Creating a Brand Story (Make People Care About Your Business) 

What’s the difference between a business and a brand? It’s creating a brand story that makes your audience actually care about your business, find out how in this post.

Screen Shot: Tom’s Shoes

Do you know the best way to convey your mission to your audience? Tell a story! We’re not messing around when we say stories are an essential aspect of branding. If you don’t believe that just yet, neuroscience would like to prove you wrong. 

 

You see, humans are, in a sense, wired to react well to a good crafted narrative. With a good story, you don’t only feed information that remains in your audiences’ memory but also create a solid emotional connection that will leave you wanting to interact more with your brand. 

 

In the age of analyzing content to align with Google’s algorithm, it isn’t easy for content creators to switch to making narrations that have a substantial impact. Well-thought narratives are a great way to connect people to your brand. Take, for example, TOMS, a shoe company. 

Their story has always been simple; the founder found how troubling it was for those who didn’t grow up with shoes. His solution? For every profit they make, one-third of it goes to charity in making shoes. They even have a report on their website for transparency on how they spend their money. 

 

Such a story is excellent for emotionally connecting with consumers and giving them the satisfaction of being part of something great. Wondering how you can do the same? Let’s look at how you can make a good brand story. 

 

Why Does Creating a Brand Story Matter?

You might still scratch your head confused about how a creating a brand story is important. Don’t worry; we’ll clear that up for you. 

Let’s imagine a scenario where a random stranger tries to convince you to buy clothes from a shop out of the blue. Would you trust them? The obvious answer would be a ‘No’ but on the other hand, if a friend, relative, or loved one recommends you to buy clothes from a brand they shop from, you’d go there without hesitation most of the time. 

 

Overall, the trust factor plays a significant role in purchasing anything since everyone is hungry for affordable and quality products in today’s age.

 

Impact of a good brand story

Now, let us go over recent statistics and reports to give you an idea about the massive impacts a good brand story can have on a company’s image and success.

According to a 2019 survey by Edelman, it was revealed that consumers only agreed to buy products from brands they trust. In short, if your company isn’t able to create trust within its audience, it won’t be easy to persuade them to buy from you. 

 

Another insightful research by Headstream stated that about 55% of consumers are more likely to buy a product from a company if they like their brand story in the future, whereas 15% would immediately purchase it, and 44% would share it with others! 

 

All these data and statistics clearly indicate the correlation of a brand story with consumer behavior.  

How to Create an Effective Brand Story?  

Now that we’ve covered the details of a brand story, here are three things that you need to consider to create a compelling brand story. 

Have a Good Reason

First things first, there is no ‘fun’ in a story without conflict. The intensity of knowing a formidable challenge is right around the corner and finally working to take it down completes a good story. 

 

No customer will ever look at your growth chart only and start contributing to your brand. They’ll need a good reason to be on board. A challenge in a story will allow you to put forward a ‘reason’ for customers to even interact with your brand in the first place. 

Unfortunately enough, many brands may be under the impression that showcasing an affliction will bring their imperfections to light, causing potential customers to back away. However, there’s not much truth to it. 

 

In fact, a brand coming out with its imperfections and how it provides solutions for the same is what attracts an audience emotionally. Simply put, the more natural and honest you are with your shortcomings, the more people will connect to your brand. 

The 6-Second Rule

If you’re looking to portray your brand story through a video platform such as YouTube, you’ll have to follow the 6-second rule. At maximum, 6 seconds is all you will get before a viewer presses the skip button for an advertisement. 

 

During these 6 seconds, you’ll have to ensure to grab your audience’s attention and add a good CTA to show the purpose of your brand’s existence. Geico’s video ad is an excellent example of how a brand can showcase its story while keeping you engaged. 

 

They open the video by displaying their brand name, and the rest is an entertaining exercise of two men as statues. The ad itself does not have many dialogues but still gets the job done. 

Remember the Format

Introducing a problem is not the only factor you’ll need to keep in mind. Remember that your current state of affairs and solution are the two other major parts of the story. 

 

Ideally, you’d want to open up with the status quo, introduce the problem (the villain) and finally convince your audience that your brand is the solution (the hero). 

 

You can refer to how others in the past have used a good structure for their brand story, which we’ll cover in the next part. 

 

Examples of Some of The Best Brand Stories

Any theoretical concept explained without practical examples is nothing short of the most boring book you can ever spend time on. The same is valid for brand stories. So here are some ideal examples of the best brand stories to give a head start or inspiration on how to go about yours.

GoPro

Image Source: GoPro

 

A prime example of a good brand story is GoPro, our favorite flexible camera company. The main story is told by the CEO, Nicholas Woodman, on the official GoPro website. He states that GoPro allows us to capture some of the best moments in life and relieve them. 

 

An impressive feature also allows people to live-stream from their GoPro device (on specific models). The overall catch is that GoPro is the new norm for capturing every moment of fun for everyone. 

UBER

Image Source: UBER

 

The way this story works is how UBER is the rebel that has changed the way people commute in a good way. Unlike the traditional waving hand method, UBER allows us all to grab a taxi whenever we want with one click. 

 

UBER also mentions how its service enables more possibilities for riders and opportunities for drivers. This is one of the best examples of modest storytelling. 

Warby Parker

Image Source: WarbyParker

 

If TOMS’s shoes weren’t enough for you, you might just interest yourself with Warby Parker. The backstory for Warby Parker focuses on one of its founders who lost his glasses and couldn’t find them ever again. 

 

He was still a grad student back then and couldn’t afford to replace them with a new pair. This is where four friends, Jeffrey Raider, Andrew Hunt, Neil Blumenthal, and David Gilboa, embarked on a journey to tackle the issue of expensive glasses. 

 

For every pair of glasses a customer buys, Warby Parker pays the production price to build another pair at VisionSpring (a non-profit organization). Going by the latest statistics, Warby Parker has distributed over 10 million glasses to those who need them at zero cost. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Altogether, a brand story can be enough to build trust within your target audience and also help to drive consumers to buy products from you. However, it should be authentic and simple to understand or connect with. Additionally, a powerful brand story can bring in more new customers to engage with the product since they trust you, which is the primary goal.