Starting a new business or looking to maximize your brand’s impact on your bottom line?

While a brand is the foundation of any business, creating that brand can be as scary and exhilarating as any rollercoaster ride – especially as a brand must achieve top marks in three essential categories in order to truly become a branding “triple-threat.”

So, how do you make your brand a triple-threat? Start with these three simple steps:

Step 1: Start with the story.

You’ve found the courage and gotten on the branding coaster, now it’s time to get your brand going. Look at authoring your brand story as part of the slow, methodical uphill climb of the ride. Not necessarily the most exciting part, but arguably the most essential—filled with hope and a heavy dose of anxiety.

In this step, you should focus on identifying the vital elements of your brand in order to shape its story. Who are the players, what is the purpose, when did it all start, where are you going, and why should your target audiences care? If you can answer these questions, you can create a story that will carry your brand on the ride to come.

Step 2: Create the brand experience.

You’ve built the story to launch the brand. Now it’s time for the ride. While the first downhill drop can be scary, it can also be exhilarating as you build momentum and begin guiding the direction of your brand.

In this step, you’re creating and executing the experience you and your audiences have with your brand. This step looks at all potential tough points—from high-profile advertising to on-the-floor product and/or service delivery, and every communication opportunity in-between. This step takes the story you’ve authored and gives it life. The more opportunities there are for interaction, the more enjoyment your audiences find with your brand.

Step 3: Establish a brand mythology.

This is the epic retelling of the harrowing ride. It is the recommendations from your customers for others to experience it, and the desire to repeat it themselves. It’s also the one part of the ride over which you have no control.

This step is the most critical to creating a truly “triple-threat” brand. It’s more than creating the foundation (Step 1) or the initial interaction (Step 2), it’s establishing a long-term relationship and ongoing referral network with a life of its own. This step is less something you do and more something you release. You must allow your brand’s reputation and perception in the marketplace to take hold without attempting to tell people how to think and behave with it.

If your preparation and execution in the initial steps has been solid, strategic and thoughtful, then you will have created a brand mythology that embodies that foundation as it sets off on its own ride.

Every brand has the potential to become a triple-threat when working through these three steps. It’s up to you how exciting—and lasting—that the brand ride you build will be.

3fold Communications, a leading marketing and advertising agency headquartered in midtown Sacramento, specializes in creating one-of-a-kind strategic communications campaigns utilizing creative approaches. Beyond its many awards and successful client partnerships, 3fold Communications is committed to the growth of the community where its employees live, work and play. It’s a commitment that gives the agency a unique, comprehensive understanding of Sacramento and its residents. To learn more, visit www.3foldcomm.com.