How to tell a compelling Brand Story
Your brand story must generate an emotional reaction with your audience. The influential factors of your brand include product, price, values, history, quality, in-store experience, location, and what people say about you. The story or narrative in regards to your brand exists whether you like it or not. If a story is attached to your brand, a good story, people are more likely to buy it or at least try it. A bad brand story generally creates a hype that your business does not need unless you want to run out of business on purpose. For e.g., In an era of Photoshop, body-shaming, and zero figures, Dove connects with women all over. Encouraging women to stop self-criticism and being comfortable in their own skin and body.
Create a story that makes your audience laugh, cry, or even help them relax creates a huge impact on getting loyal customers. After all, Businesses succeed because they differentiate themselves.
You are not the only author of your brand story, with the rise of social media everyone is going to talk about your brand, share experiences and maybe even roast your brand on Twitter, this also becomes a part of your brand story. Authorship of your brand story doesn’t sit in the CMO’s office. It sits in the hands of your Facebook followers, your customers, your intern, your shop clerk.
While you can’t control everything about your brand story, you can lead it. Place your compelling story in the mix, that resonates with your values and make it true. Add a voice to your mission and build emotional engagement with your brand. Apple does this very well. Look at the design of their computers. Think about the Genius Bar experience. Consider how they make major product announcements. All are aligned behind their brand story of innovators making beautiful products that challenge the status quo. They are successfully leading the conversation around Apple.
Your brand story makes billions of decisions for your company and influences your audience to do the same. Your story is often the secret sauce that makes your brand inspirational and helps it grow. If you don’t have a story you are just another commodity. A replaceable cog in the consumption machine. You have no way to differentiate your brand or your business.