StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.
Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.
StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
How can archetypes guide your brand storytelling?
That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, Meghan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers
here at Pioneer Utility Resources.
And I am joined by Sarah Lancaster, Pioneer's director of
accounts on our member solutions team.
Sarah, thank you so much for joining us today.
Now, I should say Sarah and I get to see each other all the
time, but normally we have folks from our membership or other
industry leaders on the podcast.
But Sarah is doing something really interesting with utility
pioneers.
So we're going to break the mold a little bit today to let our
listeners hear directly from Sarah about this because it is a lot
of fun ideas. So as part of that, you have been working on
archetypes.
So let's talk about archetypes a little bit.
What are they, and why do they matter?
Sarah Lancaster:
Absolutely. So in the 1940s, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung
developed a set of common
personality archetypes, and there are 12 of them.
There's the innocent, the sage, the explorer, the hero, the
magician, the rebel, the
lover, the jester, the everyman, the creator, the ruler, and the
caregiver.
So Jung believed that these were innate, hereditary personality
traits
that resonated with people.
They also had a part in influencing behavior and turning into
behavioral
patterns. So marketing is all about connecting and predicting
customer behaviors.
So knowing your brand archetype is vital in how your customers
see you.
Brands need to connect with their audience in a deep and
meaningful way, right?
So to build on authenticity, loyalty, and trust.
Knowing those brand archetypes, that provides a framework based
on human psychology to help with your company and help
build a worthwhile and valuable relationship.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, I like this. So we're getting brainy with it, and really
trying to think because a lot of the time we get caught up
in as storytellers, we're told, oh, you've got to communicate
about this, and you've got to get that.
And we've got to be at this event and whatnot.
And you just kind of get a checklist like, yeah, okay, we're
here, we're here, we're here.
But you forget to think about why are we here?
What message, you know, how are we perceived?
How do we want to be perceived?
And use that to really support your campaigns?
So I love that y'all are really thinking about that and trying
to think about the psychology of the campaigns and the word
choices and even the color choices that you use.
So when I learned about the archetypes from y'all, because we
had a nice internal discussion about this
too, I learned that the archetypes are really grouped into four
areas.
There are 12 different archetypes, but they have four goals,
really.
Some of them are focused on seeking a better future.
Another set is leaving a legacy, providing structure or
pursuing connection.
Those are kind of the four different goals across the
archetypes.
So seek a better future, leave a legacy, provide structure,
pursue connection.
What goal trends from those four have you really seen from the
utility pioneers that you support?
Sarah Lancaster:
Absolutely. I love this question.
And so among utility pioneers it is usually two and a mixture of
the two.
It's a better future and leave a legacy.
That's been consistent throughout.
And it tracks right, like with the cooperative world and the
utility space.
Utilities are bringing fiber fast internet to areas that have
been unserved or underserved.
So they are seeking a better future, and they are building a
legacy, right?
So that their customers then have tools and access to
telemedicine, telehealth, remote work,
education, entertainment at their fingertips.
If you have a relative, you know, on the East Coast and you're
on the West Coast, you can connect with them and play a game
or FaceTime or whatever it may be.
So our utility pioneers, they truly are seeking a better future
and leaving a legacy for
future generations.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that, and it's kind of fun to see where folks fall,
because it's a big, a broad spectrum for these archetypes, 12
different ones. I'm curious why are colors tied to specific
archetypes?
Because when I look, and it looks like a wheel, and we'll share
this on pioneer.coop/podcasts for
folks that want to see this to get an idea.
But it's kind of like a color wheel for 12 different shades of
colors going all the way from your
blues, shades of green, yellow, orange, two reds, and then
purple and then starting all the way around
again. Why are there colors that are tied to those specific
archetypes?
Sarah Lancaster:
Absolutely. So, you know there's been many studies about how
people engage with color and what it means and how it makes you
feel. So it's natural that with each archetype, there's a color
associated with it.
So there is a wide array of colors for each archetype and each
quadrant, as I call it, right?
So specifically for the colors associated with seeking a better
future and leaving a
legacy, those colors are blues and greens.
So those colors resonate with trust and calm and reassurance.
So our utility pioneers, they are trusted providers, whether
that is power or internet.
They are reassuring that, hey, you know, we are bringing you
fiber.
It's going to be great. This is why it's important, the
reassuring right?
