A Great Brand Story

Why A Great Brand Story Is Important

Right at the top of the sales funnel, at the start of the customer journey, we as marketers want to attract as many potential customers as possible. This is where brand impact has a significant part to play – you need a great story with an emotional hook.

A lack of an emotional impact and connection at the initial awareness raising stage leads to lost opportunities. This is true throughout the customer journey.

The greater the emotional connection, the greater the customer loyalty.

Creating Your Brand Story

There are 8 steps that you need to take to create your Brand Story

  1. Write/record your past, present and future story – at this stage spare no detail and include anecdotes, etc. Other members of your company and those close to the business should also contribute to this exercise. This output will be the ‘master story’.
  2. After step 1, we need to create a statement to sum up why your company exists – thinking about answers to the questions ‘Why are you here?’ and ‘How are you making the industry better?’ Think about your competitors and how and why you are different.
  3. The statement created in step 2 will become the basis for your brand story. A great brand story is succinct, authentic and tells us where you’ve come from and where you’re going. All great brand stories follow the same classic ACT structure.
    • ACT ONE the setup/status quo
    • ACT TWO confrontation/conflict
    • ACT THREE resolution
  4. Following this ACT structure, 3 different versions of the brand story will be produced.
  5. These 3 versions are reviewed internally in a ‘workshop’ session with key stakeholders in the business with agreement reached on a final version.
  6. A final agreed copy of your Brand Story is produced and signed-off.
  7. Supporting photography and imagery will be required for your story. Existing galleries should be evaluated and, where required, additional imagery commissioned.
  8. The story is then communicated internally with the business – it’s really important to get complete buy-in from the team.

Things To Consider At This Stage

Your company’s ‘tone of voice’ – creating this story will help cement your ‘tone of voice’ which will be used in all communications. All successful brands have a unique tone and a particular vocabulary.

Case Studies – these are a great way of supporting your brand story. Which customers could you work with to create these? Which customers could become your brand advocates?

Your Brand Story Is Now Finished – What Next?

  • This story now provides the foundation for all of your communication.
  • Elements of the story need to be woven into all of your existing channels.
    • Website
    • Email
    • Direct Mail
    • Social Media
    • Press Releases
    • Face-to- face meetings
    • Events
  • Remember your ‘tone of voice’
  • Developing case studies and obtaining testimonials help support your story and should be a continuous exercise to ensure relevance