There are over 30 million small businesses in America. Many of these small business owners don't know how to effectively use brand storytelling for their business, and many don't even know what it is.
What is brand storytelling, and how can you use it for your business? Continue reading this article to find out how to use storytelling marketing for your business brands.
The Basics of Brand Storytelling
Before we get into how to use brand storytelling, you need a deeper understanding of what it is.
While you use facts in your brand story, giving a dry history lesson about when you were founded, who founded your business, etc. is not what we're talking about.
Before creating your story, you need to know your goal. Your goal is to connect with your potential customers and your current customers. You want to humanize your brand and give them a reason to do business with you and to continue to do so.
Your potential customers do care about product quality, how it works, and why its best, but you need to give them an emotional reason to choose your company.
People want to support people. People don't want to support big brands without a human face.
Putting Your Story Together
There are so many things you could talk about as an independent retailer or another type of business owner. It's easy to get overwhelmed with the options you have for stories to tell. Which one is going to be the most effective and give you the best results?
Put Values Front and Center
Your customers want to do business and support people that value the same things in life. It can be scary to put your values out there for the whole world to see. You might be worried that people are going to judge you and decide to do business elsewhere.
While you might lose a few people from sharing your values, the number of people you'll gain from it will far outweigh the ones that leave.
If you aren't sure how to share your values, get together with some teammates, and agree on which values are obvious for your company. Once you know those, think about how these materialize.
What does your company do or not do because of these values? Share that with people and they will see that you aren't all talk, but you're truly living it out.
Go Back to the Beginning
Sharing how your company got started, why you started the company and how it has evolved to where it is now can be inspiring. Don't wish you had a better story for your brand. Embrace how you got started, and the right people will be attracted to your story and buy.
Understand Your Audience
If you want to be truly effective when you're telling your story, you need to think about who you're talking to. You can tell the same story in a lot of different ways.
When your audience is a bunch of moms, you'll talk a lot differently to them about the product than if they are young single guys that aren't thinking about having a family.
Craft the story to strike home with the people you're talking to if you want to get the best results.
Don't Dance Around Customer Pain Points
Your customers are buying your products or services to solve a problem. You shouldn't act like there isn't a problem. There's no reason to create a situation where everything is all sugar and spice.
The problems you thought you were solving in the beginning when you created your product or service might not be the same thing people love now. Instead of assuming people still get the same benefits out of your products or services, send out surveys, read customer reviews, and look over social media.
When you're addressing these pain points, don't come it the same way every time. Think of different ways you can address the things that are causing the most grief.
If you can write a tutorial or do a step by step webinar to help people live, that could be exactly what people need to take the next step.
How Will You Tell Your Story?
While all of these tips can be helpful, you still need to figure out what is going to work for you. If you're comfortable with video, you might opt to create videos to share your story. If you are good with the written word, you might start by typing up an email to your customers.
If your company has a lot of resources, you might be able to use different methods to get the word out about your company and your story. If you are just a small business and you are working on a tight budget, it is fine to start out with grassroots efforts and slowly get the word out about what you're doing and why you're doing it.
Most of all, you should be authentic and make sure people see your company for what it really is.
People can smell a fake from a mile away, so allow your company to be true to its nature and find the people that your ideal customers.
Using Brand Storytelling to Win Over Customers
Now you know more about using brand storytelling, you can start marketing your business using this strategy. Once you see how effective brand storytelling is, it is likely you will continue to utilize this marketing strategy.
Do you want to learn more marketing strategies that will make a difference for your business? Keep reading our blog to find out more about topics that are important to you like naming a new business or social selling. Visit the Digital Marketing section to learn more about brand storytelling an how to promote your brands online successfully.