And they're bringing a sense of calm like, hey, you may not have
that connection today, or if there's a storm that comes through
and you have an outage, We're bringing you that sense of calm.
So those colors resonate perfectly with those two specific
quadrants' archetype
goals.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I'm wondering, you know, when you think about all of that, that's
a pretty broad scope of directions where you
can go.
As you said, a lot of our folks are really focusing more on, you
know, caregivers, creators, innocent, sage, explorers,
kind of that area.
But I'm wondering if you – when you're talking to folks about
this – are you encouraging people to
use a different archetype to fuel specific campaigns?
Or do they have to stick with one archetype forever or just for
a certain period of time?
How does that work?
Sarah Lancaster:
So you could.
You could pick one.
But what we have found is that you're not just one.
You're a mix of different ones.
So the main thing here is keeping your audience in mind.
If you have a specific campaign, what's marketing 101, what's
your target audience?
Okay. What archetype is going to resonate with that target
audience, or what you perceive, or how they perceive you?
Right. Always, always, always go back to your audience first and
foremost.
And then over time, just like you and I and those listening, we
change
over time, right?
Megan McKoy-Noe:
No.
Sarah Lancaster:
Yes we do.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I stay the same. (laughs)
Sarah Lancaster:
So your brand is just like that.
It's going to change over time.
Like our utility pioneers who decided to get into broadband in
2020,
they're completely different than they were before that, right?
Like they evolved over time.
So it is natural just like us as humans, for your brand to
evolve over time.
You will not be the same archetype your entire, longevity of
your company.
It just won't happen.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. So I like that.
So it's more informing you.
It's kind of a brainstorming tactic too.
You're thinking, all right, so this is how we feel.
This is the message that's going to help us go in that direction
and meet the audience and how we want our audience to feel
about us, right.
So that's nice.
And it's just a good reminder especially, you know, we're midway
through the year.
Folks are looking ahead at 2025.
So to think about what your goals are going to be in 2025 and
how you can use archetypes to kind of get you there and
strengthen your storytelling, is fun.
Now, when I was looking at the archetypes, Sarah, out of all 12,
I have to admit.
I feel a little bit like a rebel, but also an explorer.
And especially through my job and then through things that I
enjoy to do with my free time and with my daughter, I'm more of a
creator. It's hard to pick just one.
Which archetypes do you personally relate to?
Sarah Lancaster:
I love, this may be my favorite question.
So you and I are also Enneagram ones, right?
So I can absolutely be a rebel when pushed.
But day in and day out, I mostly identify with being a
magician, which the brand associated with the magician is
Disney.
I want to help folks give a transformative experience, not just
a product.
Account managers, we are relational by nature.
We're not transactional.
We want to help make a difference and make dreams come true, as
cheeky as that is.
But also empower others to know that that is possible, and what
better space to do that than in the utility
space?
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, I love that.
I can see you with a hat and a wand right now.
Sarah Lancaster:
I want a wand. Let's make that.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I know. You should have a wand, a member solutions wand.
I think it'd be great.
So.
Yeah. So just think about those.
And again, those 12 archetypes.
Caregiver, ruler, creator, innocent, sage,
explorer. What are the other six?
Sarah Lancaster:
Jester, ruler, lover.
I've got to pull up my graphic.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I know.
Sarah Lancaster:
Every man, caregiver as well.
Got those.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. So it's just good to think about that for the next year.
Think about what you want to say, how you can get that message
across, give you a fresh perspective on what you're doing.
So Sarah, I'm going to ask you one last question.
Because this is all, you know, psychology 101 kind of thinking
through all of this.
But on the podcast, we always remind folks at the very end to
keep telling your story.
How does knowing your brand's archetype, or archetypes, help
tell your story?
Sarah Lancaster:
Absolutely. So knowing how you see your utility and how your
customers
see you, that's only going to help you tell your story, but it's
also going to help you tell it in a
meaningful way that resonates.
And that's at the end of the day, that's what we're all about,
is making those connections.
So absolutely, I encourage anyone to do this exercise.
Do it one-on-one with yourself, but also go back to your team
and do it.
Because it will be amazing what you get back, and then you can
have a conversation around that, and to
help you connect with your audience.
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, I love that. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for sharing your
story with utility pioneers.
She is Sarah Lancaster, and I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe.
Both of us are from Pioneer Utility Resources.
And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your story.
StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith.