What Is Brand Storytelling and Why It’s Key to Successful Business Marketing

Brand storytelling, which refers to how you tell the story of your brand, is an important part of your business’s marketing success. Audiences want to know who you are, where you’ve come from, and what your intentions are with your business. Good storytelling can build a brand that has an emotional connection with its audience, which in turn helps you improve the quality of leads and get more sales.

As you start building your business, think carefully about how you want to represent your brand. Your brand’s story needs to connect emotionally while also communicating your identity. It should be engaging, including all the elements you’d normally find on your “about us” page, but going deeper into the narrative to talk about your values, origins, and more.

Here’s more information on why brand storytelling is so important and how you can ensure your business stands out with a strong narrative that resonates with your target audience.

Why is brand storytelling important for businesses?

Brand storytelling is important for your business for many different reasons, but one of the primary purposes is to build a connection with your customers. Your brand story helps you stand apart, and it can be an excellent way to teach others about your brand, what it values, and its goals. Through brand storytelling, you can show your brand in a different light, making it more attractive and memorable to those who interact with it. And, with the right story, customers will go on to share that information with others because it’s interesting to interact with a brand that has a backstory that connects.

Brand storytelling builds trust, empathy, and loyalty. In fact, 63% of customers admit they’d buy from a company if they perceived it as authentic. And story-based brand content is 22 times more engaging than your typical ad; if you want leads, that is a strong case for writing the right story.

Here are several additional benefits of brand storytelling and why they’re vital for your business:

Increased Emotional Connection

The first reason to have a strong narrative about your brand is because of the emotional connection it builds with your audience. Eighty-four percent of customers say they buy from brands they have an emotional connection to, showing you why building that relationship is the key to a brand’s success.

Increased Brand Awareness

Humans love storytelling, and something they will always do is share a good one. When your brand has an excellent story to share with your audience, you can trust that they will go on to share your story with others.

Customer Retention

When customers share a passion or connection with a brand, they are more likely to stick with it and stay loyal. For example, if the customer supports animal rescue and the brand they buy from doesn’t test on animals and donates to animal-protection programs, they’re more likely to continue to engage with them.

Enhanced Value Perception

Customers who feel good about the brands they buy from also tend to spend more with those brands. Your business can improve the perceived value of your products and services by building a connection with your audience through a strong brand story that resonates with it.

Greater Internal Alignment

With a brand story, it’s simpler to keep your internal crew aligned on what it means to work within the company. You can get your employees on board with your vision for the company, your mission statement, and your values. When everyone is aligned with the goals the company sets, you’ll be in a better position to work toward them together and thrive.

Increased Longevity

With a good brand story, you can become more memorable to your audience and stay that way over time. A well-crafted brand story can last for many years or decades, helping you continue to build on your original founding ideas and grow your business with a supportive group of loyal customers.

Improved Communication

Finally, keep in mind that good brand storytelling improves communication internally and externally. Internally, it streamlines your internal messaging and communication with your employees to help you work towards the same goals. Externally, your brand’s identity stays focused, which is ideal for maintaining your audience’s loyalty and interest.

How To Create a Brand Story: 3 Methods

Every brand has a history. Whether you started your company in your basement with the last few dollars to your name or you joined a business, worked your way up, and are now taking it in a new direction with new products and solutions, you have a story to tell. That story should be a part of your brand strategy on social media platforms, on your website, and throughout your marketing content.

A compelling brand storytelling strategy starts with defining the brand’s core values and developing a consistent narrative across all marketing channels. To create the ideal brand story, you’ll want to develop the right kind of narrative to really sell your business to your target audience.

Try these three steps to get started:

Highlight your story’s conflict.

Conflict is a part of human nature, and people love to read about how you’re tackling it. Whether you’re solving a major problem for customers or you’ve overcome challenges and decided to open your business to help your customers do the same, it’s time to bring that conflict to the forefront.

Along with the story’s conflict, remember that you will need a creative arc. You don’t want to start out too strong, and you don’t want to leave your story open-ended. Good storytelling starts with the basics, such as establishing who you are, introducing a conflict, and reaching a climax before concluding.

