What do your words say about you?

What do your words say about you? Our thoughts about your messaging platform.

Your words are your story and your story is your brand.

Messaging platforms help you tell your story simply and consistently. Drake Creative designs messaging platforms that build your brand and make it engaging.

Thought #1: Your story isn't about you. It's about your audience.

Tell a story your audience wants to hear again and again. The way to do that is to make your audience the hero of your story.

For Blue Flower Arts, a literary spoken word agency, we wanted to celebrate just how inspirational it can be to listen to a great artist read their work and to learn what drives them to create it. (Image ©Peter Dressel)

The Vanikiotis family has a great sense of humor, a wee bit of bravado, and their great sense of hospitality means you always feel at home in their restaurants. Everything about eating there is comfortable and fun.

More than once in our interviews we heard a customer say: I needed help at the end of the day — to cover inventory, payroll, a payment going out right as one was due to come it — I called the bank and they took care of it.

We interviewed a lot of Page tenant businesses and we were struck by how happy they were in their space, how they felt listened to and cared for. Would you talk to someone for an hour about your landlord?

Thought #2: If you're going to tell a story about me, get to know me first.

It's amazing what you can learn from people when you listen to what they have to say. Drake builds personas from our client/customer research as part of your messaging platform to help you know your audience better and talk to them directly.

Create personas to represent each constituency for your organization, ranging from customers for specific product lines, to major donors to nonprofits. Persona for The Art Effect and the secondary education track of their Excel Program.

Thought #3: A good story can be told with infinite variety.

Put the time in creating a strong storyline for your brand, and you'll never run out of things to say.

Whether about the strength of your relationships:

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Your good food with attitude:

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Or perhaps, the hope you're forging for the future:

Maplebrook School's capital campaign exceeded their $4 million target by 25 percent. (click images to view in full)

Thought #4: Clarity and simplicity are your greatest assets in communications.

People have so little time and their attention is constantly under assault. Tell stories that can be understood at a glance, even when the subject matter is complex. Or wonky.

How quickly can you make numbers tell a whole story? For the Dyson Foundation these infographics instantly state funding priorities while telling the story of their grantees.

Help people get what (or where) they want quickly and without clutter. Upper Landing Park wayfinding signage.

When your agency has over 100 speakers to choose from, topical organization and quick reference information makes life easier for your users, which makes it easier for them to hire your clients.

Thought #5: Keep your story straight.

As you can tell from the diverse areas covered here, messaging isn't just your tagline and your advertising. It needs to work its way into every communication that comes from your organization, from signage to PR. And it has to be consistent.

Style guides aren't just for visual identities. They help you and everyone else associated with your organization tell a consistent story that becomes your brand. We create comprehensive style guides that ensure adherence to your brand identity no matter who is working on it. Style guides should expand as needed, they are your brand bible.

Created By

Dean Temple

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