Story branding is a shared adventure between you and the people that you serve. Your story brand will always be found in the place where your passions and values overlap with the passions and values of your audience. This alignment is what takes a simple brand offering a product or service, and elevates it into the status of a brand story. Instead of a commodity to be price-shopped, your offering is celebrated, shared and recommended. As a result, your cost of reaching customers goes down, your sales cycles become shorter and customer retention goes up.
Story branding's power comes from two things:
- A brand's story grows as more people become narrators of the brand. The more people who are sharing a story, the bigger that story becomes. Sharing doesn't just mean social posts or reviews, it can simply mean including a product in your life and telling the story with your actions.
Your customers, employees, and even your vendors play a critical role in defining and propelling your brand story.
- A brand story's influence also increases based upon the unity of the story. The more all of the different narrator's stories align, then the more powerful the story grows.
Addressing anything that confuses or dilutes a cohesive brand story should be a priority in your messaging and customer service.
How to Find Your Story Branding
- Tell your Why Story. That's the story about why and how you came to deliver what you do in the way that you do. But don't forget, your "why story" is just a small part of what goes into a brand story.
- Look for the place where your story finds agreement. When passions line up, then it sparks greater enthusiasm. Spend time listening to customers, participating in their work and life settings, and use a story team to keep these observations coming.
- Don't compromise your values, find people who agree with you. A brand story is not an exercise in spin, but it is alignment between your priorities and what's important to your audience.
What happens when you get your story branding right?
Your brand story will propel growth, and it will deliver stronger growth, reduced ad costs and a stronger connection with your prospects. It is the first step toward building a growth engine that will help you to grow reliably.
