What is a "brand story?" It's a way for you to share your company's values, culture, and vision with customers in a way that resonates deeply with them. A brand story can be as simple as one sentence or as long-winded as an epic poem. You can tell it through words, images and even video — whatever works best for your business.
If you're looking to build your company into something more than just another commodity offering among many others on the market, here are some steps to get started:
The key to building a brand story comes down to setting yourself apart.
The key to building a brand story comes down to setting yourself apart. In the crowded world of brands, you can't just be another face in the crowd—you need to find your unique selling proposition (USP). And that's where branding comes in.
A strong brand story helps you create an emotional connection with your audience and stand out from competitors. It tells them who you are, what makes you special, and why they should choose your product or service over all others. A great way of doing this is by telling a good story: humans have evolved over millions of years telling stories as one of our most important survival skills; we're hardwired for it! Our brains are programmed to respond more strongly when we hear stories rather than facts and figures alone—and that means it's easier for us to remember them too.
So if you want people talking about your business then don't just tell them what it does but also how it fits into their lives; show them how much better life would be without something else (like old fashioned marketing techniques) so they can understand why buying from YOU will make things better still!
To do this, you need to understand your target customer.
To do this, you need to understand your target customer. This is a crucial step in building a brand story and it’s one that many businesses overlook.
When someone buys or uses your product or service, they are not just the consumer of an object or experience—they become part of your brand story as well. That means their values, desires, fears and pain points matter as much as yours.
Here are some questions to ask:
- What are their values? What makes them tick? What do they value most in life? How does this translate into their buying decisions?
- What do they want from life (more money/less money/security/movement)? And how does that translate into your product/service offering?
- What sort of person do they want to be seen as by other people (e.g., rich/cool/normal)? How does this affect their purchasing decisions when it comes to your product or service offering?
Marketers must know their customer's desired outcome.
For example, if you're selling high-end sports cars, the customer's desired outcome is likely to be the ability to go fast and feel powerful while doing so. If you're selling cheap cars, the customer's desired outcome could be something like "Ease of use" or "Low monthly payments."
Before building your brand story, you need to know what it will mean for your product or service.
Why is the customer's desired outcome important?
It's important to know your customer's desired outcome because it helps you understand what they want to achieve or accomplish with your product.
For example, let's say you sell outerwear online. Your customer wants to look good when they go out in public, so they'll buy from you because you have attractive outerwear at reasonable prices. The reason why this is important is because it informs everything else about how you market yourself and build brand awareness. It also helps clarify why people buy from the company: They want something that will help them achieve their desired outcome.
Look inward and find what makes your company unique.
Your brand story should be about what makes your company unique. What makes your company different from the competition? You can't answer this question without first looking inward and identifying what makes your company special.
Think about it—what is that one thing that makes you stand out from all the other companies in your industry? There is an answer, and it's worth finding out. Once you've identified this key difference (and we're not talking about price), start building on it to create a compelling narrative around your business.
Find where you fit in the story of your customer.
To be successful, your brand story needs to connect with the customer. Consumers want to know how you fit into their lives, what values you stand for, and how you will make their lives better. The more personal and specific these connections are, the more likely it is that they’ll want to partner with your brand—and the more responsive they’ll be when it comes time for conversion.
The first step in building a great brand story is understanding where you fit into your customer's journey. To do this effectively:
- Know who your customers are and what makes them unique or special;
- Identify where in their journey they need help from someone like you;
- Nail down what makes them different from other people in that same part of the world or industry (or whatever else matters most).
Let customers share your story.
Your story can be told in many different ways. Let your customers share it, too.
Social media is an easy way to let customers share the stories of their experiences with your brand. They can write a blog post, feature you on Instagram or retweet you on Twitter. When you allow them to do this, they become evangelists for your brand and create more exposure for you across multiple platforms. They also give new prospective customers a place where they can see what others have said about their experience with your products or services.
Building a brand story is about connecting with people, not products or services.
In the past, building a brand story was about telling your audience how great your products or services were. It was about showing off logos and marketing materials to demonstrate how professional and established you were. Today, however, people are more interested in the story than anything else. They want to know who makes up your team, what inspires you as an individual or organization, why customers should care about what you’re doing—and why they should invest in it themselves.
This may sound counterintuitive if you think of yourself primarily as a business owner or marketer—after all, isn't it important for people to see that yours is a solid company with good products or services? Absolutely—but if we focus too heavily on selling our wares first (and selling them hard), all we're doing is putting up roadblocks between ourselves and our customers' hearts and minds. If there's no true connection between them and us along their consumption journey (which could include everything from viewing content on our website through purchasing something directly from us), then there won't be any loyalty down the line when those customers start recommending us to friends or family members either
Conclusion
If you're looking to build a brand story, the key is to understand your customer and create meaningful interactions. That way, when they share your story with others, it will ring true for them too.
