How to Humanize Your Brand Through Storytelling

From Amazon to Apple to Lamborghini, garages were incubators for brilliant, dedicated dreamers – and they’re the basis for why people love those brands.

Think about it. Apple fans love that it started in a garage because it underscores the human element of the company: two guys toiling away, chasing a dream, too broke to work out of a proper building.

That’s a compelling story.

Too often, brands neglect the story behind their products and services to their detriment. Customers want to engage with people, not with a nebulous corporate identity. Brand storytelling can be an effective way to earn customer loyalty and drive sales. To nail it, here are a few pointers:

Show your face

Every business has its mission statement, which is important. But is “providing the best service for our customers at an affordable rate” really going to make people remember you? You need to go beyond the generic.

What inspires you? If you started the business, you probably have an interesting story to tell. What was the “a-ha” moment where you realized you absolutely had to make a go of it? What were the obstacles you faced, and how did you overcome them?

If you entered into an industry not by divine inspiration but because of a more measured career choice, consider what shaped your decision. Why are you excited to work in your industry? (Hint: making tons of money is not a good answer). Whenever you know what is story you want to present to the rest of the world, pen it down. Then go and collaborate with some of the best creative agencies so you can tell this story in a way that is engaging, captivating, and yet helping you achieve the primary purpose of your brand.

Clarify your values

Many start-ups and small businesses are socially minded. This is a great place to start when forming your brand’s story. Customers want to know what you believe in. Of course, not every business is Tom’s (the shoe company that donates shoes to needy countries), but that doesn’t mean you can’t emphasize your altruistic or inspired goals. Even if you’re part of what some might consider a fairly mundane B2B, you can still strike a chord with people.

Take the case of Oren International. After a brand storytelling makeover, the content on its website went from dry facts about paper converting to memorable stories about partnering with other companies to bring their visions to life. After the site re-branding, Oren saw conversion rates for its ebook skyrocket by as much as 86%. You need to let the rest of the world know what is it that you believe in. This can best be done with the help of marketing campaigns or press releases. Another alternative is using digital marketing agencies to spread information across different channels so it can reach stakeholders at all possible touch points.

Write it down

So you’re convinced brand storytelling is worthwhile. Before you jump into revamping your image, spend some time writing out your story. Unless you’re a solo act, consult your employees as well. Also, consider the feedback that you received from your customers. What did they like about your brand? Seeing the issue from their point of view is fodder for defining what’s great about your business. Is there a thread between what you originally set out to do and what your patrons appreciate about you? This might be a good throughline for the narrative. Branding agencies say that the best brand stories are those that are rooted in the truth. Since you cannot keep changing your brand story from time to time, it makes sense to elaborately go through all the steps that have been mentioned above. It will help tell your truth to the rest of the world which will positively affect the brand’s bottom line in the long run.

Be authentic

It’s tempting to want to sound important when scripting your story; resist this urge. Just write it out using casual language. It might even help to pretend you’re talking to a friend rather than addressing a huge crowd of customers. However, at the end of the day, remember your audience. Millennials may appreciate excessive casual language, but Baby Boomers? Not as much. As you edit it down and refine it, you’ll find the sweet spot.

You should also be transparent. This may require you to take off your marketing hat, which is a good thing. People can smell a lie or even a half-truth from a mile away. If you’re depicting the trajectory of your business, don’t gloss over the bumps in the road. Customers will appreciate honesty.

Let your customers do the talking

Again, when it comes to brand storytelling, soliciting customer feedback is important. But it can actually serve you in more ways than one. Don’t just weave their thoughts and feelings into the story that you shape; rather, let them share their positive experiences directly. Brands like Salesforce put their customers front and center by hosting video testimonials on their Pinterest page. This can be a really effective way to convince people of your unbiased value and convert leads into sales. Another thing that you can do is make it part of your main website page. All you need to do is introduce a carousel at the bottom of the page so that the reviews will be visible to visitors without being an obtrusive part of a website redesign.

Share your story online

Once you’ve crafted your story, it’s time to share it. As your website is the face of your brand online, you want to make sure users see the real you when they visit. As per the best website design company, Transforming your Home and About pages to reflect the story are good places to start. Blogs can also contribute, and they’re easily shareable.

Sharing the story online is key. Create a social media campaign around it. Craft first-person blog posts, meaningful status updates, and interesting visuals, and disseminate them through your social accounts. Make sure you track how the links are performing as well.

Do people watch your story video and then browse your products? Make a purchase? Another important thing to see is how many people are even reaching or staying on your site for a long time. For this, you need to deep dive into the world of SEO agencies. See what forms of your story are converting and bringing you SEO power. Then you can either emphasize those, or maybe tweak the underperforming content, and improve it. Once you have your story in place, you want to make sure that the people who are visiting your site are having an enjoyable experience. There are many ways for you to ensure this is happening. One way is to make sure that you have web design los angeles that is not only pleasing to the eyes but is also easy to use. In order to make sure this is happening, you need to use the most up-to-date web development languages. Another thing you need to do is keep a pulse on the changing trends in the industry and keep pivoting your site as per the changes you have noticed.
All of this helps you tell your story in an attractive manner to a viewer who is enjoying the interaction with your site due to a seamless UX. What more could you want?

For more on how to create an awesome brand story and incorporate it into a content marketing campaign, check out SPINX’s branding services.