LEARN THE ART OF BRAND STORYTELLING TODAY!
Storytelling is a gem. Brand Storytelling has become a crucial tool today. It builds trust and forges a relationship. If potential clients can’t understand your business values—you are doing something wrong.
Photo by Melanie Deziel on Unsplash
And like gems, it is a timeless piece. It isn’t a process, method, or strategy. Although it involves combining these elements—storytelling is often described as art.
Great storytellers have integrated their stories into pop culture.“Romeo and Juliet,” “three little pigs” all have something in common. These include in-depth characters, valuable lessons, and creativity. As humans, we connect to stories that fill our hearts with unforgettable emotions.
Likewise, you need time, practice, and vision to push your brand’s story into the market. Your story should resonate in the heart of the target audience and foster an experience.
Sounds tricky, right? It is so because storytelling is an essential component of successful branding campaigns. It sets apart a vibrant brand and converts potential customers to loyal customers.
The fault may not lie in your product/service but in how you inform the world on what your brand stands for.
So pick up your creative pen, let’s get started!
What is Branding
Branding is simply shaping your business services in the hearts of potential customers. One essential element in branding is connecting your vision to a worthy story. However, you must figure out your brand identity, before you can proceed to the next step.
What is Brand Storytelling?
Implementing brand stories makes your business stand out from the crowd.
Brand storytelling involves creating a narrative using your team, products, and goals. It links your mission and the values shared with customers.
A brand story depends on effective business communication. Conveying your story becomes confusing if your brand lacks communication. Brand storytelling is an open journey where your audience feels the experience.
The most meaningful brand stories do three things. They engage the audience, capture leads, and convert potential clients to loyal customers by driving action. Thus, it proves beneficial to both the brand and the consumers.
Brand storytelling on social media
How do you persuade your audience online? It’s simple; use social media to convey your brand’s message and purpose. Telling a story requires more than scribble; it’s blending words and characters to paint a clear picture.
Social media is an asset to business owners today. As stated by statista.com, the average social media usage rose from 142 minutes to 145 minutes per day in 2020. This translates to more users searching for captivating and heartfelt stories online.
This is where your brand, not the offer, but your story, comes in. Storytelling in social media is not a strategy to sell your services. People will notice and regard it as a gimmick. It is a way to express your brand in a casual and relatable manner.
Brand storytelling vs content marketing
You may ask yourself, “What’s the difference between brand storytelling and content marketing?
Content marketing is an integral part of brand storytelling. Without storytelling, your content would not educate/inform the audience. However, brand storytelling stands on its own. It refers to every message your brand sends out intentionally or unintentionally.
Furthermore, content marketing involves any piece of your content published. These include blog posts, videos, guides, eBooks, etc.
In contrast, brand storytelling includes customer support, website design, and elevating your brand position.
Why is Brand Storytelling important?
Now more than ever, brand storytelling is necessary for the digital age. Tech giants and companies have made it easier to reach your target audience. With new updates such as Google continuous scroll, businesses can improve their visibility.
This also means you are competing with thousands for your customer’s attention. And this is INTENSE.
Therefore, you must tell your brand story to succeed in this digitized marketplace. Just do it like, stand out, be bold!
Other importance of brand storytelling includes;
It simplifies complex messages:
It is not easy trying to understand a new idea. We’ve all experienced confusion when trying to grasp foreign concepts. Sometimes stories break down complex scenarios.
Think about times when stories helped you better understand a new lesson. Stories relate abstract ideas to real-life situations!
Apple brand storytelling, for example, has shown great ways to do this. Computers and smartphones are pretty complicated to describe to the average consumer. Yet, by using ordinary language, they’ve simplified their products.
It brings people together:
The universal language of stories needs no further analysis. We’ve shared feelings of happiness, sadness, and anger. We’ve cheered on the underdogs turned heroes; and sympathized with the down begotten.
In a world divided by ideologies, stories bring people together despite our differences. It fosters a community. And brands like Airbnb are doing that, as storytelling lies in the heart of their marketing.
Their message focuses on community and hospitality. Customers’ desire for a local travel experience motivates this brand. Instead of sharing their company’s story, they get customers to tell their stories. They have a whole section in “Stories from the Airbnb Community.”
