top of page
Is your message getting lost in the crowd and
fractured by social media sound bites?
Ever have a prospect or social media follower ask, "What is it that you actually do?"
If so, you have a brand storytelling problem.
YOU have a Brand Story to Tell and it's Time You told the right story to the right audience to guide people from
BRAND AWARENESS
to BRAND ADVOCACY
What is brand storytelling
Brand Storytelling Guide
What is Brand Storytelling
Brand Storytelling is the story you tell about your brand, plus the story others tell about your brand, added to how others perceive your company's behaviours, choices, and values. In other words, your brand story is your reputation told using traditional storytelling techniques. Using story structure to share your message with your audience attracts the right customers because they identify with your brand.
Storytellers connect to a brand's market on a deeper level as they pull at audience's heartstrings and spark a fire in their bellies. We used to call the approach advertising, but that term is so Mad Men of the 50's, we created a new term to sound trendy and cutting edge. Contemporary marketers and advertisers would have you believe brand storytelling is new, but it isn't. If you ever saw Apple's 1984 commercial or the commercials playing on our TVs during the Cola wars, you'd know advertisers have always told emotional stories to impact audiences.
Today, the story isn’t told one way and brands do not control the narrative like they did back in advertising’s hay days. Now, brands are a part of a dialogue about who they are and what they provide to the marketplace, the other side of the conversation is the customer, who has a lot to say about what a brand means to them. Brand stories told in the digital realm have evolved as technology has changed and the process will continue to evolve. However, don't let the name change fool you.
Dive Deeper into the Definition of Brand Storytelling
I've searched out the Internet, asked business owners, storytelling marketers, and professionals what brand storytelling is and how a brand can make an impact on their audience. There is more than you think to telling a brand story, this article will give you a general idea of what it is and what you need to do to tell your brand's story.
There are many pieces and parts that come together to tell a bigger brand story. It is easy for all those pieces to end up disconnected, fracturing the brand story and leaving audience members confused about what you do and how you can help them. This is why you need a larger strategy that brings in different marketing theory, processes, and platforms.
You need to bring in content marketing, social media marketing, digital marketing, email marketing, SMS marketing, advertising, publicity, SEO, and different platforms to guide audiences from awareness to advocacy.
If you want to dive deeper into your brand story and how to tell it to the right audience, keep reading and at the end I'll let you know where to find more information to help you tell your specific story and how to become known for a topic, idea, or area of thought.
Most brand storytellers don't know how to tell a brand story audiences can resonate with because they cast the brand in the role of hero and swap out plot for lists of information.
Discover more about the definition of Brand Storytelling
What is the definition of Brand?
One of the things many brand specialists tell me is people come to the to get a logo because they don’t understand what a branding is or what the definition of the word brand is. This is a deep dive into what branding is and what business owners need to know about creating a brand.
To me. A company is an independent entity. A person has a personality and so does a company. Like a person has values, so does a company. Like a person has a voice, so does a company. Like a person has an image, so does a company. The brand is the essence of the company and their interaction with the marketplace. Things like logos and websites are the clothes the brand wears, not the brand itself.
How the Experts Define Brand
Seth Godin’s definition of brand describes it as “a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, put together, impact a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”
Marty Neumeier’s definition in his book Brand A-Z, where he defines every word associated with Branding. "A Brand is a customer's perception of a product service or company, a corporate reputation."
Discover more about the definition of branding.
Why Tell a Brand Story?
Brands need to tell stories to draw people in and captivate them. Studies show that our attention span is less than a goldfish, but this isn’t true. We have an attention span and can focus on things for longer than a New York minute. We just take a fraction of a second to determine if we want to pay attention to the thing in front of us, before moving onto the next interesting thing vying for our attention. With so many brands competing for eyeballs on a small screen, audiences have an infinite amount of content to cast aside when looking for something interesting. Discover what people are saying about why brand storytelling is the future
Do you want to learn more? Take the CreateAPeel Brand Storytelling Course
Brand Strategy
As branding guru Marty Neumeier says, a brand strategy is “a plan for the systematic development of brand in alignment with a business strategy.”
A brand strategy helps you understand who you are, what you do, and why people want to know you. The strategy is a map showing how you will tell people what you want to be known for.
At MarketAPeel, we peel the layers to get to the core of your story, the redefine it before putting the right layers back on to ensure you are telling the right story to the right audience.
After we’ve redefined your brand’s core meaning, we establish the brand’s guidelines to build bumpers along the information highway so your message is connected to the Brand’s core message. We don’t want to confuse your audience by telling them about some off in left field thing, which leaves them wondering what it is that you do.
The problem with bumpers and a set core message guideline, you can get board of telling the same stories over and over again until your audience screams - “Yeah I get it already move on.”
