Writing That Matters: Introduction To Brand Storytelling

We do not want to disappoint you, but your customers do not buy your brand. It’s not enough to call your company Apple or Starbucks to become popular and loved by millions of people all over the world. People buy your story, and your task is to make this story a part of your brand marketing.

There are in about 10 million brands in the world, but why do we know only some of them? The reason is, their stories impressed us much and had a great influence on our mind and emotions. The product you sell is just a part of your story, and you should make your customers fell in love with your brand even before they will purchase your product itself.

Writing a story for your brand is called brand storytelling, and those marketers who really worry about their brands’ success have been practicing it, promoting a brand through words. Is it easy to write such stories? What aspects should a brand storyteller take into consideration to make this story work on the brand itself? Will any general tips on writing help him here?

It is not an ad!

Your brand story is not an advertisement actually. To create a good story for your brand, you should forget about selling: your task will be telling instead. Every company has its own story to tell, and yours is not an exception here; all your customers will associate this story with your brand, and it will become the actual moment of connection with your audience.

Just answer the following question: what do you and your company do to make your customers’ lives better? The answer to this question will be used for your brand story afterwards.

To make it clearer, let’s take Volvo for example: when you sit in this car, you want to feel yourself… secure and safe. That was the message they wanted to send you. Volvo is not cheap, Volvo is not luxurious, but it is a car for families who care about their own safety. That was an emotion Volvo caused, that was the root word they used for their story, and made all customers associate their cars with safety. Wanna be in safe? – Choose Volvo.

Questions to answer before writing

No one says, that brand storytelling is easy. Before writing a story of your brand, try to come up with honest answers to the following questions:

• What will be your customers’ association with your brand?


• What emotions should your brand cause? (there will be a connection between your product and your customer)


• What signals should your brand send? (your task will be to make people believe these signals)


• What words will characterize your brand better? (archetypes will work perfect here)

The moment of connection

This is a key moment of your brand story, a moment when a customer understands WHY he will choose your product and WHAT he will get from it. The key point here is emotions you cause with words, images, music, colors, and other aspects that can influence a person’s perception. Make him associate your brand with something really cool and positive.

For example, an engagement ring in a cake can be a great moment of connection in the brand story of some restaurant; and a moment when a girl looks at the mirror after a gym and feels confidence for the first time in her life would become a good connection between a product and a customer in the brand story of some fitness center.

Aspects of writing a brand story

According to Susan Gunelius from Forbes, there are 5 main aspects every brand storyteller should understand and keep in mind:

1. Truth (do not lie to your customers, be creative but honest with them; otherwise, you risk to confuse people, and they will not find your story real enough to trust).


2. Personality (your story should be told by a person, not a marketer whose goal is to sell and nothing more).


3. Characters (your story should be told by a character your clients will like. It does not mean that this character should be fictional, you can tell a brand story from a perspective of a third person, your employee, etc. The main thing is, customers should be emotionally connected to them).


4. Structure (every story has a structure – an introduction, a main part, and an end, and your brand story is not an exception. Start it with characters, add some conflict to the middle of this story, and solve it in the end with a moment of connection and a product or service your brand represents).


5. Intrigue (make your audience want more for them to come back again, use different hooks and teasers to feed their interest all the time).

Every brand has a story. So, let all people know yours.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/branding/writing-matters-introduction-brand-storytelling-0740475?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=writing-matters-introduction-brand-storytelling