Modern brand marketing is a curious animal. On-demand content presents a new urgency to build likable advertising through brand storytelling. If you take a quick look around, you’ll see this new era of content-like ads sprinkled between your social media videos, Hulu shows, and podcasts. Businesses are crafting stories to foster meaningful feelings about their brands. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com founder, said it best: “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Your brand story is being made with or without you. Let’s take control of your narrative. We’re showing you how to make your business relatable through brand storytelling.
1. Brand storytelling starts with a strong foundation
A strong approach requires that you really define the essential values of your brand. Stories have morals, and your lessons should always connect with the ideals of your identity. It’s important to go into any business endeavor with a good plan mapped out, and listing exactly what your brand is built from is a great way to start brand storytelling.
Start by breaking down your emotional selling points. Do you have any social causes that you’re serving? Does your team care deeply about your services or products because they are also your target audience? These are great ways to see the “why” behind your work. This is where your core message lies, and this should be the source for all your stories.
You may be wondering how to find an interesting topic if your brand is in a “boring” field. Even if your business niche is “boring” compared to others, It’s not impossible to come up with interesting and engaging content. It only requires some harder thinking! You can still dip your toes into brand storytelling, which builds trust with your audience. When they need your services, they’ll be more familiar with you in comparison to your competitors. You can also look into crafting better narratives for your content, which will shine through no matter the topic.
2. Humanizing your brand
To build a truly relatable image in brand storytelling, you need to depart from behaving like an entity to act more like a human. Simply put, people don’t relate to product features or services. People relate to people.
First, you must be consistent. You’ve already got your values and mission, so stick to it. These ideals should be so compelling for your company culture that everyone moves to the same beat.
You’ve also got to be transparent. People are highly intelligent and see right through pandering. Stay true to your identity, because chances are it’s more unique and valuable than a focus-grouped one.
If you’ve really defined yourself well, your team’s unique perspectives will make it effortless to add value your audience can’t find anywhere else. Your brand starts to become that best friend your customers always wanted. They’ll want to tell everyone exactly how amazing you are.
3. Crafting high-quality narratives
The focus in great storytelling is to have really personal, human stories rather than those with grand and vague messages.
People connect when they see themselves in others. If you create stories that have “heroes,” your audience will have champions to align themselves with. This could be your target personas or even the staff of your business. Gimlet podcast network loves the latter approach. Their staff’s own experiences are the voice of their advertising, using their unique viewpoints as a lens that audiences can connect with.
Your story arc is also important. Creating something that easy to follow but hard to predict is an art, but keeping your “heroes” unique and unfiltered makes it much easier. Sometimes, confronting taboos are the greatest pain points for your audience, and your customers won’t see it coming. So, avoid sterilizing yourself too much. The risk can be worth it. Additionally, this also encourages a dialogue with (and about) your brand, which is great for a positive brand presence.
Being transparent and truthful in your brand storytelling is also way easier than crafting a story that is overly calculated. The brands that create content that is consistent in quantity and yet still quality are documenting, rather than orchestrating. Brand storytelling can include a daily vlog, walking people through what you do on a day-to-day basis, or a story of how you solved a problem within your company.
Brand storytelling is an art, best done by passionate marketing “artists”
As we said earlier, creating a powerful narrative is an art. You know your own brand better than anyone, but a fresh set of eyes can see compelling values you might miss. Tortuga Marketing loves to tell stories that make unforgettable memories. Set up a chat and you’ll get to see how their own values can transform your brand’s story marketing.
