How to Create Brand Storytelling in 2024 with Examples

Intro

All successful companies do one thing right: tell powerful, compelling brand stories. Why?

“Facts tell, stories sell.” Stories are engaging and help us form connections between ourselves and the storytellers, making brand storytelling an essential tool in marketing.

Businesses that create brand storytelling effectively communicate their brand story in an engaging and captivating way that audiences relate to. This helps them build strong relationships with their audience, which is the heart of brand storytelling.

This article will outline how to create brand storytelling in three steps with examples.

What is brand storytelling?

Brand storytelling is the art of using narratives to create an emotional, value-driven connection between your brand and your audience or customers. It should be a core tactic in your overall marketing strategy.

A strong brand story is one that feels real and relatable to your audience. It should reflect the values that your brand and audience share and speak to their needs, desires, and aspirations. To make your brand story more captivating, incorporate empathy, create experiences, and convey a sense of urgency.

A brand story is important because it helps your audience and customers understand who you are, what your business is, and why it exists. It explains your mission, vision, purpose, and values and engages your potential customers who relate to you.

When the audience relates to your why, they develop an emotional connection with your brand and are more likely to buy from your business. This emotional connection is a key factor in creating branded content, as it encourages brand engagement and customer loyalty.

What should a brand story include?

A brand story communicates your brand identity and design to your customers and general audience through a narrative structure.

Your brand story should include the following:

• History
• Purpose
• Mission and vision
• Core Values
• Target audience

The brand story communicates these elements through a narrative structure that brings your brand story to life and engages the audience.

In addition to these, the brand story should also have the following features to be effective:

• Empathy: Structuring the narrative to make your audience see themselves in your brand story.
• Engaging and attention-grabbing: Establishing a distinct voice or persona to make your brand recognizable.
• Authentic: Being honest about your values, unique features, and challenges.
• Relatable: Using a narrative your audience can relate to, i.e., without industry or technical jargon.
• Consistent. Keeping your brand story in line with the rest of your offerings to make it stick with audiences.
• Provoke action: Adding a call to action to push the audience into becoming customers.

How to write your brand story

Brand storytelling is an art form, and the way you deliver your brand story can make or break its impact on your audience. To effectively engage your audience and foster a connection with your brand, you must be strategic and deliberate in shaping your brand narrative.

Here are the three steps to write your brand story together with brand story examples:

Step 1: Define and understand your audience

To tell a compelling business brand story, you must first define and understand your audience.

One way to do this is by creating an archetype or persona that embodies the traits of your target audience. Find out their age, name, profession, interests, and other relevant information that defines their persona. You can get this data through market research, customer listening, or statistical analysis.

Think of your audience as the protagonist of your brand story. What are their behaviors and interests? What are their needs? What challenges or problems do they face?

Brand storytelling example: Google

Let’s look at a brand story example from Google – a company that knows the importance and benefits of storytelling for a targeted audience.

In 2003, Google published a case study discussing how it developed its “Telling Our Story” initiative. This initiative responded to people’s current view of products and services based on their potential to solve a problem, not the name or features of the product.

But that’s not all Google has done. Everybody now says “Google it” when they are searching for something on the internet. Google used both conversion and emotions to target their audience: the digital people, anyone who wants to search for something on the internet.

The company’s brand is known to anyone who wants to search anything on the internet because they know if they Google it they’ll find it.

Step 2: Tell a brand story that supports your brand values

Modern customers are more informed and connected than ever before, and they care deeply about the values and identity of the brands they choose to support.

Examples of company values that a brand story can tell include:

• Dedication to customer experience
• Commitment to Diversity
• Respect for the environment
• Kindness to humanity
• Focus on employee well-being
• Sense of community

Brand narratives help companies clarify these core values for audiences and customers, using a messaging framework that ensures a consistent voice across storytelling marketing.

To write an appealing brand story, understand and outline your brand’s foundational beliefs. If your brand has multiple core values, your brand narrative can contain different stories, each focusing on a specific brand conviction.

Brand storytelling example: Airbnb

Airbnb is an example of a company that tells its brand story with a focus on its values.

