Getting your brand story right is essential for your business and fundamental to consumer awareness. It’s what you leverage to get influencers to partner with you and build a community of loyal customers and brand enthusiasts.
You want your business to capture as much attention as possible. But in order to do so, you need to put together a clear and engaging story that resonates with your prospects and customers on a deep, emotional level.
What should a story contain, though? And what makes it develop authenticity?
The power of stories
There is a good reason why stories are so popular among brands, businesses, and individuals. They are a powerful communication tool that can actually generate trust in the reader. But not any random story has this effect—the messaging has to be memorable, emotionally engaging, and profitable.
So, how do you do this exactly?
Check out these steps to create a compelling, authentic story that drives conversions and improves consumer trust in your brand.
1. Define your value statement
This is your promise of the value you’ll be delivering and also the primary reason why a prospect should purchase from you. It’s something people should see on your homepage (and all major entry points of your website) and be able to understand easily.
The elements that should be part of this statement are:
- Relevancy: explain how your products or services can help solve problems
- Unique differentiator: why your prospects should buy from you and not the competition
- Quantified value: deliver specific benefits
The value proposition is the first determiner of whether people will bother reading more about your brand. The less known your company is on the market, the more compelling you need your statement to be.
Keep it to one sentence, not an entire paragraph—this way it will be easier to incorporate in the rest of your brand story.
2. Create buyer personas
Having an idea about the people you are building your brand for can help you articulate their pain-points better and build a more convincing story. Depending on your organization you can have one or you can have multiple buyer personas and these are not only meant to help with the brand story. They are also helpful for the marketing, sales, products, and services departments. Having a deep understanding of your ideal clients is also critical for driving content creation and creating customer acquisition and retention strategies.
Wondering what information your buyer personas should include? Here’s a short list with the most important information you should have for them:
- Title and role at in their organization
- Pain points, needs, and requirements
- Biggest challenges or issues they’re facing
- Why they should consider your products or services
- Any other preferences, skills, traits important for your business
3. Learn from your clients
How are you retaining customers? You might think you know how, but do you really?
If you want to create a compelling story that appeals to your prospects and demonstrates the value you can offer, you’d better make sure you know the reason why your current clients are staying with you. It’s not pricing—but rather something about your brand that translates into value for them.
Talk to your clients, find out what’s making them stay.
4. Talk to your employees
Your brand’s story can be told in many different ways. It’s evident in the way your onboarding team treats new clients, the way your sales team closes every deal, and how your marketing team nurtures a relationship.
Do you have a mission statement known, understood, and practiced by everyone in your organization? Are all your employees on the same page with your brand? You should make sure the answer is yes, otherwise any disconnection can fracture your brand’s perception.
Storytelling is more than window dressing. It has become a very important differentiator that can help your brand cut through the noise and rise above the competition. Without one, your customers will most likely go back to the oldest (never desirable) differentiator: price.
Your brand story is your most valuable asset that impacts every facet of your company. So make sure you nail your story and use it to create a major marketplace impact.