It inspires and motivates
Stories inspire comradeship, and the same thing goes for brands. When brands celebrate the volunteering spirit, it helps consumers connect with them. People will see the brand not as a capitalist venture but as a down-to-earth community.
Stories tap into people’s emotions by revealing the good and bad sides of a situation… eventually increasing action. Stories inspire loyalty.
Few brands use inspiration, but whirlpool takes it up a notch. They discovered the reason for the high number of students dropping out in the U.S. The reason was that these families couldn’t afford to wash their clothes.
To encourage students, they launched a care count programme focusing on installing washing machines and dryers in schools to decrease the rate of dropouts among poorer students.
The brand improved attendance rates and won numerous awards for this campaign.
Misconceptions about brand storytelling
There are a few misconceptions about storytelling that brands focus on. These make their story fall flat. Some of them include;
- Storytelling is a trend: Ermm, NO! Storytelling has existed since the cavemen era. It helps preserve culture and history. Additionally, it is one of the most powerful forms of communication in human history. Moreover, it inspires people and compels action.
- Storytelling is a strategy: People will view your brand and story as fake if you use storytelling as a tool. It is more dynamic than a strategy and tactic combined. If you want people to connect with your brand, you have to see it as a binding force.
- Storytelling is effortless: As we said before, storytelling requires time, skill, and creativity. Not to mention the countless practice and editing involved. It is riskier than other ways of communicating. You have to master the art to apply it effectively.
What makes a good Brand Story?
“Good” and “bad” are relative to the user. Each of us, as individuals, has a scale/metrics in which we assess things. Some components make a great storytelling experience for both the reader and teller.
- Educational: Good stories add to the readers’ bank of knowledge.
- Entertaining: A good story keeps the reader curious about what’s coming next
- Universal: It should not have a language barrier. It relates and tap into the emotions that most humans experience.
- Memorable: Good stories should pass through the sands of time. Whether through pain or humor…it amplifies the readers’ minds
- Organized: A good story follows a precise structure to help readers understand.
Eight elements of visual brand storytelling
According to Gumas, a branding and advertising agency, the seven elements of visual brand storytelling include weakness, desire, opponent plan, battle, self-revelation, and equilibrium.
In the same way, Hubspot Academy’s power of storytelling course highlighted three elements of visual brand storytelling. In this article, we will add a component from Hubspot, making it eight in total.
Characters
Every story needs a protagonist that connects you, the storyteller, and the audience. Your protagonist should be an ally. If your audience can put themselves in your shoes, they’ll more likely follow through with your offers.
Weakness
There must be an underlying problem or need that your audience can relate to. You must pinpoint this weakness, but try not to overstress as this may scare your audience away.
Desire
Desire is what drives your audience to take a particular action. It is the missing piece within a weakness, totally different from the audience’s needs. Your character needs to fulfill that missing piece, or else your audience will feel unsatisfied.
Opponent
The opponent in your brand story is the obstacle that prevents a decision making process. It could as well represent your business competition. If the opponent is your competitor, make sure you highlight the emotions and passion that sets your brand apart.
Plan
To defeat the opponent and meet its desires, there should be a plan. It is the best way for the character to get rid of its weaknesses. Your team/offer may represent the plan in your brand story. Describe how this solution intends to strengthen the characters weaknesses.
Battle/conflict
This is right before customers resolve. It is the peak of the ultimate crisis faced by your audience. Secondly, it is where you extend a helping hand. Thirdly, it reveals who you are and what you stand for. If your story doesn’t have a conflict/battle, then it isn’t a brand story.
Self-revelation
A point of self-realization for the protagonist. It is where your brand presents its “human side” to fill the underlying desire.
Equilibrium
After verifying your brand’s credibility, the hero finds balance. It is a point of relief and content. This is the climax of your story, where the protagonist is satisfied with your brand. Or, you can wrap it up by leaving your audience with a call to action.
Different forms of brand storytelling
You are on the right path in bridging your business goal with the audience. Yet, there are various ways to apply these elements and tell your story.
People behind the brand
If you want to highlight the human element in your brand, you can focus on the team. Or the people who help to keep your customers on track. This makes the viewer have deep respect for what you do.
Take Everlane, for instance, an online and direct fashion retailer. The brand hampers on some principles; ethical factories and radical transparency. Everlane tour and evaluate factories(each factory represents a story) and shows people what’s behind the brand.
