Digital Storytelling & Branding Blog Post:

What is a Brand?

While reflecting on this month's Digital Storytelling and Branding course, I noticed many significant and insightful takeaways. Branding is essential to a business as it lets the customer get involved with the company, leading to engagement and potential sales. The company's purpose for branding is also essential. Our first discussion post included "three little questions" about our chosen company for the course. These questions included: who are you, what do you do, and why does it matter? The answers to these questions helped me understand the why behind the existence of Fouronetwo. The primary assignment of creating our brand statement was also helpful in understanding the existence of my brand and what direction I wanted to take. Both assignments were insightful on why developing a differentiation in your brand is essential and will be handy tools for my professional career. 

Differentiation and Brand Voice

Our second week included the brand's voice, what personality traits Fouronetwo has, and what well-known television or movie character (Fictional or Non-Fictional) embodies those traits best. The unique voice for Fouronetwo was Dominic Toretto from Fast and the Furious movie Sage. Through a Keynote presentation, I captured and compared the characteristics of Dominic Toretto to Fouronetwo to give the audience a visual of the brand. What I found the most helpful was the PechaKucha style (20 slides with no more than 20 seconds on each slide) we created in the presentation. This style helped me understand how to keep the audience engaged as the slides change at a quicker rate. The knowledge from this week will be helpful in my career as a brand's voice is more than about what you hear but how it visually speaks to you. Connecting those dots will help me grow as a digital marketer. 

Brand Storytelling

The third week was my favorite, as we created a story for the brand. The goal of this week was not to sell our brand's product to the customer but to create an emotional connection through a two-minute story. To do this, we took an online quiz to identify an archetype for the brand. Fouronetwo's archetype was the "Hero Archetype," which includes motivational, inspirational, and empowering characteristics. What I found fascinating was how emotions can lead to engagement. I began to think of why I love certain products, and it is because of what the brand represents. This week is crucial for my success in my future career as connecting to the customer emotionally influences their decision to engage and buy into more than the product but the brand itself. 

Brand Strategy Paper

Our final week was the most informal. Week four included a fifteen to seventeen-page comprehensive brand strategy paper. This paper aimed to analyze Fouronetwo's current customer experience, customer touchpoints, mission statement, and any recommendations that would help Fouronetwo remain a leader in the clothing, accessories, and fashion industry. This paper allowed me to dive deeply into the matching strategies that Fouronetwo was using. It helped me create suggestions on improving upon what's currently working and what could add to their success. The information learned this week will enhance my career by finding strengths and weaknesses in my brand that can be built upon to create strategies for more overall success. 

Wrap up

This month in Digital Storytelling and Branding has been a massive step in my digital marketing knowledge. Learning how to understand your brand more profoundly is crucial to attracting customers. The customer must connect with your brand's story and the emotions they feel when interacting. These are telling signs of the success of the brand. Will the customer understand the message behind the brand? How will they become loyal to the brand? I plan to utilize the knowledge I've learned this month and apply it immediately to my brand. 

*See below for required screenshot*

-Jordan