Humans have told stories ever since the beginning of time and our brains have been wired to associate feelings to them. As a business, it is these emotional feelings that you should utilize to stand out and be remembered by whoever gets in contact with your brand.
Imagine these three confectionery stores selling the same kind of bread, but have different reasons why they want you to buy from them.
Store A says: “Buy from me, I need the money.”
Store B: “Buy from me, I make the best bread and cakes.”
Store C: “Our bread is carefully made from a grandma’s homemade recipe that has been perfected over time.”
The fond memories of good food, love and care everyone associates with Grandma will gently persuade customers that Store C has the best bread. This instantly tells us something; people will buy the story instead of what you are selling.
As Author and Consultant Simon Sinek eloquently put it “People don’t buy what you do; but why you do it.” Stories show the human side of your brand and bring in the human touch that your audience can associate with.
To tell your business story better
Here is how to tell your brand’s story and make sure it sticks with your audience and persuade them to buy from you instead of your competition.
1. Know your Audience
First, you have to be mindful who the story is for and to tell it well the intended listener should be able to relate with it. That’s where buyer personas get into the picture.
Start with the customers you presently have to craft a fictional character of who your ideal customer is. Their goals, motivation, challenges, how they like to receive their information and the solution your product or service is providing.
2. Know your objective/ goal
When developing this story, you should have a goal or objective in mind to make sure your story stays on point and not stray.
Your objective should be influenced by your business goals or vision. Are you trying to sell clothes, shoes or books? Draft your story in a way that encourages the action you want people to take. You want the reader to feel good at the end of the story.
3. Have a shareable story.
In this Era, people do not have much time as it is said that “Time is money”. Therefore the attention span of readers is very small. Your story should have a catchy title that is easy to be re-told and shared.
Make sure that your title is enticing enough to attract attention, likeable and descriptive enough to share instantly.
4. Be Authentic
Authenticity fosters trust as perceived by your audience. With this in mind, you should be able to back your story with facts.
So be truthful and don’t be afraid to embrace the underdog status if you’re a new business. This is the keyword to improve brand storytelling for your business: be authentic!
5. Have a powerful introduction
Have a powerful introduction that holds your audience to expect and have an interest in what you have to say. Make you make a promise that will keep them attentive.
This is where you excite your viewers enough to keep paying attention.
6. The customer is the “Star”
By now I believe you have realized that your story is about the customer. Therefore, make them feel special and make them feel good about the story such that they can retell it to their friends and family.
To improve brand storytelling, making your customer the star or the hero is the way to go. Show a case study on how your product or service helped your customers. If you can show how your client went from 0 to 1, you already succeeded.
7. Share challenging incidents
It’s always a good idea to share specific moments like a particular experience in your story to encourage the audience. These moments will add further weight and context to your brand story.
For example, you can share the past struggles and failures that ultimately lead to your decision to start a company.
8. Solutions
This is where you reflect on the problem and highlight the solution, including why your product is perfect for solving this problem.
9. Choose the right medium to share your story.
Choose the right mode to share your story based on your persona and their “watering holes” i.e places where they like to get answers from. Adapt the tone and voice with which they speak.
For example:
It would be absurd for a story intended for lawyers to be drafted in Ghetto slang and presented via tik tok. For a younger generation or demographic, you may use Snapchat or Instagram. For an older crowd, Facebook might be a better choice.
Conclusion
First, it’s crucial to know your target audience. You cannot do anything without it. Why? Because by knowing your target audience, you will know and understand what kind of story they are looking for. Also, by knowing well your target audience, you will know the tone to use when telling your story.
After that, you need to know the objective of your brand storytelling: is it to improve your branding, get leads, make sales, etc… The best tip I can give you if you want to improve your brand storytelling is to stay authentic. People love brands that are authentic and genuine.
Finally, the emotion of pity, fear and relief can make a story very powerful. Another way to look at it is suffering (pity), struggle (fear) and overcoming (relief).
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