Consumers see a plethora of advertisements daily, and as a result, you need a compelling brand story to capture attention in your market. The fact is that it is getting more difficult for businesses to stand out and get attention. Many startups and entrepreneurs believe that they can’t afford complex PR and marketing campaigns. They’re also convinced they do not have newsworthy information that will help their company gain media attention. However, all of these are reasons for setting up a story-driven marketing strategy. By creating a relatable brand story, companies can get their brand the attention it deserves.
A brand story is a way of showing, rather than telling, people what a brand has to offer. Companies can keep existing and potential consumers interested by introducing the business through brand storytelling. As humans, we’ve grown up with an appreciation for genuine, compelling stories. This is because compelling stories are generally more memorable than cold, hard facts. For this reason, storytelling has become an effective tool for companies and PR agencies who want to connect with their audiences. While it may seem pretty straightforward, using brand stories to influence human emotions can be tricky.
The importance of brand storytelling
Every business has a story to tell, whether it is how you created it, why you decided to enter this particular industry, or how the original idea came to you. That story is essential to people beyond the business. It also resonates with employees and customers, creating a community of brand advocates who can stand behind and support the story.
There is a science behind storytelling. As mentioned previously, human brains love stories as well as the human emotions behind them. Appealing to your audience’s emotions creates authentic emotional connections that will eventually turn into trust and hopefully generate revenue. This is why it is crucial to know how to build a unique brand story for your company.
In this digital age, people are now in complete control of the information they consume. Many businesses have learned that traditional, disruptive marketing does not appeal to consumers who are sick and tired of getting direct mail and cold calls. Today, consumers look beyond price tags and good deals. Instead, they want to connect with a back story that reflects their values.
According to Alexandrea Merrell from Orndee Omnimedia, brand storytelling is an essential part of modern marketing. Retailers need to identify their target market and ensure that they are creating and relaying a brand story that engages these people. Additionally, great brand stories allow smaller retailers who have not established themselves in their industry to attract new customers even without a large marketing budget.
How to build a compelling brand story for PR
1) Keep the customer in mind
To understand how to build a brand story, companies first need to know the audience they are planning to talk to. Knowing the interests and pain points of your potential audience will help you determine how your brand story fits into their lives. Many retailers fail when trying to present their stories because they’re trying to appeal to all customers instead of building a buyer persona and targeting that specific buyer. Narrowing down your ideal audience can be intimidating. However, it is essential to create a brand story that will resonate with consumers. It is not enough to try and understand your ideal customer. Instead, you need to prove your passion and live your brand story to make meaningful connections that will eventually turn into sales.
The buyer’s journey
Interestingly enough, a company’s brand story is more effective when it revolves around the customer’s journey. This is because it creates a sense of connection that is more effective. By portraying the customer as the main reason for your existence, you can help potential customers to navigate their buyer journey and turn into paying customers. After all, a compelling story gives customers a reason to listen, get invested, and ultimately buy a company’s products or services.
Questions that you can ask when trying to understand your audience are what demographic the company is trying to target, what motivates them, and what they like and dislike. From there, you can base your story on things that matter to your audience. Another way to capture people’s interest is with the language that you use. Choose the wrong tone, and people will scroll right by. Spend some time figuring out how to best communicate with target audiences, and you’ll capture their attention. One key to getting noticed in the overly saturated advertising world is developing a distinctive voice and style.
2) Determine the why
The next step to building a brand story can be interchangeable with the first step of the process. You need to figure out the reason you created this company. To figure out the why, you can ask yourself why your brand exists, how you contribute to the world, what your mission is, and what motivated you to start this business.
The CEO of branding and marketing agency MESH, Taylor Bennett, states that companies need to go backwards and determine the purpose of the brand beyond the product. He recommends that you should recall your passion for getting into the industry in the first place. In order to understand this, you need to remember that your customers are looking for products and services to solve a problem or enrich their lives. A retailer’s job is to figure out how to do that for them and do it in a way that makes them feel good about their purchase decision.
An origin story can help your brand seem authentic and consistent. In fact, sharing an honest story about the struggle you went through to start your business can be a great way to connect with an audience. An origin story can personalize your brand by attaching a human face to your name. Rather than presenting your company as a faceless brand, sharing the passion and values that drive your team members will help you connect with your audience.
3) Understand the business/product
To fully develop a brand story, companies also need to understand how and where their product or service fits into it. A brand story that is not relatable to their product might build an engaged fan base while still producing little to no sales. According to Paula Conway, president of Astonish Media Group, a lack of self-awareness in a product is one of the biggest mistakes that brands make when creating their brand story. The example that she provides is the difference between selling a Mercedes versus a Kia. She states, “You don’t sell a Mercedes the same way you sell a Kia. They are both cars, but with different quality, performance, experience expectations, and price points.”
To figure out how your product fits into your brand story, you should ask yourself what your product’s quality and price points are. It’s also important to determine whether your product solves a problem, and how your product is different from your competitors.
4) Create a long-term story arc
From a PR and marketing standpoint, long-form content is very effective if you want to build genuine connections with your audience. To generate genuine engagement with your brand, it is better to create an ongoing, long-term story arc. After all, the whole point is to form a relationship with audiences and keep them coming back for more. In order to do this, you can think about challenges that your protagonist might struggle with over a long time. This can keep audiences coming back for more. As with any other type of creative writing, it is challenging for people to connect with a character if they only meet this character briefly. By creating a long-term story arc, you can encourage people to keep coming back to find out how the character that they were emotionally invested in is doing.
You also need to select an appealing format when creating your brand story. The format should be easy for your target audience to process and then take action on. One of the ways you can do this is by using a combination of images, texts, and videos to create a winning brand story and boost lead generation. Using visual content in storytelling can also give a brand story a much-needed push and increase its credibility. This also ensures that a brand gains the attention it deserves from potential customers. To effectively do so, you should add data and visuals to the narrative so that you can build trust among your target audience without overwhelming them.
5) Be consistent
Last but not least, a brand’s story needs to be consistent with the brand personality which you’ve built. You need to stick with your brand personality and step away from anything that does not relate to your product or service whatsoever. Inconsistency might confuse your audience.
Additionally, you need to keep your brand consistent with the values you’ve already established. Since people are exposed to tons of adverts these days, they’ve also gotten really good at spotting an inauthentic brand. If you create inconsistent messaging, then you will look like you’re being inauthentic.
You should include your principles in your brand story; explain why these principles are relevant as well as how you plan to live up to them. You also need to keep your message consistent across all of your marketing channels so that your brand is seen as genuine.
Conclusion
It can be difficult for companies to reach audiences in a competitive advertising marketplace. However, with the above tips, you can stand out from the competition by creating a brand story that resonates with audiences. If you can create an authentic brand story that is also engaging, then you can capture attention and boost sales.
Do you need help crafting a memorable brand story? Pressfarm is a PR agency that helps startups and established companies create outstanding content to capture attention in the media as well as among their target audience. Their PR experts and writers work with companies to help them understand what it takes to stand out in their niche and create quality content that makes heads turn. With a professional press release, some compelling feature articles, and a creative media kit from Pressfarm, your brand can make a splash in your industry.
Beyond creating this content, Pressfarm can harness its network to help you put it in front of the right eyes. Using their comprehensive database, you can connect with over 1 million journalists across different industries. Similarly, with a personalized media list built by an account executive, you can work with the best journalists in your industry. Sign up with Pressfarm and start generating the publicity your brand deserves today.