As buyers navigate their way through the purchasing journey, they will research many brands and solutions for their problems. And, in such a noisy marketplace, it can feel almost impossible to set your brand apart. The good news? Brand storytelling can provide a powerful solution for engaging customers and enabling a truly differentiated brand. The little-known reality is that every brand (whether or not you're a media or marketing company) should include video as a core activity of enabling their buyers in the journey. And, it doesn't have to be as hard as you think!
Try these 5 videos to leverage brand storytelling in your buyer journey.
What is brand storytelling?
Let's start by getting on the same page.
Brand storytelling is a strategic approach that uses the power of storytelling to create emotional connections with customers and differentiate your brand from its competitors. It involves:
- communicating a truly unique selling proposition.
- aligning on problems that your customer is facing.
- crafting a compelling narrative that communicates how you solve customer problems.
- unifying with your audience on values.
- painting a picture of alternative paths that will never work.
- providing a clear roadmap for people to solve their problems and navigate purchasing.
- and so much more!
Through brand storytelling, your company can build trust and create a loyal following.
Note that brand storytelling does not mean you'll be telling stories in your videos.
You already know that telling stories through customer reviews and company culture videos can be a great addition to your assets. But, activating brand storytelling in your buyer journey is all about connecting with your customer's needs and problems on an emotional level and helping them get from problem to solution.
How can you take a single idea, and multiply it into content?
Start with a golden nugget idea.
Instead of finding five topics for five videos, build a set of videos on one single "golden nugget" idea.
As thought-leaders, your brand likely has a few unique things to say. The good news? You don't need endless unique things to say, just a few. From those few ideas, you can build a library of content that drives organic search and social media traffic to your landing pages and digital properties.
How do you find a golden nugget idea?
Think about:
- what jobs your buyer is trying to get done, and how you solve them in a unique way.
- low-hanging, frustrating experiences your buyer is having that you can easily help them solve.
- mindsets your buyer is sitting in that need to be transformed in order to find the right solution.
- questions prospective clients ask that only a subject matter expert would have the answer to.
A great testing ground.
Using this method will allow you to test core brand concepts with more clarity. You'll publish a very similar idea several ways and discover if the nugget of knowledge is valuable. If it doesn't perform in any of these formats or on any channel, it may not be an idea that people find valuable.
Video #1: Foundational Concept
video length: 2-3 minutes
channels to post it on: Facebook stories, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Web pages, Blog articles
Define your golden nugget and outline the basics of the concept. Introduce core concepts, and create a base for your golden nugget you'll be "riffing" off of for the other four videos.
Example:
Video #2: TL;DR
video length: 60 seconds max
channels to post it on: Facebook stories, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube (as a Short!), LinkedIn, Web pages, Blog articles
Now challenge yourself to define the golden nugget idea in just 60 seconds (or less!). This will help you find concise, clear language to explain your authoritative concept. In addition, recording this in 60 seconds or less means it can be posted as a YouTube Short and enter a new space for people to find it.
Example:
Video #3: Customers Always Ask...
video length: 2-3 minutes
channels to post it on: Facebook stories, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Web pages, Blog articles
Take your foundation video content, and frame it with the classic "customer always ask..." opener. This creates a highly authoritative tone to your video. You sound like you're interacting with a lot of people, and have a lot of experience with this subject matter.
This framing will also help your audience to feel they're not alone or not ignorant for wanting to know this question. They'll have an experience that helps them feel more smart, not less.
Video #4: Micro Training
video length: 2-10 minutes
channels to post it on: LinkedIn, Tiktok, YouTube, Web pages, Blog articles. (If kept to only 3 minutes: Facebook stories + Instagram reels.)
This is your chance to dig down deep and explain every nuance or your golden nugget. If you view it as a "micro training moment", you'll find that you might even have a Top 3, an acronym, or some other way of breaking up the content that feels very tangible and actionable.
Example from Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask, You Answer:
Video #5: Missing Keys
video length: 2-3 minutes
channels to post it on: Facebook stories, Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Web pages, Blog articles
In this final video, you're going to explain to your audience the things that are often confused or missed about your golden nugget idea. This could be misconceptions, missed opportunities, amateur approaches, wrong paths... anything that would keep someone from applying the knowledge correctly.
Is that all?
Well, no. To be honest.
YES, it's really that simple. But, NO, these are not the only five ways you can multiply a single idea for endless content.
To keep the momentum going, you can:
- Brainstorm other things you can do with your golden nugget.
- Keep a spreadsheet of golden nugget ideas, and share it with other founders, salespeople, or marketers in your company.
- Consider multimedia ways to express the same core ideas.
- Track how your videos perform and highlight ideas that resonate with audiences.
There are so many ways to enable a brand story within your buyer journey. Incorporating videos that expand on your golden nugget idea, and connecting on an emotional level, is a no-brainer method to multiply content quickly!
