Introducing... Narrative Edge

  • By MATT CLARK
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  • 18 Nov, 2017
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I'm delighted to introduce 'Narrative Edge', a small but perfectly formed communications consultancy.

So, what is Narrative Edge?

Basically, I believe that every successful brand or organisation is built on a great story. It's what makes you relevant to your customers, and different to your competitors. It makes you interesting. It creates love and loyalty.

It becomes your point of competitive advantage.

It gets to the real point of the matter, which is WHY you do what you do, and WHY your customers should care.

Most organisations know WHAT they do, HOW they do it and WHO they do it for. But very few really know the answer to WHY.

Mainly, it's just the successful ones.

So, that's what I aim to do. Help businesses, organisations or individuals understand WHY they do what they do, discover their unique story, and then tell that story beautifully and effectively.

Critically, this isn't storytelling for the sake of it. This is fundamentally about defining a strategy and creating a story that is built on and delivers that strategy.

Your Narrative Edge must connect to and deliver on goals and objectives. It's business storytelling, with purpose.

This isn't fluffy stuff.

If you would like to get in touch to tell me a bit about your story, then you'll find me at matt@narrative-edge.co.uk.

Behind every great story is a great strategy

By MATT CLARK • December 13, 2017
You know how tempting it is. You pick up a book, read a couple of chapters, think you know where it's going and the skip to the end, reading the last few pages. We're all so hungry for the pay-off, that often we're not willing to invest the time and effort in the journey that gets us there. To an author, this can be devastating! For a business, it can be disastrous.

This desire to 'skip to the end', to jump straight to communicating your story without going through the journey to make sure it is built on the right foundations can lead to wasted time and effort, probably some wasted money and, worst of all, confusion in the minds of your customers and staff. That's where the Narrative Edge 'Story-Engine' comes in. It's a methodical approach to ensure that everything is connected, relevant, consistent and has a purpose.

A great cover doesn't mean you'll love the book

By MATT CLARK • November 23, 2017

I was asked an interesting question the other day by an entrepreneur in the early days of developing their business. They’d been offered the opportunity to test their product and get paid for it – a pretty rare combination! Anyway, the entrepreneur needed to invoice their client so they could get paid for the test, so they started developing an invoice template. They really wanted it to go on headed paper, but as they were still at the beginning of their journey they had no visual identity yet – no logo, typeface, colour palette and other recognisable business ‘symbols’.

So they thought they needed a logo, and quick! The question they asked was whether there were any particular rules or guidance on designing a logo?

Now, I’m not a designer, so I can’t answer that from a pure design perspective. But I have been working with designers for over 20 years and I know for a fact that what any designer needs to do any job properly is a great brief. They need to be absolutely clear on what is required, and what the design needs to represent.

What can storytelling do for you?

By MATT CLARK • November 20, 2017
Business storytelling isn't a 'nice to have', it's an absolutely essential asset to you and your strategy. It captures your purpose, your points of difference and relevance, and gives your customers reasons to believe and love what you do. 

I believe there are five core reasons why finding your Narrative Edge can transform your business.