WRITING FOR BRANDS
Every brand has a story to tell.
How to stand out and define your offer with a clear voice and strategic brand storytelling.
Writing for your brand starts with telling your story and finding your voice. And every story has characters, drama, obstacles to overcome, a quest or journey to be taken and many lessons to be learned along the way. The power of a brand story told in a unique and memorable voice will bring your brand to life and help it stick in the minds of your most important audiences.
Berliner Benson provides brands with a specialist level of writing rarely found at advertising or design agencies. Led by the company’s founding partner Mike Benson, we offer strategically-driven, creative writing from brand narrative and values to naming, copywriting and everything in between. We've helped new and established brands of all sizes tell their stories, from IBM and Nike, Coca-Cola and Para la Naturaleza to Major League Soccer and Phillips Contemporary Art.
Connecting strategy and design to make meaning and create feeling.
When your brand voice is built out of your strategy and connects with your visual identity, every word can work to achieve your ambition. When you've identified the spirit of your brand and defined your brand voice, you should be able to communicate anything to your different audiences - and they'll know who's talking to them, what you stand for and how you do things.
No matter where you are in a relationship, from recruiting to retaining, guiding your teams and customers with a distinct voice will help to inspire loyalty, trust, engagement and who knows, maybe even love.
Creating conversations and being open to change.
All this storytelling stuff is important. It makes a difference and invites people in. But if you don't listen, you won't hear - your customers, investors, employees and the rest of the world. When you don't hear what other people say, you just keep talking about yourself. Display empathy. Learn the art of starting a brand conversation. Create dialogue. People will believe you're interested in them. Let that be part of your voice.
As your brand grows, your voice will evolve. As language shifts and new media become relevant to your brand, the way it talks, writes and markets to your different audiences will hopefully flex and respond to the changes. The key is to decide what must stay the same, what needs to go and how much to change.
How can we help you tell your brand story?
Here's a list of all the kinds of writing we help people with - not every project needs every part of it and of course this list will change, but at least you get a sense of how we can help:
Strategic Brand Writing
Brand story:
A narrative thread for internal or external audiences that demonstrates the spirit,
beliefs, purpose and promise of the organisation.
Brand idea / purpose:
An internal statement that explains why your organisation exists. Inspires everyone
in the business to understand 'why we are here'.
Brand promise:
An external statement to express what stakeholders, investors, partners, clients and
customers should expect from your brand
Brand positioning:
A set of messages, helping the company clarify what it does, how it does it and who it’s for.
Value proposition:
A detailed description of the value a brand provides for its customers.
Key messaging / conversation guide:
The most important things you want people in your organisation to say about your
brand at a bar / cocktail party / park bench / elevator.
Brand values:
A set of clearly defined characteristics that help to express the brand purpose and guide how your
organisation operates. (Can also be framed as brand behaviours / behaviours, principles or personality)
Brand Voice:
The tone, message and voice of the brand. (Also known as Verbal identity)
Toolkit / guidelines:
In-depth document capturing the spirit of the brand voice and providing guidance
for all written and spoken communications. (Often one section of the overall brand guidelines)
Expressive Brand Writing
Brand fiction:
Stories that express your brand in narrative fiction format.
Brand naming:
A structured approach to naming brands, products, services and initiatives.
Brand writing:
Taglines, headlines, key messaging.
Copywriting:
Campaign ideas, script writing and copy for print, digital, audio, video, packaging, products,
services and events.
Branded content / editorial:
Long form writing for digital, audio, video and print media that engages viewers, listeners and readers with information, entertainment and opinion relevant to their interests.
Creative writing:
Films, Podcasts, Poetry, Lyrics, Fiction.