Purpose of the brand
Creating your story around the mission of your brand always feels genuine. It offers high rewards and high risks too. False stories can ultimately turn customers against your brand, while doing the opposite improves your brand awareness.
In 2016, UK Chocolate brand Maltesers set out to do this in the right way. Having discovered that 80% of disabled persons feel neglected in TV and Media. They created a series of commercials focusing on the uniqueness of individuals inspired by real-life experiences from disabled people.
The commercials were a success for the brand and had the most viewed Youtube video in history.
Product of the brand
Most of your products can find context within your story. It displays another perspective for new viewers as well as old customers. Some products are attractive, while others are not.
Even though your story should promote your brand first, try entertaining your audience with a nit-bit of your offer. It doesn’t matter if your story doesn’t provide relevancy to your product; so long, it creates and drives interest.
You can also highlight a significant feature of a product in the story without narration. In their ad, Blendtec makes a boring product seem exciting and does an incredible job at it too.
Source: blendtec
Structure of a brand story
Like every creative fiction, your brand story should have a plot. The plot needs a beginning, middle, and end.
- Beginning: Write out a clear and concise start that introduces the protagonist. What qualities make the person unique? And what obstacles need to be overcome? Make sure you think from the perspective of your target audience.
- Middle: This is where the opponent, conflict, and plan come in, depending on the form and style of the story. It defines the obstacles faced and ways of overcoming them.
- End: It covers the self-revelation of your audience. This is where your protagonist triumphs through your brand message or offers.
Tips to perfecting your brand story
Know your audience
Who will benefit most from your brand? Who wants to hear and respond to your story? You have to understand your readers and audience if you’re going to create a compelling story.
Before you start your story, you need to write out a marketing plan. A marketing plan will guide your target market research and define your buyers’ persona. It will get you acquainted with your audience’s desires. It also provides direction for your story’s structure as you undergo this creative process.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver
To gain your customers’ trust, don’t exaggerate your story. Customers will know if your story doesn’t add up, and that will turn them away. You don’t have to hype your brand’s influence to attract customers. Instead, stick with your truth, be honest and transparent.
Your brand doesn’t need a dramatic start or a grace to grace story. Simply narrate passion to your audience.
Translate your position
Build your story around what the customers want to hear and not what you want to tell. In other words, your message needs to be translated.
There are lots of things to consider; “What will pull customers’ interest?” “How can it relate to their experience?” What are their emotional triggers?” And more.
You can do this by checking your story’s tone. Get rid of technical and complicated terms. Use phrases that represent your brand, and grab attention. You can decide to employ visual elements.
No matter what you choose, the goal is to connect with the audience and leave an unforgettable mark.
Tell a consistent brand story
Organize your brand story. Don’t make significant changes like adding or removing information that alters your brand tone. You should consistently tell your brand story.
Develop your writing skills, read inspiring fiction, and practice narration to friends. Internalize your story until it becomes natural. Remember not to change the focus.
Have an end goal
You write your stories to get results. These results can vary from informing the audience to promoting your product/service. Thus, defining the end goal will drive actions.
Make sure it is shaped in a way that meets your business and marketing goals. If your story doesn’t meet your goals, you can adjust the level (without altering the main point). You can change the structure or form and be truthful while doing so.
Share effectively
After your story has been crafted, it’s time to share it with the outside world (target market and audience). A brand story needs to pass across the message to all channels. Review your customer journey to figure out the most suitable platform for your audience.
A content audit could also help your brand’s awareness. Thus, your story can adapt to different groups through various mediums and tools, from video to infographics and a lot in-between.
Hashtags are practical tools to communicate the story. They’re also an excellent way to share the story’s chapters over time. In a world that loves bingeing on emotional media, this tactic can work well.
Resources for storytelling
For a written story
- Winning the story wars by Jonah Sachs
- HubSpot’s list of writing tools
For digital story
For Audio story
THE END TO BRAND STORYTELLING
Finally, brand storytelling is a continuous process. As your goals, team, and products grow and change. Guess what? So will your story!.
There are specific tips you need to follow, before promoting your brand story. First, is understanding your target audience, not just their desires but their tone too.
Secondly, it shouldn’t come off as needy. Customers usually sense the greed in pushy brand stories, and it turns them off. Remember, being a master storyteller takes patience and practice
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