The power of storytelling is alive and well in the marketing world and it is a method of communications brands MUST harness to connect with their audiences.
Well executed brand storytelling can be one of the most engaging, memorable and loved methods of marketing. It presents brands in a more human way that results in stronger customer relationships and trust in brands.
But first, we had better explain what brand storytelling truly is, because there has been some confusion!
“Brand storytelling is using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers.”
Beautifully said, but let’s take your understanding of brand storytelling a step further by breaking down the key components that form it.
Narrative
With storytelling you must create a narrative, whether that is for your company as a whole or for a particular campaign, without a narrative there is no story.
Said narrative encompasses a setting, characters, conflict, rising action, climax and dénouement.
Essence of your brand
Speak from the heart and disclose what your brand’s cause is, what you stand for, what gets you up in the morning and your point of difference.
Avoid touching on money or even your service/product and focus on your essence.
Values
Not to be heaped in with essence, your brand’s values are of great importance. Particularly now in a time where we are seeing customers become more and more conscious of the brands they support.
Your brand’s values are the character traits that define you and your team, what you believe is right and wrong and where you stand on world issues.
This is important to audiences.
Types of brand storytelling
There are a few different ways to approach brand storytelling.
Some may suit your brand perfectly while others may only work for specific campaigns at different times.
Data-driven brand storytelling
Data-driven brand storytelling is very effective, as most marketers will tell you, people love numbers.
Hard hitting data is hard to ignore or argue with and it can accompany your narrative brilliantly.
You should try and keep your data personal, this can be achieved by pairing it with emotional testimonials or such.
Audience-centered brand storytelling
Audience-centered brand storytelling recognises and responds to one very important argument – consumers are in control (not brands).
This means putting your brand on the backseat and focusing on the audience’s wants and needs.
While this approach may take longer it has long term rewards and ultimately builds very positive regard for your brand.
News outlet as brand storytelling
News, it is always chased and delivered but what if your blog could be producing your industry’s top news stories?
Wait can you even do that? YES! You can.
How? Well firstly by identifying as a journalist, applying for a media passes, creating quality content and making your news ‘special.’
In other words, you need to prove to audiences – and Google – that your news outlet is valuable and deserving of a top ranking.
With time, customers will come to recognise your brand as their news provider and in turn build exceptional brand awareness for your company.
Why? Identify your why
Identifying and developing your ‘why’ is a very important preliminary step in your brand’s story.
Google, for example, has a brilliant mission statement and overall answer to ‘why’ which states;
“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
If you were to walk into Google HQ and ask why Google exists you would likely receive a response which mimics their mission.
Many brands focus too much on the money, the success or the task at hand.
But it is vital to have a strong answer to why that filters all the way down to your lowest ranking employee.
To conclude, succeeding in brand storytelling is no easy task. It requires planning, time, true passion and persistence.
We recommend enlisting the help of an agency like Content Authority to help your brand narrate their story in the best way possible with quality content.
