As a business, it is important that you communicate with your audience in a meaningful way. You want to build a connection, and foster a sense of relatability and a simple way to do this is by letting them get to know you by sharing your story.
Brand or corporate storytelling is the way you can share facts about who your brand is while including an emotional appeal to give your company a more human feel, making it easier to reach your audiences.
Getting YOUR Message Out There
If someone clicks on your site, enters your store, or searches for you online – they’re already interested. If this is only a passing interest, you’ll want to make the extra effort to keep them in. With so many brands flooding the market with products and messages, you are competing with thousands of others for the attention of your customers. You need a way to stand out – a way to show what makes you different. In the same way you would highlight your unique selling position, you need to highlight your unique story. No other brand can claim to have the same story as you do.
By sharing your story – your history, your plans, your thoughts, you are enabling your brand to connect with readers in a deeper way. You are allowing yourself to go beyond just being a purchase to being their preferred choice. You want to remain top of mind and develop brand loyalty by letting them know that you are more than just an automated, digitised voice.
Speaking Directly To Your Audience
A generic message will not allow you to properly communicate with your audience. This is why many brands invest in newsletters or blogs. These media are used to speak to a specific section of their market. These audiences are segmented based on likes, spending habits, interests, gender or even income. You want to ensure that you are reaching the right people so you don’t run the risk of losing their interest.
You can use surveys or simple questions during a signup process to filter the audiences and maximise the impact of your messages.
Telling Your Story, Your Way
By telling your story yourself – or having these stories placed on your own site, you are able to control the narrative. Unlike making a press placement, you don’t have to wonder if the headline is ‘clickbait’ enough to grab a reader’s attention or tailor your story in a way that will make it easier to make it to print. You can lay bare exactly what you want to say.
You are also able to gather insight that can further direct the content you share. Perhaps the behind-the-scenes write-up of your canning process was a hit but there was not a significant interest in your labelling piece – this will show you exactly what you need to highlight going forward.
By telling your story your way, you’re also better able to add the voice of your team, a move that will also deepen their connection to the company. It’s a simple fact that your team wants to feel valued and heard and what better way to do this than to have them add to the company’s story. These voices, after all, make up who the company is.
There are many ways you can begin your corporate storytelling – you can choose to make short social media posts, create a blog, start a newsletter, or be featured on related sites. Ready to get started telling your tale? I’m here to help guide you along the way!
Now my focus is on using all that I’ve learnt, and everything I know about marketing and communication to help entrepreneurs like you gain clarity on how to market your business. Hiring a marketing agency or spending thousands on campaigns might not be possible now, but your business deserves to be seen. And together, we can make that happen!