Make Your Story Workshops

Brand and communications.

Why stories matter and how our workshop works

“Whatever you are trying to sell,

storytelling is the most

powerful thing you can do”

Richard Branson

Champions of innovation know how to bring their vision of the future to life and sell it.

With convincing ROI and feeling comfortable with their

know-how

Most of us don’t go into business to be marketers but people buy people, promises and purpose.

This is what your brand and communication represent

Good ideas grow when they mean a lot to the right people and become part of their story.

We are hardwired to react to stories that emotionally resonate

This is just as true for business to business. In fact there’s more opportunity and

value to be created

A good story is a competitive advantage and value creating.

Easier decision making, better customer service,

more attractive employer

You need to articulate and own your story. Making stories that stick is

harder than telling them

Reward is a stronger and more valuable brand, communications and conversations.

Bespoke outputs that align with your business plan

Make%Your%Story%

Designed to: •  Refresh, challenge or create a new

brand and communication strategy

•  Deliver immediate, practical and tactical ideas, outputs and actions

•  Empower a team with new focus, tools and know-how

•  Cost effective way of learning and benefiting from processes used by big brands

2-3 days of inputs •  Fresh pair of eyes on your

marketplace •  Audit of your current

communications and priorities

•  Identify priority outcomes, outputs and straw man strategy

•  Via questionnaire, desk research and interviews

1 or 2 workshops •  Your team with open mind and

sleeves rolled up

•  Series of exercises with tools you can reuse

•  Series of iterations between us and you

•  Whole brain litmus tests to make sure everyone is on-board

Finding the narrative/3

Unite your team behind a common goal •  Common purpose •  Brand essence •  Long run view Understand what influences your customer •  Target customer •  Hindsight, insight, foresight •  Master story

Part 2. Story telling Part 1. Story making Create opportunities to win customers •  Problems worth solving •  Whole brain benefits •  New ideas Build loyal relationships with customers •  Communications strategy •  Stories worth sharing •  Campaign and tactics

Finding the narrative/3

Master story:

Communication strategy:

Emotional and functional benefits:

Long run

view:

Hindsight, insight,

foresight:

Common purpose:

Brand essence:

Website copy

Social media

Message hierarchy

News generation

Speaker opps

Stories to tell:

Building a brand and communications from the inside out.

Experiential

Customer service

Brand guidelines

Media relations

Stakeholder mapping

Content creation

Tactic & channels

1. Common purpose: What is your unifying call to adventure? What is your customer-driven purpose? How is it distinct, alive and sustainable?

What do you want to stand for? How do you want to be seen and heard? How do you make people think and feel?

2. Brand essence:

3. Long run view: What is your vision of the future? How can you bring that to life? What makes you agile, open and collaborative?

We use a blend of well established tools e.g. customer pen portraits alongside our original ones such as the Hemmingway Challenge

Story making

4. Target audience:

Who is it that you most want and need to appeal to? Where do we find them? What do they want and need from you?

Story making

6. The master story:

5. Insight, hindsight and foresight:

What is the environment we are trying to make a story in today? What is the most dominant idea held by our target audience on the subject? What is the deep human emotional truth they hold behind that idea?

Who or what influences the dominant idea? Why have they succeeded and failed in the past? What will it affect your story as it moves forward in the future?

What are the sub narratives that will allow or help people to evolve their own master story? What new attitudes will inspire people to think differently? What new behaviour will inspire people to act differently?

Story telling

1. Problems worth solving: What long run problem are you turning into an opportunity? Who or what is the villain? What is the human challenge?

2. Whole brain benefits What are the emotional and functional benefits of solving the problem? What attributes are given by a tangible experience? What is the feeling the experience satisfies?

3. New ideas What new ideas solve the problem? How do they inspire and equip change? What is the ROI for the value created?

Story telling

4. Communications strategy What is the one thing you need to do to achieve your goal? How does this enhance the brand? How will it win new customers and supporters?

5. Stories worth sharing What are reasons you believe you can do this? What’ are you doing that’s new? Why will people care?

6. Campaign and tactics What is the umbrella concept running through everything you do? What activities will bring it to life? How will your story be shared?

2-3 days of outputs: •  A master presentation

•  Project charters for implementation

•  Timetable for implementation

•  Completion of agreed priority outputs e.g. hierarchy of key messages, news generation calendar, speaker opportunities

Project Leader:_______________________

Objectives:

Specific Deliverables (milestones):

Work stream team, roles & responsibilities:

Risks:

Collaboration (key links to other projects/functions/workstreams:

Other key resources:

Project Name:_________________

Accountabilities: Dates:

Opportunities/Accelerators:

On-Brand Criteria:

News Flash Headline:

Other sources of input/expertise:

Why it works In a cluttered and complex world it gives you a story that: •  Shows why your idea is different,

better and special

•  Easy to tell because it’s effortless, purposeful and enduring

•  Wins new fans because it’s authentic, relevant and meaningful

Your team

Guy Pattison > CEO

Former director at a top 5 PR agency and in-house head of

communications. Took a unique brand-led approach to help over

100 of the UK’s top entrepreneurs in cleantech.

Will Hill > Creative Director

10 years experience as Creative Director at leading PR agencies. Launched the Dove Campaign

for Real Beauty and sat on Coca-Cola’s global board of

creative agencies.

Awards won: %•  PR Week, Campaign of the Year •  PR Week, Best Use of Research •  Marketing Society, Employee

Engagement •  PRCA, Digital & New Media Award •  DADI, Best Recruitment Campaign •  BT Digital Music, Best Event •  Sports Industry Awards, Best

Community Programme •  PRCA, Best Integrated Campaign •  PRCA, Best Consumer Campaign •  CIPR, Best Industry & Commerce

Campaign •  Marketing Society, Best Marketing

Communications •  Hollis Sponsorship, Best Use of PR

And we’re really pleased to say that Long Run Works has been shortlisted for Green PR Agency of the Year by the Business Green Leaders Awards 2015.

Stories%we’ve%helped%make%and%tell%include:%EDF%Energy,%npower,%Barclays,%Unilever,%

Boots,%Accenture,%City%&%Guilds,%RAC,%Guinness,%Channel%4,%Red%Bull%and%CocaGCola.%