Your brand has a story. It had a story even before you decided which products or services you would offer and identified your target audience.
Your story influences every part of your brand---your values, your promotional efforts, and your customer service.
Utilize your story to reflect your brand’s values in your marketing. This will enable people to connect with your brand on a deeper level.
Don't believe us...? Keep reading...
What is Brand Storytelling?
For good reason, brand storytelling has been gaining a lot of traction in the marketing industry lately. According to, marketinginsidergroup.com, brand storytelling refers to “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.”
The best brands have a balance of storytelling from the founder, their team, and their audience.
Consider this...
🧐 Why did you originally start your business?
🧐 Who did you intend to serve?
🧐 How has your product or service impacted the lives of your customers?
For example, Land Rover released a commercial about the “Land of Land Rovers.” In this short commercial, Land Rover visits a remote hilltop village in the Himalayas. This village is significant because the people rely on a fleet of classic Land Rovers, dating as far back as 1957, that provide a vital transport link between Maneybhanjang and Sandakphu in West Bengal. This is effective brand storytelling because Land Rover focuses on the story of their customer; without their fleet of Land Rovers transportation for the villagers would be nearly impossible.
It’s social proof: consumers want to support businesses that have a valuable offer but they also want to buy stories and experiences. Storytelling allows for businesses to enhance the relatability and favorability of their brand.
This is an important aspect of marketing because stories have been proven to stimulate brain activity. When we hear a story our brain activity lights up, which correlates to more neurons firing together. This essentially allows us to remember more of the information. This is an important marketing technique when used properly because of the endless potential it has to attract and build a strong connection with your brand’s audience.
Company Values
Brand storytelling not only is a useful way to connect with your consumers on a more personal level, but it is also great for reflecting your company's core values. You should have your company's values reflected in the story you want to portray in order to give the audience a better idea of what your company represents. Often these values don’t even have to be stated explicitly anywhere, they are just reflected in your brand’s story, and in how your brand make your consumers feel, see, believe and remember.
Try asking yourself what do you want your brand to reflect when people hear about it for the first time?
For help evaluating and developing your company’s culture, Schedule a 1-Hour Strategy Call Today!
Attract Attention
As the market is becoming more and more saturated, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make your brand stand out. Through the use of storytelling, your brand can have a longer-lasting, more personal impact on your consumers.
At the end of the day, you want people that are going to pay for your product or services. Telling the story of one of your consumers is a great way to attract potential customers.
Get Started!
Follow this simple 3-step framework by Marshall Ganz, a storytelling professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Self
Ganz starts with the importance of Self. The idea of “Self” focuses on values in your personal life which will eventually connect with values you would like reflected in your company. This part of storytelling must be very authentic in order to have a large impact. This could require you to do a deep dive into your past experiences that led you to where you are now.
Us
This is the part that focuses on connecting your personal values to broader values. Here, you should really focus on your audience and building a community with a set of collective values.
Now
The third and final part according to Ganz is “Now.” This part specifically focuses on getting your audience to take action. This could be a call to action at the end asking potential customers to buy your product or service. The story should already be developed at this point and the “Now” part is like the icing on the cake.
It is evident that your brand’s story is an important aspect of your business and what it represents. It not only reflects your company's values but also attracts attention and creates a long-lasting bond with your audience. Now that you have an idea of what brand storytelling is and its importance, you can try developing a meaningful story yourself.
You already know that you want to create a brand of impact. You have an offer, you understand your audience, but how do you authentically tell your brand’s story in your marketing?
To start developing an integrated communications strategy that tells your story that reflects your brand’s true values, schedule a 1-Hour, Strategy call here!
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