5 Elements of a Memorable Brand Narrative

“Brand narrative” is marketing speak for the story that drives your company, and it includes everything from your mission statement to your history, the products you offer to your team profiles. A brand narrative contributes to your marketing strategy, sales strategy, and overall growth strategy, and it’s critically important.

Unfortunately, few leaders understand the importance of their brand narrative. Instead, they have inconsistent messaging across platforms, and the brand narrative is difficult to understand.

There are five key components to a memorable brand narrative: one that pulls people in, tells your company’s story, and converts prospects into customers.

1.You have an authentic voice.

Before you craft your brand narrative, you need to solidify your brand voice. The tone of your message should reflect your company’s values and resonate with your ideal customers.

If your target market is trend-conscious Gen Z-ers, your brand voice will be upbeat, trendy, and creative. If your target audience is a group of B2B business leaders, your voice should be formal, clear, and concise.

An effective brand voice is:

• Consistent. Think of Trader Joe’s products that are given clever, descriptive names. Each one follows a similar format, and you can easily recognize a product from TJ’s because of it.
• Surprising. Try to incorporate something surprising into your messaging, like humor. Wendy’s is a great example of this. Their brand voice on Twitter is sarcastic and funny, which works with their target audience.
• Personal. Put a little bit of heart and soul into your brand voice. Nike is a great example of this. They infuse their brand voice with inspiring language that’s direct and engages with readers.

A consistent, surprising, and personal brand voice is critical to your brand narrative.

2.You communicate your values from the start.

When drafting your brand narrative, start with your values. Don’t know them? It’s time to sit down and determine which three to five values you’d like your brand to be known for. Assess your company as it is and how you’d like it to be.

Your values should be evident on every platform where you share your brand to craft a compelling brand narrative. Communicate them in the strategy, design, copy, and even how you interact with your audience.

Here are some examples:

• Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign shows that the company values authenticity and challenges beauty standards.
• Spotify’s “Wrapped” campaign at the end of each year shows that they value their user experience by giving them a fun, free, interactive product.

Your values should drive your brand narrative.

3.You answer the most important questions customers ask before they ask.

Anticipate your customers’ questions. Your larger brand narrative should make it easy for prospects to understand your brand. Think through customers’ questions about your brand and include them in your brand narrative. Make it easy for your customers to understand the products you have to offer, the price point you’re selling, and your services’ scope.

That may seem like a lot of information, but it’s essential.

Think about it this way: Answer the who, what, when, where, and why about your company on every channel. This provides consistency across platforms and makes it easy for your customers to understand what you’re offering.

For example, my company WebEnertia incorporates all of that information on every one of our channels. We talk about how we’re located in Silicon Valley, we frequently mention that we’re a digital agency, and we make it clear how our products and services work.

4.You showcase your team.

Your brand narrative should include details about your team and your company’s culture. Whether you’re trying to attract prospective customers or employees, you should show people what it’s like to work with you. You can highlight your team and company culture by sharing individual employee profiles, but you can also do this by showing behind-the-scenes moments, incorporating staff quotes into your website copy or social media posts, and including their input in your brand narrative.

During the pandemic, UPS showcased their team in a campaign that thanks essential workers for the delivery work that they do.

Include your team in your brand narrative by:

• Showing employee profiles on the company website
• Talking about your company culture on social media
• Sharing quotes from your employees in your ad campaign
• Highlighting your team members’ projects in your newsletters, posts, or on the website

5.Your differentiator is clear.

The last part of a memorable brand narrative is a clear differentiator. What makes your company unique? Consider this the bow that ties everything together. Your brand narrative should end with a statement about something that sets you apart from the competition. Your differentiator could be that you were the first in your field to do something or have the best customer retention rate in your industry.

Apple is an excellent example of a brand narrative with a clear differentiator. They’ve figured out how to convey the message that they are the leader in their industry in every instance of their brand narrative. Their commercials are dramatic, they reveal new products in an elaborate way, and their design and copy are innovative, sleek, and concise. They’re no-nonsense and direct.

Look at Apple’s homepage design. Their newest product is showcased, the brand narrative of innovation is clear, and the message is consistent across other web pages.

Take a similar approach when crafting your brand narrative. Make sure to tie all of your messaging together with this key differentiator and keep it consistent across platforms.

Your brand narrative is critical to the success of your marketing efforts. When you invest time in developing an authentic, value-driven narrative, you’ll be able to engage with your audience and convert customers. A memorable brand narrative comes down to a question of clarity and authenticity. How can you communicate your entire brand story with your copy, design, and overall strategy?