GETTING THE STORY OF YOUR BRAND IN 9 STEPS
To be successful today, you need to stand out. One of the most effective and simple ways of storytelling is to put your own business story at the center.
No matter what you do, there is always someone that is doing the same thing. And no matter what price you set for your service or product, there is always someone that will set it lower. The lesson to be learned from this is that you have practically lost if you have to compete in the field of price. To avoid this, you need something that will help you rise above the competition and above being compared in terms of price alone.
DIFFERENT AT ANY COST
To be successful in business, you have to do something special and unique. Something that sets you apart from the competition, something different; you have to offer something to your customers that the competition doesn’t have. So the first thing you need to do is draw deep from your knowledge and experience, as both are unique to create your unique business model. But there is still something missing; a story about your brand.
And why?
Because your story is one of a kind and it gives you the easiest way to present your business or brand as something extraordinary. It also introduces you to others as someone they know and trust.
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE STORY ABOUT?
The story is primarily about how your company was born, what kept it afloat, how it survived during the times of crisis and what values led the founder to write a successful history. Your story should show business partners that you understand because you had gone through exactly the same challenges in your development and history. It should show that you are aware of their problems and that you know exactly what they need. Once they see the connection, because you may have already gone through a similar business agony like they did, they are more likely to trust you.
Creating and sharing a brand story is one of the most powerful tools for creating trust and mutual attraction.
FIVE REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO HAVE IT
There are several reasons why you should write down your story, tell your story and use it in business storytelling. I will give you the five most important ones:
1. You will use your business story to build trust with your customers, suppliers, and your employees.
2. Your business story, will give your partners excellent reasons to do business with you or buy from you.
3. The story behind your brand has a clear marketing purpose – to attract people. Story gives you a chance to do it in the most human, honest, and frank way that has worked since the beginning of time
4. knowing your own story, using it and sharing it through any communication tool is essential for a good dialogue with your business partners.
5. With a good story you will no longer compete in terms of price – a good story raises the value of your brand, and if its value grows, your service or product no longer has to beat the competition with the lowest price.
WHAT DOES BRAND STORY REPRESENT?
It represents your values and everything your organization and employees have fought and stood for to this day. It represents an ever-present basis for daily decision-making and team motivation for all employees. It embodies the belief that the work of your company has to carry on like this also in the years to come and that to achieve success, which is reflected in satisfaction and progress of you and your business partners. It requires full involvement of all employees. In fact, it is the foundation of your business storytelling for both internal communication and communication with your business partners.
GETTING THE STORY OF YOUR BRAND IN 9 STEPS
If you do not have any writing experience, then create a structure according to specific instructions. To help build your story answer the following questions:
1. Who are you? What do you do? Do not generalize, introduce yourself as a master of your niche. Don’t use jargon or technical language. Write clearly and concisely.
2. What makes you special? What is it that only you can offer? What is your field of expertise? Describe your field of expertise using vivid words, include feelings or emotions so that readers can relate to them. Although it is a business, it is still YOUR business that makes it personal.
3. How did you start? What problems did you encounter? What did you invest in your business to get to the point where you are today? What price did you pay?
4. Which market are you addressing? Who are your customers? When creating this description, keep the ideal customers in your mind and describe their problems. These are the reasons why customers will go out and find you.
5. What benefits do you bring to your customers? What problems can you solve for them?
6. What are your long term business goals? What would you like to achieve? (Set realistic goals for one to a maximum of five years.) Write down what you need to achieve these goals and how you plan on achieving them.
7. Capture the essence of your story in a single paragraph so that the reader gets the most important message.
8. Next, connect the individual answers, combine them into a maximum of five to seven paragraphs. Pay attention to grammar and choice of words so that the paragraphs will flow easily.
9. Read your story aloud slowly, then give it to someone else to read. Wait for a few days or two weeks before posting. After you have slept it off, read it over, make necessary adjustments, keep it in front of you and make sure you know it well. Finally, publish your story wherever you can.
Business storytelling is the very essence of today’s marketing. It is about connecting your story with that of a client into a single and enjoyable experience.
BE UNIQUE
To be successful today, you simply need to stand out. When designing your unique business model you need to give priority to your own business story. Your business story guarantees uniqueness at any time and in any market. Although you may not have thought about it, you may use the story of your brand or the origin of your company, the people behind your brand or company in a systematic approach to show your exceptionalism, use it to overcome the competition. You can find more about the tools that make this possible in the book entitled “The Business of Storytelling – Finding your Story to open Hearts and Wallets.”
FIND OUT MORE
The story of your brand is just one piece of amazing soft skill called Profitable Storytelling. It can help you achieve all your business goals faster with less effort. In general, the proper construction of a story is important for the use of business purposes. It is important to find the right starting points for business storytelling. If you think that you do not have enough of your stories or that you cannot use them for your business and profitable storytelling, then you couldn’t be much farther from the truth. We all have them more than enough.
Now that you know how to get to your brand story in nine steps, you can exploit your specific knowledge, specialty, and diversity successfully. I wish you profitable storytelling!
Dušan Waldhütter, storytelling expert, WOW Stories.