The Importance of a Brand Story
People love background story more than quasi-theory.
As people becoming more ad-resistant than ever, it becomes even more evident that irrelevant content is more likely skipped. Among all content types, from images, audios, videos, passive articles to interactive virtual experience, there are plenty of tools brands can leverage to deliver their brand messages to their audience.
Nevertheless, you can craft the most brilliant and informative content ever, but it will be useless if your audience cannot relate to it. So what should brands do to make them understand?
Over the years of marketing evolution, we’ve seen various innovative methods and strategies that brands implement to convey their values, but I have to say, nothing comes close to the power of brand story.
What’s Brand Story?
The idea of a brand story is quite different from making up a random story or telling people about your past. Instead, brand story serves as the core value of your brand in many ways. That is to say, having a great-sounding brand story could instantly improve the image and prestige of your products/services and your brand overall.
CocaCola, for example, has one of the long-standing brand stories that people could easily relate to. True, while the modern civilization often linked the said-brand with obesity, diabetes, high-blood pressure, basically any types of medical problems, however, still, years of brand story cultivation successfully place the brand on the top of their customers’ minds when it comes to carbonated drinks.
On top of that, they manage to share the idea of happiness, friendship, and fun throughout their marketing campaigns to the point that people still buy them regardless of the numerous health concerns associated with them.
Keep the brand story relatable is the key behind CocaCola’s success.
So, coming to this digital age, what can brands do to cut through the noise and make their brand story shines?
1. Stay simple
No story is epic without a clear structure. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to finish your story within certain slogans, but try to keep the plot straightforward. As most stories do, the three main aspects you have to address are the problems, the solutions to the problem, and how you feel about it.
Here’s a simple example. Say that you own a pastry shop and you want to come up with a relatable brand story. So you start your story with the idea that your dream as a humble pastry shop owner is to have everyone enjoy your delicious homemade pastries. However, then you realize there are problems with the dream: not all pastries out there are homemade. So this is what inspired you. You decide to create your own custom-made pastries that are not only homemade but can also cater to everyone, including those with allergies. You market your pastries under the tag homemade, organic, gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, etc. Now, this is quite a story behind your brand already, however, you can enhance it even further.
Say that with the right strategy and team, you managed to get your brand successfully marketed. You can improve your brand story by sharing the idea of donating 20% of your profit to charity so the poor ones can have the same chance to enjoy pastries.
As you can see, the concept of the story is fairly simple but quite convincing. This way, when people buy your products, it would be more than just to satiate their hunger, they will think that they’ve helped you in making the world a better place.
2. Connection is a MUST
Never let your audience to feel excluded. You aren’t the only character in your brand story; make your audience be part of it. In other words, you shouldn’t just tell the origin of your brand, but also the values you want to share.
New Balance China, for instance, nailed it on its 110th-anniversary campaign in 2016. The brand invited Johnathan Lee, a famous folk music artist and prominent figure in China’s music industry, to shoot a clip and be the narrator of his own life story. They even come up with a catchy catchphrase: “Every step counts” at the end of the clip. The campaign applies a classic Chinese storytelling structure that could be described as a looped story chain. It starts from the present with a question, goes back in time to find the answer in the development of the story then returns to present at the end of the piece.
Naturally, you wouldn’t immediately associate folk music artist with modern, youthful brand like New Balance, but the brand story looks beyond age or demographics.
Through its story, New Balance successfully ties the cultural aspect of Chinese society with its brand, telling a totally new tale that encompassed different generations and custom. Chinese custom is deeply rooted in every Chinese citizens and New Balance taps that exact element to localize their content so their audience can project their personal feelings into the story, making it a more powerful and relevant marketing strategy.
3. Make your story valuable
Here’s the thing. People are not just buying products nowadays; they buy the story behind it.
It’s a fact that today’s economy is more driven by emotion. People looked beyond benefits and features to measure the value of a product they are about to purchase. That’s why, having a ‘marketable’ brand story is an extremely effective strategy.
SunnyHills, a famous pineapple cake brand in Taiwan, comes up with a simple yet brilliant idea to share their story with their customers and turn it into a valuable property. They wrap each and every one of their products with a package that depicts their story. The idea is for customers to feel like they are not simply buying delicious snacks for their tea time but rather having the opportunity to experience the fruit of joy brought by Mother Nature and the people behind the brand.
The company is hugely successful and popular across Taiwan and China, having several branches in major cities such as Hong Kong and ShangHai.
What Comes after the Story?
A brand story is the cornerstone of your brand’s core values. Therefore, it not only has to be convincing but also succinct. Ultimately though, having brand story alone is not enough.
One of the most basic marketing principles that I hold dear until now is regardless how awesome your stories are, they are useless unless people heard of them and retold your stories to others.
— Folke Engholm, Founder and CEO of Viral Access
That’s why, aside from having a meaningful brand story, you still have to complement it with appropriate marketing strategies. From social media, UGC, CTA, to influencer marketing, there are a lot of factors and variables worth considering to improve your marketing efforts. The integration of a compelling brand story and strategic marketing approaches will expand your brand’s popularity over time.
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Viral Access is an AI and data-driven social communication company — we help you tell your story through social media. We pair your brand with relevant micro and nano influencers that help you increase awareness, engagement and conversion. We have the systems and team in place to support large scale communications throughout Asia.
For business inquiries, contact us at: info@viralaccess.asia
