7 Tips to Tell a Unique Brand Story
Nowadays, most people want to be unique. They want to stand out and be easily recognized in a crowd. It is for this reason they strive to do things differently rather than copy others. This kind of behavior is also applicable to brands.
Being unique is an essential ingredient for being distinctly recognizable in any crowd. There are tons of brand stories everywhere but not every one of those stories fully captive people compared to the brand stories with a very unique message or character. These are the stories that linger on in the hearts of many people, which forces them to make a move towards the brand in relation to the story told to them.
Want to create a unique brand story with that effect? It may benefit to you to seek the assistance of a digital marketing agency to help you create a powerful and unique story for your brand. Consider these seven tips to tell a unique brand story.
1. Have a clear understanding of the purpose of the brand
Having an amazing logo design is not all that there is to knowing the purpose of the brand. Purpose is much deeper than that. It is about understanding the circumstances that brought the brand to life as well as the guiding principles of the brand. This enables customers to understand the purpose of the brand.
The purpose of the brand is essential when trying to tell a convincing brand story to others. It is the foundation upon which every other aspect of brand storytelling can efficiently fall in place. Here are some questions that can help define the purpose of a brand: Why was the brand created? Is there any clear problem that the brand is solving? What does the brand hope to achieve in the future? After answering these questions, businesses can get a clearer picture of their brand’s purpose by understanding what prompted the founder to create the brand.
This is where most big businesses often draw up the exact purpose of the brand and trim it down to all that the business has accomplished over time. The most recent marketing campaign of the popular LEGO brand was able to create an effective brand story using this method by showing people what the brand is as opposed to just telling.
2. Discover what others have to say about the brand
The idea behind telling a brand story is to make it as convincing and believable as possible. So it is important to seek the opinion of others about what they feel about the brand or about what the brand means to them. Brands should talk to their existing customers, prospective customers, employees, friends of employees, and just about any other person that occasionally or regularly interacts with the brand.
3. Know the target audience of the brand
Knowing the target audience of the business you are creating a brand story for will help define the tone, language and form of the story. Understand who they are exactly. If possible, create two to three personas of what the brand’s target audience should be. Break it down to the tiniest details by using demographics. Brands can also stalk competitors who are in the same niche to better understand the target audience that they share. They can also look deeper into how these competing brands connect with their target audience.
4. Decide on the best medium to tell this brand story
Understanding who the target audience of the brand is would further define the best medium of communication to reach out to them. The chosen communication method would also influence the brand story as well. If a business decides to use social media to communicate their brand story to their target audience, the tone and content of the message would be slightly different from using either their website or email to tell a brand story.
The medium of communication is key to establishing a strong connection with the target audience. Understand that the entire purpose of the brand story is defeated if the wrong medium is chosen. interestingly, social media offers that opportunity for a stronger connection – especially if the brand is targeting people within the age range of 18 to 35 years.
5. Explore the power of familiarity to retell a brand’s story
Starting with something or someone that people are already familiar with is a great way to quickly connect with the brand’s target audience when telling a brand story. Nike, a popular sportswear brand, is very fond of doing this. They tend to make use of familiar faces and stories, that almost anyone that wants to succeed in life can easily relate to. The most recent story is when they used Colin Kaepernick as the face of their brand’s story. It is a common saying to always be ready to pay the needed sacrifice for success. Nike decided to use a familiar face with a slightly twisted quote, which read ‘Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything’. It was a very successful campaign despite the backlash.
The idea is to tell the same story that people have probably heard a billion times but telling it differently using a fresher perspective to retell the story in relation to the brand.
6. Choose a narrative and keep it simple
Just because it is storytelling time does not mean you have to bore people with it. How do you want people to connect and quickly remember that story at any point in time? You may want to use different points of view. For example, using stories from people who have interacted with the brand and that have interesting stories to share. Or you may choose to stick to a single captivating point of view instead. You may also choose to incorporate a familiar face such as the founder, a customer or a public figure that resonates well with the brand? Whatever narrative you choose, always remember to keep it simple so that it stays memorable.
7. Create a brand persona
This might sound weird but it does work. It is all about turning a brand into a person that a human can relate to. The trick is to think of the brand as a person. What would be the gender of the brand? How old would it be? What kind of friends would it keep? This would help enhance the brand story.