How People Can Relate to Your Brand Through Storytelling
By Lily GolightlyIf you read my past post on “Why we remember stories,” you may recall that being relatable and eliciting an empathetic response are some of the distinguishing factors in creating a memorable narrative. This post will explore the application of those tactics in simple steps, and storytelling in general, in the creation and communication of a brand identity.
The public responds most to a brand when they are able to connect to a plot that surrounds it. We constantly seek understanding through compelling stories and narratives about the world around us. We can apply this in our businesses to make compelling brand stories. As George Saunders said:
"...the part of the mind that reads a story is also the part that reads the world."
- (A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, Saunders)
Knowing your audience
The groundwork for creating an engaging identity begins with an understanding of who you are speaking to with your product or service. When people speak before they think, they often find themselves stumbling over words or saying something they don't actually mean. As a brand, knowing your audience or potential customers enables you to communicate relevant and enticing information to potential patrons. This requires careful thought behind the scenes about your image and how it will be perceived - essentially the branding embodiment of thinking before you speak.
Knowing your audience is also about finding it, which having a distinct narrative will help you with. Finding the audience for your brand is not only about who you could market yourself to but who you intend to engage through your narrative. In other words, once you hone in on a captivating story as a brand, you don’t just have to know your audience - you can create it yourself. The following sections will provide concrete strategies for creating powerful stories and a strong brand identity!
Humanizing your brand
Sujan Patel’s article in Inc magazine captures what many brands sacrifice in the scramble to cast the widest possible net when marketing - the importance of being human. You can curate a good facade and get initial attention with a broad mission statement, but authenticity is what will keep people coming back. Being human is about nuance and individuality and not always telling people what they want to hear. Perceived as machinery divorced from the human stories behind them, brands and businesses in a saturated area can be easy to overlook if they don’t come across as genuine and accessible with a real story.
You can humanize a brand or a story by introducing your audience to the people behind the scenes. The crucial role of character building extends beyond good storytelling and is central to curating an authentic brand story and identity. For example, even a consumer who does not necessarily identify with the content of a brand itself may be enticed by the life story of its creator. A genuine business should center the creation of community alongside their monetary goals.
This brings us to the flip side of this concept - humanizing your audience. No one responds enthusiastically to being approached like a profit opportunity or just one in a sea of potential consumers - of which a brand would gladly take any. In his Ted Talk on the “brand story,” Jeff Freedman prioritizes the creation of a relationship between brands and those engaged with them. When people invest their financial trust into something (no matter how small), the experience is always more positive when they feel cared for. An interpersonal relationship assures you that there will be accountability if something goes wrong. This explains why small or local businesses typically have a more loyal following or sense of camaraderie than corporations, despite their strong business models.
This is all to say that having people relate to your brand identity is secondary to it being trustworthy in the first place. Capitalism has done an excellent job of creating a barrier between consumer and product - usually in an effort to conceal the less-than-ethical origins of many of the products we encounter. As ethical consumption becomes more of a concern, people search for a brand narrative and a vision statement that is transparent and appeals to their values and interests at a deeper level than in the past… it’s 2021, and honesty is rapidly becoming the status quo. In your marketing campaign, strive to be honest about your goals and have tangible elements in your campaign rather than being vague. For example, instead of saying that you're environmentally conscious, detail how your business embodies sustainable action (our clothing is made with organic cotton, etc.).
Communicating your values
As with creating a humanized identity, the clear delineation of your core values in your marketing strategy will draw in anyone who aligns with them. For example, as the pressure to rectify climate change is deflected increasingly onto individuals, consumers feel an increased sense of responsibility to spend consciously. The choice of brands like Patagonia to have a specific section on their website dedicated to addressing their environmental impact signals to a consumer that they can feel good about their choice to spend money there. Their involvement in extracurricular projects (like this climbing documentary) proves to consumers that their passion for what their customers care about extends beyond pure profit-building. These powerful brand stories create an emotional response, which contributes to customer loyalty.
The best way to convey what you care about to your audience is to tell them through careful content strategy and identity design. By actually explaining what they are doing to work against the detrimental effects of retail on issues like climate change - like Patagonia with their proud use of Bullfrog Power - brands can help people make choices that feel ethically sound and meaningful. In an age where people are increasingly aware that your dollar is your vote, this is the transparency that conscious consumers will gravitate toward when choosing how to spend their money - as they go on to build stories of their own.
If your interest in narrative-forming extends beyond a branding or business context, have a look at my piece on how storytelling can make you a better communicator in your personal and professional life.
