Storytelling and your brand and YOU

Storytelling is HOT right now. It’s not a new concept when it comes to branding, but it is a very powerful one. For years brands that you love have been storytelling to you (am I the only one that remembers Roy and Gillian from the Nescafe Blend 43 ads from the 90’s? A love story for the ages!) and a compelling story is made up of 3 key things.

 

1. Problem – What is your customer’s problem? IF your brand is a part of a personal journey for you what was YOUR problem? Why couldn’t you find a solution? What other things did you try?
2. Solution – What was the solution to the issue (*hint – it’s your product 😉
3. Success – How did you successfully solve the issue? How has that changed your business? Life?

Crafting a compelling story needs to have these elements within it and when you start to dig into your WHY you are in business the story will start to reveal itself. This is where you MUST keep it simple, it’s easy to go down rabbit holes of our business journey but your customer wants to connect and that means that your story must be compelling and simple. Remember you can break the story into smaller parts as you go and create a bunch of amazing content to share on your communication platforms.

 

Crafting your Story

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The three-part model mentioned above carries this natural progression:

• Beginning: Problem. Explain the problem that you set out to solve.
• Middle: Solution. Describe how you solved it.
• End: Success. Get excited about the success this produced – Celebrate!! 

This is the form of a story that people expect. Everything has a beginning, right?

The story shapes your reason for existence. Why does your business exist? The answer should be a story.

The story must connect with your customers. At its essence, a story isn’t really about your company. Your company is the construct, but the goal of the story is to create a connection with your customers.

Tell your story in such a way that it tells your customers we relate to you, we understand you, we are like you.

Customers should buy a part of the story, not just a product. When they BUY into the story, they are buying into a little piece of you and only through creating a connection with the customer can they feel compelled to BUY into your brand. When the customer is part of the story, they are more likely to invest in you and your product. They engage the story by purchasing from the business that is telling the story.

So ask yourself  – What story does your brand tell? Tell me about your brand story in the comments!!