What Is A Brand Story? And Why You Need One (+Tips and examples)
Humans are built to understand our lives through narratives - we are taught to explain and empathize by telling stories to each other. The process of marketing your business isn't any different. If you're looking to engage your customers and establish a closer connection with them it is essential to create the story of your brand.
Read on to find more information about the definition of a brand story. It includes the essential elements of the perfect brand story as well as a guidebook that will help you write your personal brand story.
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What's a brand story?
The brand story is the story of the way your brand began. It outlines the feelings, motivations, and vision which led you to start your company and the way that all aspects of it shaped to become the company it has become today.
The most effective brand stories mix emotions and facts to create a colorful narrative. They also have strong characters, challenges as well as conflict. Consider your brand's narrative as your company's beginning story. It is the tale of how your company came to be what it is today.
What makes brand stories effective
The reason why brand stories are so effective is that they are able to appeal to the audience's emotional responses. When humans judge something, we apply 20 percent logic and 80 percent emotion. Emotion drives our decision-making process and logic then backs up this decision. It helps to justify and rationalize it.
If you can appeal to the emotions of your customers, you'll be able to convince your customers to trust your company's brand in a powerful and long-lasting way. Brand stories help distill the intricate story of your business into a succinct and simple narrative that consumers can be invested in. By telling the right tale it is possible to win your audience's hearts and minds and convert your customers into loyal ones.
What is the story of your brand
Writing your own branding story is a personal process.
The greatest elements for storytelling will be rooted in your own experience of starting your business and the people who motivated you to take the leap. If you're wondering about what constitutes the best brand story to tell consider the path that you've taken in order to be an Entrepreneur.
Answer these 5 questions:
- What inspired you to decide to begin this venture?
- What brought you to this point?
- What difficulties did you face throughout the process?
- What need or desire do you think your product or service will satisfy?
- What is it that makes your product or service unique?
This will provide you with the basis of your story. It is important to find the core of the reason you started your company and the people your product or service was designed for.
What's a brand's story? 4 essential elements
The best brand stories have several key points of commonality which help the audience connect to your brand. If you're looking to write an engaging brand story make sure to keep these tips in mind.
Define your mission
What lies at the core of any good story is your brand mission. That is basically how you intend to aid people and make the world a better place. The mission of your brand is built around your vision of your business. In a perfect world what changes would you want to witness?
When you're writing your mission, try to make it concise, descriptive, and inspirational.
Here are a few examples:
- Starbucks "To encourage and nourish the human spirit - one cup of coffee, one person and one neighborhood at an time."
- Oxfam "A World without poverty"
- Typeform "Really know people"
The thing these brands' stories share is a basic, idealized vision of what they hope to accomplish with their businesses.
Mark any issues or barriers
The best stories for brands involve some kind of challenge or conflict. Beginning a new business isn't easy, so when crafting your brand's story be sure to include the challenges you faced. It's a crucial move to assist your readers build an emotional connection with your brand.
Keep in mind: what exactly is a brand's story? It's the story of events that lead to your starting your own business. That means the good and the bad.
What obstacles did you face?
Each good tale has obstacles or challenges that prevents the protagonist from reaching their objective in chapter 1. When you're writing your marketing story, make sure to consider the obstacles you've faced.
Here are some ideas to get your started:
- Resources limited
- Competitors with power
- Cultural pressure or resistance
- Personal struggle
This will also be individual to you as well as your experiences as an entrepreneurial entrepreneur. What challenges did you have to go up against when you started your venture? What or who stood in your way of being successful? By drawing out the conflict in your tale You can entice your audience and encourage them to become more invested with your company's image.
Example of a conflict-driven branding story
One of the most famous storylines of the brand of today is Apple.
Apple's branding story provides a great instance of entrepreneurs facing enormous challenges to bring their product to market , and then transform their start-up into a multi-billion-dollar success.
