How to write a brand story

Every entrepreneur or brand owner has a story to tell, from their founding story to their journey to becoming leaders of industry, there is a story in every brand. All of these narratives form what we call a brand story.

The best thing about a brand story is that no two are the same. Subtle differences matter and the reasons behind any decision can be used to differentiate your brand from the next. Because it is important to write a brand story that not only appeals to you but also to your employees and customers. These people and brands form your community of potential brand advocates who stand behind and support it.

READ MORE: How to craft your startup brand message

This builds as you continue to grow and it is essential to establish and grow your brand story in line with how your business scales. If you’re not sure how to build your brand story, we put together this useful guide to help you understand what it is and how you can create your own with some examples.

What is a brand story?

Everyone is different. Your brand story is an informative and unique telling of your brand’s creation and history. It isn’t a fact sheet that includes the basic facts and figures but is a real story that offers unique insights about you and the hurdles you overcame or the problem that you’re solving. This is the public facade that the world sees and the way the public perceives you.

Brand stories or narratives evolve over time, changing to suit your product, the evolving market, different cultures, and whatever we need to adapt to. Your brand’s story must be true and must be built with your customer in mind – always remember that the most important stakeholder in any brand story is your customer.

What do brand stories do?

If you can craft a unique and compelling brand story, your customers will remember who you are and in a way, actually come to appreciate and remember your brand. The brand loyalty a good story can bring is extremely valuable. The relationships your story forms are the difference between a lifelong customer and a one-time purchase.

They form the building blocks for your brand and how you communicate with everyone, including your employees.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind when building your brand story.

Understand your product or service

To write a brand story, you must really understand how and where your service or product fits into it. A brand story that doesn’t fit what you’re trying to sell might drive a lot of engagement but have little or no impact when it comes to sales.

The goal is to find balance, you’re not writing aggressive ad copy, but you’re also not writing the next great novel, so balance it well.

A great example of this would be gaming chair makers – SecretLab, which built a brand by focusing on speaking to gamers and knowing where their audience is and how their products fit there. This has helped them explode on a global stage and build a brand that looks like it is on track to become one of the largest gaming brands out there.

Create for your audience

Don’t get too caught up in telling a story about your brand and this isn’t just the history of the brand. You’re creating this to inspire and engage your customers into believing in you. Therefore, the story needs to be constructed with your target audience in mind.

Look at how F45 built content and their brand story during the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. Almost everyone I know did home workouts during the COVID 19 period and it was almost a masterclass into how to write a brand story that fit your audience. Their social media presence and empowerment of their trainers was critical in helping F45 bounce back well after the lockdowns finished.

Keep it short and sweet

I would rather not read a thesis on why a brand is amazing. Not sure anyone really enjoys something long-winded and lacking substance. It is really important that you structure your story to be fun, informative, inspiring and creative – not a long lecture on why you think your company is awesome.

The elements of storytelling still apply when you write a brand story, but the narrative needs to flow smoothly and not drag on forever. It is what we do at SYNC, those who know us (we should be known by everyone), we’re a company that focuses on outcomes – we are in the midst of fixing a problem in the PR industry, which is lack of accountability, overcharging and being afraid to be a revenue generation tool.

Tell people what the problem you’re solving

This might be the best transition ever, as we want to make sure you explain what problem you’re solving. At SYNC, we’re solving the problem with PR (see a few lines above the image). We explain the situation, the challenges within the industry and lead into the reason we exist.

Our brand story is pretty short and doesn’t dwell on issues pulling in extra context and examples that do not make any sense. Another example to consider is Konsyg’s brand story about the issue with sales. A strong narrative underpins their brand story and they make it very clear what problem they are fixing in sales.

Determine your why

If you are still stuck or have problem starting, we suggesting asking yourself some questions to start to write a brand story easily. Some of the questions to ask include:

• Why does the company exist?
• How do we contribute to the community or work?
• What is our mission?
• What do we value?
• What motivated us to start the business?

If you need help from us to write a brand story, let us know at hello(@)syncpr.co. Our consultants will get in touch and help you start to build your brand story.