It does this by incorporating user-generated content (UGC) – real stories and tips from Airbnb hosts. They share their first-hand experience on topics such as:

• Why did they start hosting
• How to decorate your place for short-term rentals
• How to get more 5-star reviews
• How to prevent challenges as a host

Source

These stories are making Airbnb appear authentic and trustworthy. They align with the brand's reputation as a service and a customer-centric business, telling their audience that they “can belong anywhere” as long as they find a host.

Step 3: Be consistent with your brand narrative

The secret to a successful brand story is to stay consistent with the story.

First, brand storytelling requires you to be authentic with the story to stay true to your brand’s identity. Whether in email campaigns, social media posts, website content, marketing videos, or a review site, you need to be consistent in your brand story. Second, the brand narrative must also be consistent. You must highlight your brand's purpose, uniqueness, and what you want the audience to remember.

Your audience should feel a sense of familiarity with your brand, knowing exactly what to expect from your communication each time they encounter it.

Your brand story will be strong when your brand narrative and voice are cohesive and consistent.

Stay away from trends, colloquial language, or internet slang unless it aligns with your brand.

To truly gauge the impact of your brand story and make informed improvements, it’s important to track your brand. Understanding how your brand is perceived over time allows you to refine your strategies and enhance its impact on your target audience.

Brand storytelling example: Apple

Apple is almost unmatched when it comes to brand consistency. First, Apple's name alone carries a world of meaning in technology and innovation.

All of this stemmed from Apple’s brand promise, ‘Think Different,' which promises creative thinking and a difference in what Apple offers its customers. Apple’s branding story focuses on emotions about class, lifestyle, imagination, innovation, quality, passion, and empowering people through technology.

All aspects of Apple's communication revolve around creating a singular perception of its brand in consumers' minds— think different. Everything from its marketing communication to the company’s product packaging delivers the same message of “think different” to its customers, ensuring fluent engagement with the brand and minimizing potential confusion.

Source

This strategy has paid off. Apple has ranked among the most valuable brands globally for years.

What's the importance of having a brand story?

An effective brand story will connect you to your target audience, support your marketing efforts, and inspire your customers to take action. Here are the benefits of having a brand story:

Makes your brand memorable

In a sea of sameness, you need to be unforgettable.

Having quality products or services is no longer enough. You also need to talk about them in a way that differentiates you from the crowd. That’s where brand storytelling comes in.

Instead of throwing reviews/testimonials, facts, or statistics at your audience, tell them why you’re unique. Focus on making your brand real, thoughtful, and memorable through a brand narrative.

The brand story simplifies information and sparks emotion in your audience. This connection ensures they think about you every time they want a product or service from you.

Builds customer loyalty

You don’t just need customers; you need a tribe. Your tribe is a group of loyal customers who resonate with your brand through your story.

When customers connect emotionally with your brand, they become loyal.

Take Apple, for example. While they sell technology, they’ve made their customers feel that owning their product shows the boldness and bravery to think differently from the crowd. Equally, Tesla’s customers also feel the need to support the environment and use sustainable energy.

The two companies’ brand loyalty came from their brand stories through a deep emotional connection in conversations, media posts, marketing, and other channels.

Improves sales

The simple hack is this: Once your audience knows, trusts, and likes you, they are more likely to buy from you.

The key to building strong audience relationships and converting them into loyal customers starts with creating cohesive sales and marketing collateral. For example, you can use AI tools like an AI pitch deck creator to make interactive and engaging presentations that tell your brand’s story and its unique value proposition.

Fits well on social media

Brand storytelling is a cornerstone of any social media marketing strategy. Every post on any social media platform—Instagram, TikTok video, or YouTube Shorts—builds on your brand narrative. When your audience resonates with the brand narrative, they identify with your brand. Isn’t that the essence of social media?

It’s time to tell your brand story

Brand storytelling is about using narrative to create emotional connections with your audiences. A strong brand story should be distinct, relevant to your audience and brand values, memorable, and consistent. Using storytelling allows you to build trust with a buyer, which creates brand loyalty and more sales.