Captivate: How to Tell your brand’s story

Originally published by SEM Rush

When you are thinking about the greatest brand storytellers of all time, which ones come to mind?

Disney? Apple? Airbnb? 

These companies all have one thing in common: they put storytelling at the heart of everything they do.

Stories grab our attention. They mentally transport us into new worlds. We form connections between the stories and ourselves. This creates an incredibly powerful opportunity for companies looking to build deeper relations with their audience.

In this article, we'll discover what is a (powerful) brand story, why does your business need it, and which steps should you take to create one.

What Is Brand Storytelling? What Is a Brand Story?

A brand story is a summary of your company’s history, mission, purpose, and values, with a narrative structure that brings it to life.

Using brand storytelling, you can create a series of plot points and a rising action that generate an emotional connection between your brand and your target audience. 

Why Does Brand Storytelling Matter? 

Brand storytelling is used to explain your values and engage customers who share those values. When you find customers who share your values, there’s a much greater chance that they will be loyal to your brand. 

A Harvard Business Review study found that emotional connection is a significant driver of brand loyalty, and it is one of the best indicators of future customer value. Furthermore, customers are 71% more likely to recommend brands with whom they have an emotional connection. 

Psychologist Jerome Bruner also discovered that when stories are used to communicate messages, people remember them 22x more than facts and figures alone. This is so important in today’s busy world, as we are constantly navigating distractions. 

Skillful and strategic brand storytelling remains one of the most effective ways for businesses to capture people’s attention and deliver consistent marketing messaging. 

Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bar graphs never can.

The Elements of Powerful Brand Storytelling

Now that we’ve covered what brand storytelling is, why it matters, and how to identify your brand story, let’s list the rules for making your brand story effective and memorable.

Here are some of the key elements to produce a narrative that sticks: 

• Empathetic: Your audience should see themselves in your story. They should be able to put themselves in the place of the “main character,” and when the main character feels happy or sad, they should feel the same way.

• Attention-grabbing: Your brand should have a distinct voice and personality that is recognizable and stands out. Use this voice, language, and tone to grab your audience’s attention in your storytelling.

• Authentic: Success storytelling requires truthfulness. Be honest about your values, what makes your company unique, and even the challenges you face. We’ve all faced setbacks that have shaped us into who we are today, and brands are no different.

• Relatable: Remember you are speaking to real people. Try to avoid overusing industry-specific or technical jargon and show that you understand who they are and what challenges they face. Your storytelling should sound human!

• Consistent: Your audience should know what to expect from you while still looking forward to what’s next. You want them to come back again and again to find out how the character is doing and where the story is going.

• Aligned with Business Goals: Your brand story should be aligned with your business goals and integrated into all areas of your business — including marketing, sales, and all internal and external communications.

• Enhanced with User-Generated Content: When possible, allow your customers or users to help tell your brand story. User-generated content (UGC) is an honest opinion about your brand and is known to help boost purchasing confidence.

• Provokes Action: There must be a point in any story when your audience understands its meaning, and that’s when you introduce your call to action — or, in storytelling terms, an “inciting incident”.

If you need additional guidance in developing your brands unique story, be sure to download our FREE Content Creation Guide.