Who doesn’t love a good story? For ages, stories have connected people across generations. They help to put complex topics into easy-to-understand perspectives. They help us relate to each other and learn more about ourselves.
Brands have been embracing the art of storytelling to captivate their audiences and create stronger bonds. A well-crafted narrative stands out in consumers minds long after their interaction with a brand, increasing brand equity and customer loyalty.
What does it take to create a compelling brand story? Here’s how you can use the art of storytelling to connect with your audience:
Contents
What is a Brand Story?
How to Write a Brand Story
What is Brand Storytelling?
Understanding the Power of Storytelling
Elements of Storytelling
5 Tips for Successful Brand Storytelling
Brand Storytelling Examples
Turn Customers into Advocates with Your Brand Story
What is a Brand Story?
A brand story is a descriptive account of your brand’s history, values, and mission, using elements of narrative storytelling. Brand stories typically cover how a brand came to be, and how it continues to demonstrate success and bring value to consumers. It shows a side of your brand that goes beyond dry data and highlights the emotional side of what makes your brand special. Brand stories are an excellent tool for building greater brand awareness.
Like any story, a brand story must be compelling. It's designed to tug at heartstrings, to inspire, and to get at the emotional heart of why your brand exists. In essence, brand stories should make your audience care and feel connected to your company.
How to write a brand story
In order to write a brand story that accomplishes the above intentions, you need to have a solid understanding of your target audience. What makes them tick? What causes are they passionate about? Why should they favor your company over competitors? Why are they interested in your type of product or service.
Tip: Use a consumer insights tool to uncover unique insights about your audience, beyond basic demographics. Learn more about how to tap into data driven consumer research in our guide.
Answering these questions will serve to drive the shape and tone of your brand story. They should permeate throughout all aspects of your company, from visuals and brand tone of voice, to your content marketing strategy.
What is Brand Storytelling?
If a brand story is the narrative of your brand, then brand storytelling is the act of putting that narrative to work. Meaning how it is shared and communicated.
Brands share their brand story in different ways. For many brands, the brand story exists as its own page on the company website.
But other brands use brand storytelling throughout their marketing. For example, a weight-loss company might share testimonials or case studies of satisfied customers about their journeys. Each of these personal narratives helps to support the narrative of the brand.
Understanding the Power of Brand Storytelling
What can storytelling achieve for a brand? When done well, brand storytelling can accomplish some pretty important objectives:
Foster trust
Trust is earned through openness, understanding, owning up to mistakes, and by consistency. Brands that are consistently authentic, consistently provide high quality customer service, and produce top tier products build solid a foundation based on the trust consumers grow to feel they are worthy of.
Brand storytelling is a way to forge connection on a more human level than, say, more traditional marketing messaging. It invites consumers to get to know a brand through shared experiences.
Highlight your brand’s personality
Brand storytelling infuses your brand with a personality, making it easier for consumers to get to know you. Brand personality also makes recall easier. If a customer remembers that you made them feel safe, made them laugh, made them enjoy the experience of shopping, this stays with them — and may encourage more word-of-mouth recommendations.
Shape perceptions
At its heart, marketing aims to influence people’s perceptions and behaviors to drive optimal outcomes. Brand stories play a role in this process by creating stronger emotional connections and creating memorable experiences based on feelings, not facts and figures.
Elements of Storytelling
The basic elements of storytelling that apply to writing novels or newspaper articles also apply to brand storytelling. Consider the following when crafting a brand story:
- Characters. Stories are about someone or something. In brand messaging, you would typically consider the main character as either your business, product line, or services provided.
- Setting.
- Plot. Stories are comprised of a series of events leading to a conclusion. This doesn’t mean these events have to happen linearly, but they should be connected.
- Emotion. A great story latches onto our emotions and tugs at our heartstrings, turning the audience into active participants. They become part of the story. The most effective brand stories are those that make us feel emotionally invested in the brand.
- Resolution. The reader should always be able to take something away from a story. In a traditional story, the meaning is often a moral lesson or imparting important values. How does this apply to marketing? Well, consumers can’t always translate a list of product features and benefits into something meaningful or necessary to their everyday. Your brand story provides this meaning to your audience’s life in a tangible way.
These elements are the building blocks of an effective brand narrative. Once you know your brand story, you'll have to decide how best to tell that story. The channels and tactics you use to communicate the history, values, and benefits of your brand are all usually overseen by a brand manager. They are responsible for carrying out your brand management strategy to make sure your story is told in a consistent way across your channels.
