Let’s first understand what a brand story is, most people think of the brand story as a brand’s history, how it started. They are not entirely wrong, these can be essential parts of your brand story. However, your brand story should be much bigger.
The questions ” Who are you?” can be either be very simple or complex, depending on what philosophy you want to convey. A good brand story is enough to tell what are your core values, mission, vision, it is a narrative that passes facts and feelings created by your brand. A story must inspire an emotional reaction.
Brand story telling
Brand story telling is just a fancy term for what is brand is all about, how it will behave in certain circumstances. For example you started your company 10 years before, so it is quite possible the circumstances are changed but your core values are still same. So conveying your core values through story is brand story telling.
It’s different from traditional marketing, where you just be neutral and sell your products. And compete on functional or technical aspects. Being neutral is boring, not inspiring.
Telling stories inspire people towards your brand, people love sharing stories, particularly on social media. Your brand feels like a human not just profit making machine.
Let’s see how some of the best story telling done by brands –
Let’s take a real world examples of brand story telling –
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek. A brand having one the best creative marketing and story telling.
So what is in the Spotify DNA –
- ADAPTABLE
- DIVERSE
- QUALITY DRIVEN
- WARM & FRIENDLY
- HUMAN CENTERED
We surly can see in there story telling too. For example Spotify has large user data, containing their users behavior. So they use this data very creatively by combining user data with a human touch.
For example in the above image they uses their one of the users data of valentine day, how spotify helped him in his lonely times. It makes total sense for brand like Spotify to create content around emotional needs like love, loneliness, enjoyment, humanly things. Because it create a sense of connection with the brand.
How to create a great brand story
Keep it simple
Even though the company’s origin story has taken years but when making your brand story you should focus on key terms. When it comes to telling a story it could have different length for different situations like you should be able to tell it with very few words or it can be a movie too, simply said it should be straightforward.
- Beginning : Problem – Explain what problem you faced and are going to solve.
- Middle : Solution – How you solved it’
- End : Success – What the end result look like.
That’s it, this is how most of the people expect from a story. Make sure end is exciting and inspirational to connect with people. And this end is just new beginning of a new adventure.
What is your values
Look at this as long term thinking. For example with time situation and circumstances can change but your core values remains same. And try to communicate higher purpose.
Ask your self if your brand is human how it will behave in certain situations.
Put a face behind the story
A good brand story features a main character that your audience can relate to. Think about your main character’s goals and desires. Add some conflicts and challenges so it will feel more realistic.
And make sure the main character’s actions align with your brand’s core value.
Conclusion
Though there might be still some confusion around brand story and brand story telling. Summarizing both it could be said that both are about using emotion evoking narrative to connect your brand to customer. Where brand story is about your history, how you started, problems you faced, solutions your brand is providing, your core values. And brand storytelling is how you curate this story for your audience.
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