How to Tell Your Brand Story.
What is your brand story and why does it matter? Who cares and who doesn’t?
The term ‘brand story’ has been used commonly as a sales tool in most recent times, but it is about relationship building. When a brand or marketer talk about their brand’s story, they are sharing who they are, what they are made of and how they can benefit their target audience and niches. Like most things, not everything is for everybody. It is up to you to determine who you are and what you have to offer to your publics and most importantly, how you intend to do this.
My brand, my rules.
A story has a protagonist and antagonist – who you are and who you are not. By now you would have already figured out who is your target audience and who you are not catering to. Once this is established you can start to formulate a ‘brand persona’ and build a story around this person. If Sally is your brand persona then curate how you can assist her through your products and/or services. You can be as expressive as you want, just make sure it is your story and not someone else’s. The good thing about stories is that you can never have the same one. Every story is slightly different from the one before it and after. Embrace this and create an authentic world for your customers to spend and thrive within your objectives. We share the brand story at the end – what the brand has been able to achieve by overcoming pain points and obstacles.
Not everybody has to be in your gang.
You cannot cater to everyone. Even if you were a democratic brand there will be people that may not respond to your brand message or story because it does not align with their beliefs – whether superficial or not. Most startup brands get into an ego habit of wanting to please everyone and be on every platform. In the words of Gari Cruze; “A brand of Jalapeno snack chips don’t exist to solve gender equality. Maybe start with ideas around ‘hunger’.” Stick to what you know until you know better and can improve on this or solve a different pain point.
Your job is to assist those you believe will benefit the most not only in the short-term but long term as well. Remember that your customer will also grow with your brand story and it can be adjusted to meet your customer's natural life changes.
Where does a brand start? Build solid foundations.
A story begins with a lump in the throat, a homesickness, a longing – as Robert Frost said. Your brand story should begin with who you are (if you are a solopreneur, mumpreneur, entrepreneur, huge conglomerate or a band of creatives) and what you saw in the market as a gap – a need. Tell your audience why you brought this idea to market; the more anecdotal the better for some brands, depending on the industry you are in.
Think of your brand as a house. Great, you’ve decided you want to a place to call your own. Land is bought (your website, landing page etc) and you begin building a structure from scratch; brick by brick, content by content. Your brand story is the bricks of the house that keep all your content and brand assets in one place – relatively safe from thieves. Can you see where I am going with this? If the foundation of the house is not solid – meaning you do not know who you are as a brand and why you are even a brand in the first place – then the structure of your company can be easily moved. The content you provide, the products and/or services you create and sell are stored in the house.
You can’t put out a fire from inside the house.
They say you can’t put a fire out from inside the house. What this means is that it is not the content that needs to change or the offering but the story you tell your customer that needs to be changed. Don’t change the content immediately. Work on the brand story (the structure) before you start changing the furniture. Everything in the house is disposable but the building itself is meant to withstand challenges. Make sense? Great! Build a solid foundation and when adversity or obstacles arises you can service your customers from a place of authenticity. Remember that Leadership is risk in service of authenticity.
Zero to Hero – three archetypes you can use
When building your brand story there are different archetypes you can use to convey your story.
The quest: Every hero journey begins with a quest, a mission (should you choose to accept). This is about your hero (the brand persona) on a mission to solve a collective problem or pain point. The hero must overcome obstacles and challenges whilst on the journey to progress to the next part of the story. Every brand has its version of how their quest looks and at different points of the journey to cater to their target audience. Think about what your quest is.
Overcoming the monster: In every story, there is an antagonist which the protagonist must face. What is the problem your brand is tackling? Make it as simple as possible – even if there are several monsters, the simpler it is for the audience the easier it will be to relate to. This is the classic story of the underdog who confronts an evil supposedly bigger and greater than he. To overcome this the hero must summon courage, strength and perseverance through overcoming smaller obstacles (whether external or internal) before facing his ‘Goliath’. The customer must feel they have the tools to overcome the monster. Nike is a classic example with their ‘Just Do It’ campaign.
Rags to riches: Going from poverty to financial power is The Dream for most people. Brands use the rags to riches archetype to prove you can become your own King or Queen. Oprah and Calvin Klein are great examples of brands whose story are shaped around coming from nothing into something. This is one of the easier brand archetypes to use.
Recap
Brand storytelling is defined as ‘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,’ according to Kaitlin Loyal from Sribewise.
There are three key elements:
Narrative – who, what, where, why, how
What you stand for – what do you want your customers to believe
Values – how do you display and promote what you stand for
A brand story is what you do and why you do it. It's your history, goals, experiences, knowledge, mission, inspiration… you get the gist.
Ask yourself these questions:
Why am I here?
Why does it matter to me why I’m here?
What is my history?
Are there any archetypes that my history can relate to?
What is my corporate mission?
What are my obstacles?
What are my triumphs?
Now that you have a basic idea of what a brand story is and how you can begin to tell yours, go forth! Have fun with it and stay amused, authentic and intentional.
Eternally amused,
Amuse me Marketing