It is said that two former college students - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak - set up Apple inside their own garage. Together, the two went head to head against Microsoft, a well-established business at the time, to create a product that was new unique, creative and innovative. Nowadays, Apple remains a product with a unique and innovative spirit which can be traced back to two men who were tinkering in their garage.
Apple's status as a revered brand can be traced back to this compelling brand story.
Though it is now the largest brand in the world with more than 1 billion faithful fans, they have managed to keep a strong emotional relationship with their customers through a rootedness on the story of two guys from the ordinary.
Provide an answer
What is a brand story without a happy end? In order to create a successful narrative for your brand, you must provide your customers with a resolution. After you've established the conflict, you need to complete the narrative arc.
What transpired next? What did you think of how it turned out? What are you looking forward to in the future?
The resolution is the point in the comic book's storyline, following the epic battle with the aliens when the principal characters meet once more and share their witty one-liners. It is the time when the audience lets out a sigh of happiness that the adversaries have finally been defeated and it is now time to welcome our heroes returning home safely and living their lives in the real world.
This is the chance to make your story a a secure, satisfying ending.
Here's an example from the Wallbreakers branding Story:
"Today applicants receive their certifications for a competitive edge with the top employers. Companies can rest-assured their incoming talent has been trained to suit their specific needs. It's a win-win."
Don't worry over the reality that your company's has a story to tell - it's the same for all businesses. You just need to provide your audience with a positive ending to the story.
Condense it
The most memorable brand stories are short and simple to recall.
When you've finished writing your brand story, you need to condense it down into the essential parts, and the most emotional details.
The audience you are targeting doesn't have the time to be reading an entire essay. You run the risk of losing interest when your story about your brand is long or confusing. For a powerful brand story, try to keep your narrative simple and informative.
Ideally, you should be able to tell your story in only two paragraphs.
The idea was born when co-founder and CEO Greg Smith decided to take his LSAT course online together with the brother Matt Smith to reach more students. For Greg having his LSAT course online meant an opportunity to reach more students globally and generate greater income and more freedom.
The revenue from his online course soon surpasses the profits from his corporate law practice and, as the course took off and taught more students, more entrepreneurs and businesses reached out asking how they could do exactly the same. They wanted to market their own course on their website , and also drive expansion through their own branding and have full control of the content, information, and even their business. Thus, Greg and Matt as well as co-founders Miranda Lievers and Matt Payne began to create the ideal platform for both course creators and companies.
The brand story distills the complex series of events that led up to the birth and development of the brand into a simple story that anyone can understand. The story is short, simple and emphasizes the key elements of the brand's journey.
The best tip is when you write your story for your brand Make it relatable. The best brands have stories that are arouse people to tell others about.
Brand story examples
If you need inspiration for the story of your brand, it can be a huge aid to study other well-established brands for ideas.
Social media can be an excellent starting point to find ideas for your story. The casual, brief format of social media is the ideal place for brands to highlight their brand story.
Look at these illustrations of amazing brand stories by the course's creators.
The SuperLearner Academy
Levi's personal story of his triumph over his own struggles with learning lies at the core of the SuperLearner brand story.
The SuperLearner Academy utilizes this powerful branding story in the primary home page of the website:
Levi even includes the high school transcript and an image of him as a teenager to create an even more powerful emotional bond with the audience.
Tori Swanson
An artist, entrepreneur and teacher, Tori Swanson has put her personal story at the center of the brand's story.
Here's an example of how her moving brand story helps promote her company through Twitter and YouTube:
Miss Excel
Norton decided to make it fun and simple for everyone to be an Excel professional.
Below is an instance of her account Instagram: Instagram:
Norton highlights her overall brand mission and demonstrates her passion for Miss Excel. Miss Excel brand, encouraging her fans to be the same.
What's your brand's message?
If you now know what a story for your brand is and how you can write your own. To get started, download Your Business's Brand Workbook, and sign up for Neil Patel's free webinar sales funnel online course for additional marketing advice and techniques.