In today’s age, the internet has made it easier than ever for businesses of all sizes, nature, and industries to reach out to their target audience in a cost-effective manner, and brand storytelling is one of the best ways achieve this goal.
It is why companies are happily spending thousands and even millions on generating marketing content that makes them stand out in the eyes of their prospective buyers.
But with so much content around, how do you project your business as a better alternative to your competitors?
In the sea of sameness, your brand has to appear distinct and more human to be able to attract consumers’ attention. And to fulfill this goal, you need brand storytelling for business.
What is Brand Storytelling?
The term brand storytelling is pretty much what it sounds like – your brand’s story. It is often referred to as the narrative that is diligently created to bridge the gap between your brand and your target audience.
The narrative here focuses entirely on linking what your brand stands for and its values to your customers in a way that it connects instantly with the viewers. And in the entire storytelling process, your brand or offered product/services should emerge as the story’s main hero – a hero people would want to associate with.
Does Your Business Really Need Brand Storytelling?
Several notable scientific studies go on to prove that stories do an excellent job at getting a person’s attention. It even stimulates brain activity. Moreover, humans have been wired to tell, listen, and respond to stories right from a young age – it is why they are more receptive to stories than a traditional brand content format. So when your brand can easily catch peoples’ attention simply by telling a compelling yet genuine tale, why not use brand storytelling for business?
You might be pretty surprised to know that approximately 69% of Gen-Z demographics find the traditional way of marketing quite disruptive. The scene is very much similar with regards to millennials too. So if you want to make your brand seen, heard, and connect with your audience without making them turned off, brand storytelling is the way going forward.
Ways to Make Brand Storytelling for Business Work for Your Organization
The term “brand storytelling for business” is nowadays being used more than often. Still, not many tell businesses the right way of creating their brand story to deliver a lasting impact on their target audience.
If you’re struggling to create a story that resonates well with your target audience and sets your brand apart from your biggest competitors, use the following points to craft a story your prospects will love.
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Avoid Being too Superficial & Go Deep
Many companies create stories that are outright superficial. They make people suspicious of the story’s authenticity right from the first scene or sentence. Moreover, one can clearly understand that it has been made to convey a scripted, salesy message and not to convey a true story to humans.
To make your brand story successful, you have to go deeper and connect with people on an emotional level without faking. A crucial mistake some brand storytellers make is trying to be perfect.
Always keep in mind, real stories aren’t always perfect, they’re just more humane. You can easily see how global, top brands are leveraging brand storytelling to promote their business by including raw emotions in their story.
This is exactly what you have to do. Take a look at some of the recent brand storytelling examples pulled off by big brands, and try to understand the nuances. It will help you decide how to naturally include emotions in your brand storytelling for business without overdoing it.
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It’s Time to Get Personal
The best part of successful brand storytelling for business is that companies can never be the story’s protagonist. Part of the reason why you see many organizations failing at brand storytelling is that they try to anchor the entire story around the business and not people.
The corporate veil has to now come down for a more meaningful and effective interaction, as a major chunk of the audience now prefers to view and favor content that has been anchored around a person and not a faceless organization.
While preparing the script for the story, always remember that “people care about people and not companies.” To convey a brand story full of emotions, relevance, and a high degree of connection, you have to tell the story from the viewpoint of a particular person – it can be a working employee, a specific customer, or a dedicated partner.
The moment you start anchoring your brand stories around real people, you will notice a tremendous improvement in the final outcome and the way people respond to it.
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Make Prospects Part of the Story (The Secret Weapon of an Impactful Brand Storytelling for Business)
Humans are social animals, so it’s natural for them to want to be a part of something. Brands can leverage this natural impulse to sell them something. According to psychology professionals, stories can trigger our imagination by engaging our right brain, and when we engage our imagination, we naturally become a participant in a narrative.
When you create an impactful, people-oriented story around your brand, you are giving the brand the ability to recruit prospects towards its cause. It is how many lifestyle brands have been crafting their brand’s story for years. It has come to the point where they make people feel they’re not buying their products, they’re buying an experience.
If your brand story can make people feel they’re a part of a special tribe or they own a special product, you’ve nailed the art of brand storytelling for business.
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Ditch the Mainstream Lackluster Endings
Seeing the competition around, you cannot afford to stick to the mainstream storytelling options. A good way to start around is by getting rid of the dull and predictable endings. Most of the brand stories nowadays end with them telling people how their product/service can help them save money.
Ending a story with a money-saving angle is not ideal in today’s overly-competitive environment. Instead of ending the story by showing how your product/service can save them money, make them visualize what they achieve or feel by saving the same amount of money – whether they’ll feel contented, happy, respected, or something else.
The more you make them envision how better their life will be after taking your product, the better the results will be. So try to come up with a story ending that is open-ended, still evolving, and leans towards hope.
Are You Ready to Create a Lasting Brand Story for Business?
Brand storytelling is more powerful than you can ever imagine. You just have to tune in the right strings to make the most from it. To make the entire process easier, we’ve listed above some mighty tips that are sure to help you craft your best brand story so far.
Besides following all the tips mentioned above, you can also try co-creating brand story content the way brands like Microsoft and GoPro are doing. It is an excellent way to put across your brand story in a more authentic way.
If you’re new to brand storytelling, we’d suggest you refer to as many brand storytelling examples as you can of popular brands, so you get an idea of what is expected of you. Pair the learning from self-evaluating some of the top brand story content with our above-shared tips, and you’ll be good to go.
