1. HOW TO DISCOVER AND PERFECT YOUR
BRAND STORY
Jeff Korhan | Landscape Digital Institute
Do you know why your customers do business with you? Can you
clearly articulate that as an elevator pitch? In other words, can you do
it in 30 seconds or less?

2. 16 MNLA.biz december 16
When you attend networking events,
mingle at parties, or wait for your
airplane to board, you can unlock new op-
portunities if you can tell your brand story
well. Some businesses never figure this out
because they are not willing to try. Others
simply give up too soon.
Here’s how one small business owner
figured it out.
Sounds Like It’s Almost Handmade
Jim Koch is the Chairman of the Boston
Brewing Company, brewer of Samuel
Adams beer. He founded what is now a
billion-dollar business by making it a habit
to have one-to-one conversations with beer
drinkers to understand them and share
what makes Sam Adams unique.
Your current customers know, like, and
trust you. They understand and appreciate
the passion and care that drives your busi-
ness. That passion is a significant factor in
buying decisions and it comes through in
your story.
Jim Koch learned this while having a
conversation with a beer drinker that pre-
ferred one of the imported beers. The man
reasoned that imports are backed by genera-
tions of talented brewers, whereas American
beers are mass-produced. When Mr. Koch
explained that he brewed his first batch of
beer in his home kitchen and to this day it
is still “handcrafted in small batches that
he personally approves,” he made a connec-
tion. “Sounds like it’s almost handmade,”
the man said.
Just like that, the now booming craft
beer industry was born. Or at least it had a
name that resonated with consumers. They
were called micro-breweries back then and
there were hundreds of them. Now there
are thousands of craft brewers across the
United States.
That conversation changed how Jim
Koch marketed his beers, and one like it
can change how you market your landscap-
ing and lawn care products and services.
In his recently released book, Quench Your
Own Thirst, Jim Koch notes: “Eventually,
we would become known as a leader of the
craft beer movement. All from listening to a
guy in a bar.”
Now that’s a story.
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3. december 16 MNLA.biz 17
Unleash Your Superpower
Aren’t your landscape and lawn care projects handcrafted in small
batches too? A craft is something you do because you love it, and
that love should come out in your brand story. Your brand story
starts with you.
In a world of product and service sameness, you are the reason
your customers want to be aligned with your business. Think of that
reason as your superpower. Your superpower is the one thing that
makes you invincible in the hearts and minds of your customers.
At a recent landscape industry event we discussed this topic and
everyone around the table instantly named their superpower. This
included retaining customers for many years, consistently generating
new ideas, and developing a company culture that speaks to their
core values. You probably know yours too, but to be sure, talk to
your customers like Jim Koch did. Then talk to everyone who is not
your customer, but should be, and learn how to connect the dots.
Within that gap is the story you must discover and perfect if you
are going to grow your business beyond your current customer base.
Here’s why. Your current customers know, like, and trust you. They
get you because they know your story. The challenge is perfecting
that story so that it resonates with complete strangers.
A brand story is content marketing. It educates and inspires new
customers to do business with you. It’s a complex brew, so to speak,
of what you do and why you do it that is infused with your passion
and unique methods for getting beautiful results.
Tell Your Story Like Hollywood
Are you wondering how to tell your brand story? Follow the lead
from some of the greatest storytellers: Hollywood. Every successful
Hollywood film follows a basic structure that you have intuitively
come to know from watching hundred of films.
The template that legendary Hollywood producers religiously
follow is a simple three-part structure: Beginning, middle, and end.
More specifically, the three essential components are:
• The Beginning Hook
• The Middle Build
• The Ending Payoff
There’s always a beginning hook that draws you into a film. It’s
what sets everything up to give it context for the target audience.
For your business story, this is your superpower that connects with
your ideal buyers.
For example, let’s say your superpower is creating innovative
design-build projects. That’s the beginning hook. It attracts the
buyer’s attention long enough for your team to determine the
specific solution that emotionally grabs and propels them, and the
story, forward. Now, stay with me for just for a moment because we
are going to get a little technical. The beginning hook is the context
that sets up the story. But filmmakers say the film really starts with
the inciting incident. For Jim Koch, this was the aha moment when
the term ‘craft beer’ was coined.
In the film Rocky the inciting incident is when Apollo Creed
says, “I’m going to give this chump a shot at the title.” Boom! You
now see where this is going. It will be a fight to the finish. In fact,
embedded in every inciting incident is the climax of the story.
And so it is with your brand story. When you use your superpower
to deliver the one solution that engages your buyer they instantly see
the finish line. All you have to do is lead them to the climax of the
story, which is your business delivering an exceptional experience.
That customer experience is the middle build. There’s drama,
excitement, and discovery that builds with buyers once they see the
light. What’s really happening is they are beginning to take your
story and make it their own. That’s what buyers do. They tell them-
selves a story that validates their decision. It’s the same one they’ll
tell their friends and neighbors. That story always answers why they
decided to move forward with your company.
Finally, after the middle build is the ending payoff. This is the
climax. It’s your company delivering on the promise of your brand
story.
To be clear, your brand story is not about a transaction. It’s a
representation of something greater, namely a memorable and
marketable relationship with a growing community of loyal
customers.
JEFF KORHAN, MBA, is a landscape industry author, speaker,
consultant, and the founder of Landscape Digital Institute.
He helps organizations create exceptional customer experiences
that drive business growth in a digital world. Learn more at www.
landscapedigitalinstitute.com.
There’s always a beginning hook that draws
you into a film. It’s what sets everything up to
give it context for the target audience. For
your business story, this is your superpower
that connects with your ideal buyers.