Create a compelling climax.

After your story’s conflict, you need to spend time talking about how you’ve resolved it. Take your audience on a journey, and don’t cut the story too short. Explain how your brand is different, how you rise to challenges, and what your audience needs to know about your persistence, ingenuity, and intentions.

With the climax in your story, you’ll want to keep your customers guessing. Let them see the peak of the conflict and wonder how you could have overcome it; they’ll keep coming back for more and enjoy the narrative more than if you give them a simple solution in 100 words or less.

Make a satisfying payoff.

Finally, give the story a satisfying ending. While some brands might think an open-ended story is best (after all, they are still offering their services and solutions to those who need them), most people like to know the ending of a story. So, bring your journey to a happy, satisfying end. Talk about how your brand solved its first conflict, overcame a massive challenge, or has otherwise gotten to where it is now.

Then, take the story home. Connect the conclusion with the audience in some way, such as by showing how you can be there to help them, too. An emotional ending is a good one.

4 Successful Brand Storytelling Examples

Brand storytelling examples can help you understand a little more about what makes a good story and what kind of storytelling skills you should focus on as you create your brand story. From Nike to Skullcandy, these major companies have stories that resonate and keep consumers coming back for more:

Nike – Empowering athletes of all levels.

Nike took an empowering stance with its brand story. Originally founded as “Blue Ribbon Sports,” the company focuses on stories that “level the playing field” and give better access to sports to all people. And, it does all this with its well-known motto, “Just Do It.”

Harley-Davidson – Fostering a sense of freedom and rebellion.

There’s nothing quite like hitting the open road with the wind in your hair and the past to your back. Harley-Davidson took the thrill and spirit of being a rebel and converted it into a brand story that sells…a lot.

As an Outlaw brand archetype, Harley-Davidson hopes to appeal to anyone who feels a bit of rebel energy in their lives. Additionally, it pushes the idea that riding a Harley-Davidson isn’t just a way of getting from one place to another; it’s a way of life.

Salomon – Building a community of adventure enthusiasts.

Salomon tells its brand story of being a small workshop based in the French Alps and growing to become a global outdoor sports brand to connect with audiences all around the world. The brand story talks about how the company opened in the late 1940s and became an innovative name in the skiing industry. Then, it goes on to discuss the first time the company produced its own boots and when they debuted at the Olympics.

It also connects to new audiences by identifying other brands it works with or has been purchased by, such as Adidas, Amer Sports, and ANTA Sports. For those who love adventure (and especially skiing), this company’s journey to international retail marketplaces hits home.

Skullcandy – Connecting with music and extreme sports fans.

Skullcandy connects to its audience by standing apart as a nonconformist. It’s edgy, and its marketing pushes that difference with its narrative. Skullcandy says, “We were born on a chairlift,” and goes on to explain how the founder, Rick Alden, realized he could create headphones that could switch from music to calls and stop needing to remove his earbuds (which were connected to a music player) to answer his phone. Skullcandy plays up its founder’s “get-it-done-at-all-costs” mentality and “don’t give a damn” attitude, showing how his hard work “shook sense into a tired industry” to come out on top. You can read the full Skullcandy brand story here to get an idea of how its story has affected its marketing and branding (including the famous skull-shaped logo).

Build Your Brand and an Authentic Customer Experience With Podium

Connecting with your audience is the key to building a brand with longevity; your brand story is the first step to making those connections a reality. When you build your story, think about the conflict you want to expose to your audience and be prepared to take them on an emotional journey through your brand’s narrative. Stay authentic, and you’ll see that your brand can resonate and make an impression that lasts.

And, once you connect with those audience members, it’s time to take the relationship a step further and focus on customer communication management. Inbound messages and leads are easily consolidated with Podium Inbox, an omnichannel solution with AI-powered support. With Podium’s AI Employee on board, customer inquiries, comments, and other communications are consolidated and responded to at lightning speed, helping you capture more leads and make the most of your platform. Ready to see how Podium can help your brand connect with your audience as a part of a well-rounded brand strategy? Watch a demo now.