Stories are powerful and create a bond between the teller and listeners. Telling a compelling story can be a great way of connecting customers with a brand. Brand storytelling is the art of telling your brand’s story, summarizing its history, vision, missions, and more. In this article, we will guide you on how to use brand storytelling to build customer loyalty.
What Is Brand Storytelling?
This involves using narratives to create an emotional and value-driven connection between your brands and customers. The best brand stories should be authentic and connect to your brand’s values.
Why Brand Storytelling Is Important
According to a study by the Harvard Business School, customers who connect with a brand emotionally are likely to become loyal. Brand storytelling is a good way of sharing your values and engaging with the potential customers who share the story. Besides, it can help to have your content noticed and get better rankings on the SERPS.
Other benefits of storytelling include
- Building an emotional connection,
- Conveying the personality of your brand,
- Increasing customer loyalty,
- Making memories about your brand,
- Giving a human face to your brand,
- Visual storytelling,
- Connecting with customers.
The 4ps Of Brand Storytelling
A brand story is a key part of branding. The foundation of a story is built on four pillars. These are:
- People. These are the characters in the story.
- Place. This should be about authenticity. Instead of talking about the characters, you can use places to enable you to experience them.
- Purpose. This is the why behind the story. Ask yourself why the story should be told.
- Plot. Refers to the story’s plot.
Features of a Good Brand Story
For a brand to produce better stories that connect with its customers, it must have these elements:
- Empathy. The story should be something that your audience can easily relate to.
- Authentic. Avoid using lies. Instead, be truthful about your brand values, unique features, and challenges.
- Consistency. Avoid talking to your audience once and going silent. Keep talking to them regularly.
- Attention-grabbing. Ensure that you have a brand voice that you should stick to. This will allow customers to identify your brand when they come across it.
- Relatable: Is your story something that customers can easily relate to? Instead of using technical jargon, show your customers that you understand them and relate to their pain points.
- Support your business goal. Whether it is marketing, customer service, sales, or internal and external communication, your brand should align with these areas of your business.
- Stir action. Does the story make a case that stirs the customer’s action? Ensure that it has a call to action part.
Steps In Creating Your Brand Story
Are you wondering where to start in telling your brand story? Here are the steps you need to follow.
Determine your origin story
The origin story refers to where you and your brand came from and the events that contributed to where you are. This is a key part of your brand storytelling and should also have your personal goals.
Some of the issues you should consider regarding your origin story are:
- Why was the company started?
- Who was the founder?
- Why did he start the company?
- What is the company’s vision?
- What have you achieved?
- How did you achieve it?
- What success have you had?
Consider your brand’s personality.
When building a brand personality, you must provide it with a human persona. This will depend on the characteristics of your customers and what they love. People can connect with your brand personally by having a well-defined brand personality.
Use the hero brand story template.
If you need a brand story template, consider going for the hero’s story. In this case, the hero is your customer, and you should clearly define their behaviors. To document your hero’s story, consider the following:
- Who is your hero?
- What are their needs?
- What challenge is he facing, and how can he overcome that challenge?
- How can your brand help them overcome it?
- What solution do you offer?
- What does a better future hold for them?
A brand storytelling example is seen in a Coca-Cola advert that used a story to tackle Islamophobia. The brand told the story of the holy month of Ramadhan. It explained the strict daily fasting from dawn to dusk.
In this case, the hero was a young woman who missed a bus and was forced to walk through a busy city. When walking, she gets tired and thirsty while facing discrimination.
A jogger sees her struggle and buys a Coke bottle for herself and her. But she has to wait until the sun goes down for her to take the Coke. While understanding her situation, the jogger waits with her. When the sun goes down, they both enjoy the coke. This Coca-Cola ad was an excellent example of brand storytelling.
Determine the purpose and values of your brand.
Your brand purpose and values will be the compass that guides you when creating your story. The brand purpose should consist of a single line that tells the values your brand offers to customers.
For instance, Intuit aims to power prosperity worldwide. In contrast, Dove seeks to help women develop a positive attitude toward their looks and assist them in developing a positive attitude towards it.
You should also identify four to five values that matter to your brand. These values should make you unique from other brands. For instance, Adidas values include performance, passion, integrity, and diversity.
Determine your brand story.
Think of the story about your brand and the message you want to convey. Is it the story of how your company began? Consider what you want to achieve by telling the story. Do you want to inspire your audience? What is it you want the story to inspire your audience to do? You can have calls to actions such as:
- Buy a product
- Subscribe to your page as part of your social media marketing plan.
- Know about your brand
Write your brand story
It’s now time to write the brand story. You can summarize it in 200 to 300 words. In the story, ensure that you answer vital questions such as:
- The context your customers operate in
- Their needs and challenges
- Reason for the existence of your brand
- The brand’s mission and how it’s changing your hero’s story
- The future you have in mind for your brand
- The unique feature your company is delivering
On top of answering the above questions, make sure you create a voice for your brand. For instance, think about writing guidelines.
Share your brand story.
Ensure your brand story is shared throughout your organization because it will be the narrative around which everything else will revolve. This will range from marketing to human resources and public relations. For instance, how the human resource department handles the sales team should align with the brand story.
The brand story should also form the basis of your content marketing. It should be the basis for creating content and even hiring writers. The brand story should be a living document that evolves with the company. This should be reviewed regularly to reflect the current position of the company.
Final Thoughts
Most consumers consider their favorite brands an extension of their identity. They like it when they are considered part of a community in which they share values. This is why you should use brand storytelling to reinforce your brand’s value. With this guide, writing a brand’s story should be easy.
