How to Craft a Compelling Brand Story

So, if your branding is not on point, you have to do a lot more work to convince customers to trust your company and what you have to offer.

These days, branding goes much deeper than the superficial elements. Although there are tools to make crafting brand elements easier, there is way more to branding than a striking logo, some funky business cards and branded merch. Modern consumers want to know more about the companies from which they buy.

When done correctly, branding can help build long-term customer loyalty. Think of businesses like Apple, Coca-Cola and Nike - these companies have a strong branding presence that goes well beyond their iconic logos.

One effective way to build a better brand is with a brand story. This article will dive into the mechanics of brand stories, why they matter and how you can craft one for your business.

What is a brand story?

There are two aspects of a compelling brand story: your company's history and its future. When developing your brand story, it's easy to start at the beginning. Ask questions like:

• When was the business founded? What were the ideas and motivations behind it?
• Who created the company? What were/are they passionate about? Are they still involved in some way?
• How has the company evolved over the years? What changes were made and when/why?

By answering these questions, you can build a solid foundation upon which to craft a compelling narrative. If the story doesn't seem as bold or exciting as other brand stories, don't worry. As long as there's some authenticity to the tale, that's what matters.

The next step is to figure out the company's future and where it's headed. What elements drive growth and success right now, and how might they change over the next few years or decades? Overall, your brand story is an ongoing element of your marketing strategy, so you have to constantly work on it for it to be successful. Don't just assume that writing an "about us" page will suffice.

One real-world example of a brand story is Airbnb. Since its inception, the company has grown exponentially, due in part to its ability to weave tales of both its founding and its customers into its marketing.

Listen to the episode via your preferred pocast platform:

• Spotify
• Audible
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

6 steps to creating a brand story

Now that we know the fundamentals of a brand story and why it's valuable, let's dive into the six steps you can take to create a compelling story for your business.

Step 1: Identify your mission statement

A mission statement is an essential part of any business model, regardless of your brand story. This component helps keep your company centered and focused at all times, especially during growth periods. Knowing your true north ensures that you're always headed in the right direction.

As far as your brand story, a mission statement also empowers your marketing team to add some motivation behind your various strategies. Overall, this step is about establishing your brand values and how they shape the company as a whole. For example, perhaps you sell organic food and want to provide a farm-to-table experience for your customers?

When developing your core values, be sure to tie them to a specific narrative. Using the example above, you can talk about the farms you work with and the people who run the farm. You can also discuss the journey each ingredient takes to reach store shelves.

Step 2: Understand the players in your brand story

Although your brand story is from your company's perspective, you're not the only one writing it. Once you establish and promote the story's foundation, your customers, employees and vendors will all contribute to it.

So, you have to understand where each person is coming from and their relationship with your business. For example, what excites customers about your products or services? What problems are you solving for them? How does your brand compare to competitors in the marketplace?

Knowing how each demographic interacts with and adds to your brand story allows you to create a more comprehensive narrative. For example, instead of focusing solely on the business end of your mission statement, you can highlight how your products impact your customers.

Step 3: Come up with a long-term plan

As we mentioned, brand storytelling is an ongoing process and should be part of individual marketing campaigns. You need to figure out how to incorporate your brand story into every advertisement, social media post and video clip. Here’s where understanding each contributor can help. The more avenues you can take with your brand story, the easier it is to develop unique pieces that add up to a whole.

Another aspect of developing a long-term brand story is figuring out how to create individual stories that add to a collective representation of your brand. So, each marketing campaign can be focused on a single storyline that carries through from start to finish.

Even better, you can come back to various story elements repeatedly so that customers can connect more easily. You can achieve this long-term cohesion by using spokespeople or mascots as stand-ins for characters in your stories.

Step 4: Be consistent with your messaging

Many businesses face one challenge with marketing and brand storytelling: They tend to lose momentum over time. One month, you may be posting several times per week and creating new content regularly. Then, the next month you're too busy to focus on marketing, so you barely promote your brand at all.

The other issue is that companies may not see immediate results from their marketing campaigns, so they shift gears in an attempt to build buzz faster. Unfortunately, this route rarely works because it can convey a confusing message.

Instead, it's much better to stay consistent in your messaging, and ensure that all of your marketing strategies stay focused on your mission statement. Again, having a true north ensures that everyone stays focused and committed. No matter what kind of campaign you're promoting at the moment, be sure that your brand story is part of it.

Step 5: Offer a glimpse behind the curtain

Storytelling works because it's easy to capture the imagination of your audience. However, consumers are used to seeing stories in the media, such as with books, television shows and movies. When brands try to tell stories, it can come off as inauthentic and "salesy."

If you want your customers to connect with your brand story, you need to make it both compelling and real. One of the simplest ways to do that is to show the faces behind the brand. Introduce your audience to your employees, vendors, managers and anyone else involved with the company.

The other way to promote transparency and authenticity is to show the various processes you employ in the workplace. How do you make your products? What equipment or software do you use? Giving customers a glimpse behind the scenes endears them to your brand and shows that you mean what you say. For example, a video of harvesting food on the farm says a lot more than a "farm fresh" package label.

Step 6: Pay attention to who's paying attention

As you craft your brand story, you want to see how it's impacting your customers and the bottom line. As with any marketing strategy, an analysis will help you stay on target and ensure that you're getting the best ROI. Some easy methods to employ include:

• Mentions and hashtags: You can search for your brand name on social media sites and see what people are saying about you in posts and comments.
• Customer feedback: Surveys are an excellent resource, whether you solicit them in-person or through email. Surveys also give you more control over the information you receive.
• Landing pages and web traffic: You'll need to create landing pages for various marketing campaigns, so you can see which ones get the most hits. Also, you can use heat maps to see which elements are getting seen the most. For example, if visitors scroll past your brand story elements, they may not be very captivating.

If you want your business to thrive, you need to convince your audience that you have a story worth telling. Now that you have these steps in mind, figure out how to utilize them effectively within your brand. Whether you're just starting or have been in business a while, storytelling will help you get to the next stage.