

The secret of their success was a nice story behind each of them, which helped them influence potential clients. Fortunately, you can gradually build a similar story for your business. In this article, you will find the most crucial 20 pieces of advice to creating a successful story for your brand.

Think of your brand as a fortune cookie.

Lets say youve got an absolutely great product, such as a convenient online subscription service for hair dryers. How do you go about attracting new clients and developing your start-up?

Marketing has become quite complex and its not about selling better products anymore. Others will for sure be waiting to challenge you, which means that you wont succeed if your only goal is to sell. There is more to it than flashy merchandise.

In the end, someone may offer a cooler hair dryer one day, which would result in your businesss failure if you depend solely on the coolest item.

Therefore, you should find something that would let you stand out among your competitors, in other words, a brand story. Follow the structure of a fortune cookie, which comprises of a cookie and a prediction.

Think of your product as a cookie. It is real and has a fixed financial worth.

In contrast, a prediction is indefinite. This story of principles, aims, and ideas impacts your clients prompting to accept it as a part of them. In other words, the prediction connects your products and clients.

For example, Apple is a profitable fortune cookie business. Not only it provides its clients with gadgets to listen to music, but it also places hundreds of tracks a click away.

Yet, how to turn your business into such an enterprise? The answer lies with the crucial steps one needs to take to create a brand story that would establish a connection between products and clients.

Define a clear purpose and stick to it.

Earning huge amounts of money is only one of the additional positive effects of managing a profitable company, which usually exists for a totally different reason. Thats why you should ask yourself what your reason for starting a business is.

In order to succeed in business, you have to determine your goal, which would be of utmost importance to each of your activities. Distinct goals direct you in making decisions regarding product design and general aspects of your business model. Unless you define your objectives and stick to them, you will forget the reason for your businesss existence and wont be able to decide wisely anymore.

Jim Stengel, for example, who was the executive of Procter and Gamble, the consumer goods company, together with the market research firm Millward Brown described 50 companies that significantly grew over the last 10 years. Google and Jimmys Iced Coffee were among those businesses that progressed three times quicker on average compared to their rivals.

Why did that happen?

The reason was that every one of them had a great mission, like Google, for instance. They dont just propose a search engine: they appeal to your strong desire to know something. As for Jimmys Iced Coffee, the enterprise provides immediate satisfaction together with java, which it sells.

Then what happened to Lego? This company enjoyed much success thanks to construction-themed toys before failing in the end. In 2003, its budget deficit amounted to $300 million.

In 2004, Jrgen Vig Knudstorp became a new CEO and eventually succeeded in changing the situation. It took him a year to turn that huge deficit into a profit of about $110 million. Such amazing achievement was accomplished by his reminding the customers that the companys primary goal was to evoke creativeness in kids all around the globe.

Legos forgetting its major goal resulted in its deterioration. They concentrated on diversification (Lego theme park, video games), thus ignoring their supply chain. It resulted in inadequate customer service and unreliable availability of the products.

Therefore, it is important to ask yourself why your company endures. Yet, there is more. Its vital to see the destination. In other words, vision is essential, and creating the possible image of your company is what we are going to talk about next.

Define a clear vision but be open to growth and change.

There is a non-profit called Room to Read in California, which helps people of the developing countries to build schools and libraries. Their vision of the world where every kid can have the proper education to fulfill their potential and help other is what determines their purpose.

The reason for any proper enterprises existence is based on the greater picture, which is associated with the precise effect the business aims to produce. Thus, a powerful vision is instrumental to the fruitful marketing of your company. Obtaining your vision requires you to answer the following:

To begin with, what will be the impact of your business on the future? Will it resolve the hunger issue? Will you find the cure for all diseases?

Next, what will you do to ensure that your everyday work contributes to your vision? Are you and your company going to recycle to save the environment?

Finally, what will be the reactions and responses of your clients to the changes, for which your company argues? Will they become content or physically strong? Will they profit somehow?

These questions will help you get an idea about your companys aim and the necessary actions you need to take to achieve it. Keep in mind, though, that visions change and develop with time. Thus, your vision needs to be defined at the start to guide you in your everyday activities, but that doesnt mean it cannot change when you and your company grow.

For example, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, the founders of Airbnb, an online vacation rental site, initially wanted to facilitate the process of advertising and booking accommodation for people traveling to conferences across the U.S. After a while, the website became a favorite, so they had to alter their vision to offering the users a platform for posting and booking everything from a bed in Chicago to a mansion in Italy.

Make your values clear and stick with them to attract loyal customers.

Wouldnt you want your clients to demonstrate your products happily on YouTube? In fact, its possible for you to convince your customers to identify with your products significantly, even going to such lengths as showing off on the Internet. The first thing you need to do is show how you support something that your customers value.

Thus, your values play an important role in creating your brand story and ensuring that people learn about it provided you sincerely believe in something that dictates your business conducting. Eventually, people would end up using your products if you share the same values in order to show a kind of solidarity.

For instance, an outdoor gear producer, Patagonia launched a big campaign Dont buy this jacket, which reminded people that their buying decisions affect the environment. The enterprise managed to show that it represents sustainability, which many clients value.

However, you dont necessarily need to tell lies. Your clients will see if you tell the truth or not.

Remember, you need to adhere to your principles otherwise prepare to say goodbye to your clients. Its simple really: fooling people into believing that you are something which you are not will certainly destroy your honor.

For example, you adore a small comic book store two blocks from your flat. There are faithful fans there all the time waiting for a new issue to appear or merely socializing with those who share their preferences. You could care less about it being packed all the time since its the stores customer policy and attitude that matters.

Suddenly, the owner of the shop starts prioritizing money instead of value and begins to put effort into expansion. They change the design, begin selling figurines and souvenirs, and speed up everything.

Now, you dont feel as comfortable as before when you visit the store. What made it special is now gone, and people cannot find that refuge to share their ideas. It became a souvenir parlor to go on a tour.

Your location and content should align with your brand story.

There is this famous saying location, location, location. The place is very important when managing property, which is similar in the case of companies.

In fact, the place and your story need to be compatible, otherwise the brand story wont exist.

It doesnt matter whether it's a small shop two blocks away or a VIP-only expensive store that only celebrities go to, location affects your brand story profoundly.

Its illogical to place a pizza parlor among expensive designer shops. You may sell pizza there anyway, but no brand story will hold.

The place would cease to have that special private atmosphere becoming just another food spot to feed infrequent shopper.

Content is also important when building an influential brand. In fact, it needs to be appropriately constructed to suit your brands image and story; thus, avoid inconsistency.

To clarify, content is all the stuff you use to promote your business, including videos, music, slogans, etc. If there is some conflict between what you use and the story, your clients will not be able to see your vision and, most likely, wont feel the need to purchase what you offer.

Imagine you are opening a bakery in a small town to sell the locals freshly baked goods. To advertise it, you use a lot of special words to appear as a professional baker.

In the end, you frighten your potential clients with all that jargon. It would have been much more effective to speak to them in person, which would be appropriate for your type of brand story.

Final Summary

Great products dont guarantee success anymore. You have to fill what you offer with meaning, which can be achieved with the help of a story. Building and spreading a believable brand story would require defining your companys ultimate goal and determining its destination.

A piece of advice:

The name of your company should go in line with its story.

A name of an enterprise is among the things potential buyers see first, so it plays an important role in creating a companys public image. Determining the name of your company, answer the following:

What information do you wish the name to convey? Should it convey the same message to your employees as well as buyers? Finally, in what way does the name make your company unique?