Once you live the story, you become a story !

“If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. The delinquent is saying with his actions, "This sucks. I'm going to do my own thing.”

-Yvon Chouinard

Marketing has been an intriguing mind play for all management enthusiasts, including myself. My interests are drawn towards what makes one, agree to buy a product.

I am no professional but just a curious mind sitting at a corner of the class who feels delighted listening to professors' and classmates’ opinions in the education system. These are just mere words of an uneducated mind. As much as I have been reading that sell the problem and not the product, modern-day marketing is evolving. No longer can we talk about making tv commercial that runs between a captivating Indian daily soap or placing a fancy banner up in the sky. We, in today’s time, discuss a creative ecosystem i.e versatility that a brand or a company has to build. The reach one has to have across multiple platforms and thus, teach Omni channel to budding entrepreneurs.

Growing entrepreneurs and brands have to compete with the big players existing in the market. These big brands have established trustworthy relationships for years now. There experience is so much so, that maybe there intuitive mind towards there sales is enough for them to understand what the future would look like. The brands all across the globe are now talking about more than just selling a product. This was an assumption until I discovered a existing brand Patagonia.

We do believe that marketing today is advancing, but when we look at a brand like Patagonia which dates back in history, it was already doing what most brands try and achieve today. How did it manage to achieve such versatility in those times. Patagonia, is an American brand that started in the 70s. The brand takes us through a journey of the founder. A venture that was started by Yvonne Chouinard. A man who lived his life as an adventurer. To fund his expeditions he started off by selling a couple of pitons he made in his backyard. Yves realised his climbing tools caused damage to the mountains, thus found the Chouinard equipment from used harvester blades, and started selling them. Soon he transformed a brand that is no less than a story today. What I mean by that is he was selling, but more importantly the problem he was solving along with his own story. He was selling inner potential, compassion, experience, and a drive that each product narrated.

What Patagonia did then is what the 21st century demands. Mind you ironically the same centenary where a 10-second reel content is all you want to watch to know it all, where, "time is money" is taken quite literally, but if you want people to be drawn to you, captivating stories draw attention. These stories are not fictional character stories or how a cream can fair your brown skin. But your story, your personal story as a brand. To my surprise, Patagonia achieved building this story even before we started teaching " building a brand story ".

Yvonne went on a trek in California, where he drew inspiration from mountain Monte Fitz Roymade and sketched his own brand logo. The man was all about the nature, adventure and with his conscience he built a brand that narrated adventure, sold how to experience nature at the same time gave whatever he earned, back to the nature. He denies just sustainability and says we must become responsible. His brand also states that the earth is its only shareholder! Patagonia offers a story that no other brand does. A story where it urges its customers to not buy its jacket. This message was intended to educate people about the effect of consumerism on the environment. So, what is expressed here is that his own personal story became the story of a global leading brand. He became a brand.

Now if it was that simple wouldn’t all brands just come up with a story and deliver, then grow and be amongst the best of the best players? I agree not. You can not simply broadcast and expect others to see you. So, can anyone broadcast such a story? What is this story? ! The personal stories. I like to call it the Perstore, a personal store. If you as a seller are not rooted with the brand how can a customer? The self-experience and self-experiments should flourish in the brand. Your experience in the journey of life. Thrilling experiences, offbeat decisions and exposure to situations and various environments will lead you to build these stories. The first step in order to achieve a story is to discover you. These stories are nothing but your own experienced conscience with respect to the society you live in. You will only be able to express a flower better if you have seen a flower than someone who has never seen it. You can describe cultural differences clearly when you have witnessed different cultures, which in return might help you understand choices of people from different cultures in a much defined manner. If one lives through such small experiences in life they way Yvonne did you one day you yourself would become an experience. Once as a entrepreneur you understand your ability by going through this journey you understand your product. Your own drive and skill level will draw attention of the customers to the brand, because unlike others you will have stories to share. Just how we would get delighted to hear our grandmothers narrating us theirs. This will speak in itself for your brand. It will not only help you build a brand but market it too.

So, are these stories sufficient? No. The art of storytelling is the most significant tool. You might have an impeccably motivating, moving, out-of-the-world story but if you cannot deliver and impact minds the complete hard work, of years, of you building your own story has all gone down the drain. But how do we figure out, how to approach the art of storytelling to impact minds? Well, we all need to start somewhere! Maybe quit the 9 to 5 to experience and unfold your story. I will leave you with this thought. What is your story? Have you built it yet? or, are you even assembling it? As much as we wanna know how many hours of desk job you have done we wanna know who you are! What ignites you? What encourages you, how far can you go? and how soon can you take a turn?