Brand storytelling is about narrating ways to create an emotional, value-driven connection between customers and brands.
In effective brand stories, storytellers connect the audience to the values that the brand represents when describing people, events, places, and scenes. If you sell sports equipment to professional sports teams, you can tell passionate stories about goal wins or the huge disappointment of losing in overtime. The storyteller’s task is to consistently make the brand and product a meaningful part of the customer by describing the story, not just talking about the product or brand repeatedly.
Website and social media promotions add vitality to brand stories.
When telling brand stories, brand logos, design, and content can create consistent and positive brand associations. While it is the job of the marketing team to develop strategies, people who select products also need to communicate well with the marketing team. The job of marketers is to understand the audience users of the product and tell brand stories that resonate with users, not just try to make sales. Marketing strategies based on compelling stories are more likely to form stronger brand loyalty over time. This is why some Amazon sellers have been investing in off-site marketing efforts for a long time and their sales are getting better and better.
Many brands embed a meaningful story in their companies and products from the beginning, such as TOMS shoes, which pioneered the One for One model at the beginning of its establishment, while other brands must come up with a creative story that makes their products meaningful. For example, WarbyParker, an American online eyewear retailer, has revolutionized the eyewear industry by providing glasses that are more affordable, more environmentally friendly and easy to try on at home. There is a story behind the brand. One of the founders of the brand did not wear glasses in his first semester of graduate school because he lost his glasses during a backpacking trip and the glasses were too expensive to replace. He and his team decided to solve this problem and use a more environmentally friendly plant frame structure.
When a consumer buys a pair of WarbyParker sunglasses, another person in need will also get a pair of glasses. This means that the consumer’s purchase behavior will facilitate others and change others’ lives. The company uses channels such as Instagram and YouTube to promote the brand through experts and tell interesting stories about people who wear glasses.
Take Burt’s Bees as an example, it is a well-known natural skin care brand in the world. This company was founded on a chance hitchhiking experience. The first wildly successful product was a lip balm made with beeswax. The Burt’s Bees website does a great job with its brand story. The brand shares its history in an engaging way that any brand can learn from. The company’s core values are presented in the form of media, and everything from imagery to taglines matches the brand story.
Burt’s Bees YouTube videos are high quality, with educational and entertaining content. They also include beauty tips and short instructional product videos. Over the years, Burt’s Bees has donated over $2.4 million through its foundation and has used social media campaigns to plant over 10,000 acres of plants as a source of honey for its bees. Burt’s Bees is a great example of a company that takes its brand story into account in everything it does.