5 Tips for Successful Brand Storytelling
The most important thing to remember is that a brand story should feel like an actual story, not a sales pitch. Use these best practices to craft a compelling brand story for your digital marketing strategy:
Tell the right stories
You can tell multiple brand stories in your digital marketing strategy. And the older your brand is, the more stories you likely have to share. Brand stories can be more than just origination stories. You can create brand storytelling around products, services, experiences, and values, weaving them together cohesively to highlight what makes your brand so special.
To choose the “right” story, think about why you’re telling it in the first place. What are you trying to reinforce it in the minds of your audience?
Know your audience
Brand storytelling has a lot to do with knowing who you're communicating with, on a deep level that goes beyond traditional demographics. Consider where you plan on sharing your brand story, and who it is that you're targeting in that channel.
Brand stories are popular content for social media marketing because they can reach a wide range of people and present your brand in a non-salesy way. Sharing brand stories as blog posts is another useful strategy. When presented in this format, they can help you increase your PR coverage and serve as a resource for media inquiries.
Make your brand story relatable
It’s difficult to buy into a story emotionally when you can’t relate to it. Brand stories pull people in by allowing them to see themselves inside the story. When brand stories are relatable, they become shareable!
Tip: Use social listening to get an understanding of how your audience is talking about your brand, your competitors, and your industry. These insights can provide great context to your marketing team when honing in on the brand story.
Involve your audience to participate
When you invite your audience to engage with your brand and your brand story, it will make them feel like they have a stake in your success. Use behind-the-scenes content to pull the reader into the story. Encourage UGC and customer stories that will help spread your story and get your brand in front of more eyes. Focus less on touting your brand and saying how great you are, with nothing to back it up. Imbue your brand personality with warmth by focusing more on the people whose lives have benefited from something you provide.
Believe in your brand story
No one will feel connected to a brand story if you don't believe in it yourself. Authenticity is key to creating deeper impressions on your audience, so be consistent in your brand storytelling. A good way to establish a strong story that gives consumers and your company a reason to believe in your brand, is by encouraging employee advocacy.
For help creating your brand narrative, check out Meltwater’s online masterclass on the Art of Storytelling.
Brand Storytelling Examples
Need some inspiration for your brand story? Here’s a closer look at three brand storytelling examples from companies that are getting it right.
Warby Parker
Leader in affordable fashion eyewear, Warby Parker shares a point-blank brand story about their history, mission, and values. It’s a no-frills description, yet it’s relatable to its core audience because it highlights the struggles that many glasses-wearers have experienced at one time or another.
To support its brand story, Warby Parker infuses these same values and its mission in the rest of its marketing and branding. The company makes buying eyeglasses easy and fun, and its consistency supports the brand’s authenticity.
Moxy Hotels
Marriott Hotels’ Millennial-focused brand knows its audience and is a perfect example of a great brand story that has no end.
Moxy Hotels is upscale and trendy and features hip services like an all-night bar. In terms of brand storytelling, Moxy Hotel’s Instagram channel is a never-ending saga in branding. Its “Do Not Disturb” video series showcases what it’s like to stay at the Moxy, while images and GIFs illustrate the hotel’s eclectic décor, wow-worthy showers, and fun atmosphere. The brand uses influencers and celebrities to show why the Moxy is the place to be for Millennial travelers.
Brand stories tell, not sell, but Moxy’s brand stories do both without being intrusive or desperate.
Hinge
Billed as the “dating app designed to be deleted,” Hinge turns everything that people thought they knew about dating apps on its head. The company developed out of an awareness that the typical swipe right/swipe left strategy was creating the opposite of real connections. This has become the app’s core brand message and inspired its breakthrough brand story, The Dating Apocalypse.
The company's branding and marketing continue to support this image and show why Hinge isn’t just another dating app. To further its story, Hinge creates empathy surrounding the struggle of dating and focuses on its members-only community for people who want to get out of the dating app game for good.
Turn Customers into Advocates with Your Brand Story
With the right narrative, you can connect with your audience in ways that no stats, facts, or figures ever could. Put your brand into context for your audience so they can see what you’ve known all along: that you’re worthy of their loyalty.
Now it’s your turn: Reach out to Meltwater today to start writing your brand story!
