Many consumers don’t want to buy from just a company—they want a brand they can relate to and connect with. Consumers want a brand that resonates with their lived experience, understands their pain points, and not only relates to their challenges but addresses them. A staggering 63% of consumers prefer to buy from companies that reflect their personal values and beliefs.
Strong stories not only differentiate your brand from others in the market, but they also build trust, familiarity and emotional connections. A brand story assembles the bridge for connection, highlighting opportunities for common ground and sparking your audience’s interests. Besides, we don’t always remember what someone said to us or what information we’ve learned, but we sure are likely to remember how something made us feel.
Still, consumers can tell the difference between a strong story and one that falls flat. This guide uncovers actionable methods to develop and communicate your brand story with an impactful reaction.
A brand story is a narrative that communicates the essence of a brand. It explains what a brand is, where it came from and what it is seeking to accomplish. A story humanizes a brand and develops a point of connection for potential consumers to latch onto, creating a character for audience members to relate to and want to connect with in the future.
Effective brand stories communicate how a brand helps create a solution to a problem. Being able to compile your brand’s unique offerings in story format is a powerful strategy that makes you more memorable to consumers and expands your impact.
Having a brand story is one thing—having a strategy for bolstering it and effectively communicating it is another. A strong brand narrative strategy ensures you infuse all the pieces to communicate your story in a manner that deeply and truly resonates with your audience while differentiating you from your competitors.
A narrative strategy accomplishes the following:
A story without direction is more likely to fall on deaf ears. Having a strategy for how you communicate it and ensuring you check all the above boxes is paramount for making it impactful.
A brand story is no different from any classic story you are used to. Just like any famous tale, your brand story should include key elements that establish a background for the story, make it easy to follow and give it depth.
Components of a brand story include:
As you infuse these key components, you should also be sure to maintain a strong commitment to your brand’s tone and voice. Your story should retain your brand personality and feel authentic to resonate with your target audiences.
Start building a brand story worth remembering with the following steps.
Strong, resonant stories know who they are speaking to. Compile as much information from your audience as you can to understand what they care about and how that aligns with what you care about.
Gather insights on motivations, pain points and aspirations to inform your story. Think about how your brand and products provide a solution to a problem and how you can communicate that solution in a friendly narrative. Then, begin segmenting your audience along their various pain points and interests so you always reach the ideal audience in your communications.
To communicate your brand purpose to your audience, you must understand its core for yourself. Why does your brand exist? What is it trying to accomplish? Why is it unlike any other brand?
Get into the heart of this philosophical discussion with your internal team, and include everyone in the process to get their perspective. Work together to distill and package up your brand’s “Why”. In other words, decide what drives your work and your brand’s existence by understanding what values and ideas motivate your team the most.
Purpose should be at the heart of any brand story. Then, ensure that the story you’re telling and the message you’re trying to convey is consistent and clearly highlighted across all touchpoints and communications.
Think about the heart of what you want to communicate to your audience—when your audience thinks of your brand, what do you want them to think of first? These key messaging pillars will define customer expectations and opportunities for connection. Some examples include innovation, reliability, customer-centricity, or sustainability.
Your core message should support your story and marketing objectives. This message often stems from your unique value proposition—something that your brand cares to offer that other brands do not. Clarifying your brand’s unique value proposition will allow you to better communicate it to your audience.
There are many ways to tell a story, so choose a framework that makes sense for the message that you’re trying to convey. Different frameworks serve different objectives and may allow you to communicate certain ideas or invoke specific emotions more powerfully.
Weigh some of these common story frameworks:
Once you have a clear and established story, maintain consistency and integrate this story into all your communications across channels. Your story becomes part of your identity, making it a chance to connect with consumers at multiple touchpoints.
Consistently apply your story across social media, website copy, videos and campaigns. Include visual, textual and interactive elements in these areas that reinforce the story and convey the same emotions.
Your story is who you are. Ensure all aspects of your branding and communications are inspired by it.
The best brand stories are the ones that no other brand can tell. The road to success begins with gathering unique insights and considering the context in which you are telling your story. People who know your brand most authentically are the most equipped to speak on it.
Leverage some of these strategies when crafting your brand story:
Your narrative doesn’t stop once it’s put out into the world. Gauging whether your story is resonating with your audience is half the battle. Keep an eye on key metrics to ensure that your story is staying fresh and relevant.
Shed some light from all these angles:
You may discover the need to adjust your narrative as you go to increase its impact or better speak to new audience priorities. These metrics offer a blueprint for the opportunities to do just that.
Your brand will continuously evolve and write new chapters in its story. Adapting your narrative and striving for ongoing improvement are part of the process. Is your story still authentic to who you are? Are your actions aligning with your story?
As market dynamics and audience needs change, your stories will need to change to meet them. Emphasize new parts of your story depending on what your research tells you matters most to your target consumers.
As your story continues, there will always be opportunities for enrichment. Find new opportunities and perspectives to tell your story, whether that’s from your internal employee team or from your consumer audience.
Anyone can put a story together, but the authentic and focused storytellers are the ones carving their own place in the market. Connect with your audience beyond selling a product or service and craft a brand story that drives engagement and differentiation in a crowded marketplace.
VSA helps brands translate their mission and goals into clear and compelling brand stories through innovative brand strategy consulting. Starting with our proprietary Promise2Performance® audience research methodology, we’ll help you understand your audience and develop creative frameworks that provide the foundation for meaningful connections. Then, we’ll help you tie it all together to create a brand narrative strategy that inspires long-term bonds.
Let’s get in touch—contact us at VSA to start crafting a compelling brand story that keeps your audience invested.