We ask questions to uncover stories you didn’t think of sharing. Those moments you forgot about but are relevant to your brand’s story. It is those moments that matter to our storytelling … not some blog post telling you about a topic, like brand strategy, to entice Google to make its way over to your website. - Like this one.
Depending on your brand, you may be able to personalise your brand so it tells stories your audience connects with. But that’s a different part of the brand storytelling story - so stay with me as I move through this huge topic to help you figure out what you want to be known for and how to get known for it.
Once we have those great personalised stories people like to engage with, we help you craft the stories to make them interesting. Ever hear someone tell you a story so full of details, you fell asleep with your eyes open and didn’t even realise they’d stopped talking. We don’t want you to be that brand, so we figure out what details to leave in, which to take out and how to structure it to hook them in.
Would you agree that people are visual and like to look at photos more than read the copy you painstakingly obsessed over?
Now comes the part you thought was branding, your image. The colours, logo, tagline, and artwork. We help you to identify which images will reflect your brand image and which ones will get you into hot water.
When it comes to your visual brand storytelling a picture really does say 1000 words and reflects your brand’s core identity. There are plenty of brands out there wearing masks and other facades - we believe your brand deserves to be known for who it is.
It’s time to get your brand out of the closet and into the spotlight and MarketAPeel is here to show you how to do just that!
If you want to get started on mapping out your own brand strategy, Lucidchart has easy to use tools to help you.
Do YOU want to hire a
BRAND STRATEGIST to help you define your brand story?
Brand Strategy
How Marketing tells Stories
How Marketing tells Business Stories
Brand storytelling for businesses is content marketing and encompasses:
Branding: The brand is the identity and image of the business. Branding tells business stories by defining the business' values, determining its image, voice, and persona. The character development happens in the definition of the brand.
Blogs: The bloggers tell personal brand stories and business stories by writing articles on a regular basis and posting them onto a website or blog site.
Books: Publishers who help professionals and experts write and publish their books tell an in depth story about why they are an expert in their field or a thought leader in their industry.
e-Books and Digital Magazines: Brands who don't want to sell a whole book of content and would rather send audiences content on a regular basis can create e-books and digital magazines.
Copywriting: The copywriters tell the business story with the objective of getting buy in and advertising the brand as the best solution to a problem.
Content Marketing: The content marketers tell a brand story by creating multi media content and posting it on a variety of platforms to drive traffic from one stage of the funnel to the next one.
Personal Branding: People who tell their stories online to create a name for themselves as either influencers, experts, or thought leaders. Professionals create a personal brand to build trust as the provider of choice in the marketplace.
Pitches: Whether it is a sales pitch or a pitch to investors the presentation needs to tell a story that the audience will be interested in so they will want to either buy or invest by the end.
Podcasting: Either a business can create a show to build a following for their brand or an individual can build their own brand by consistently producing episodes of their show. People who are guests on podcasts increase brand awareness.
SEO: Search engine optimizers research results to find out what people are searching for, what they want to know about and then manage the project to ensure the content is there and the site follows the SEO best practices.
Social Media Marketing: These platforms enable businesses and individuals to create sound bites of their stories and tell them to the marketplace with daily postings.
Webinars and Events: Events enable brands to talk to people who are interested in what they do and what they have to tell them. Many events teach audiences something and help them to learn how to transition to what they want.
Content Marketing
Brand Storytelling is Content Marketing
Content creators, like Shannon Peel of MarketAPeel, tell stories using different media to ensure they are speaking to their audience in the manner their audience prefers. Some people like to watch videos, others like to read copy, most enjoy the stories photos tell us and then there are infographics to lead us through a visual representation of a story. By taking a multimedia content creation approach to your brand storytelling, you are able to reach people where they want to be, mix it up to keep from becoming repetitive, and make a bigger impact by matching the story to the right content media.
How MarketAPeel Helps You tell Your Brand Story
MarketAPeel Brand Storytelling Agency: We work with you to define your brand story to communicate what you want to be known for in the marketplace. Then we create content to tell the story and build out your digital footprint to meet your customers along their buying journey.
MarketAPeel's Brand Storytelling Coaching Program: CreateAPeel members are provided with coaching to help guide you as you define your story and tell it to the marketplace by creating content and building your digital footprint.
MarketAPeel's Brand Story Courses: Both the MarketAPeel community and CreateAPeel members have access to courses on brand storytelling and other topics to help them build their businesses.
Do it Self Brand Storytelling Information: The MarketAPeel platform is filled with information to help you learn how to tell your brand story to the marketplace and build out your digital footprint.
Subscribe for Brand Storytelling Guidance
Subscribers receive notifications about new content to help you tell your brand story. Subscribe to learn when APeeling books are published.
MarketAPeel Members get MORE... tips, guidance, challenges, special content newsletters, community, promotion opportunities.
Why Brand Story Marketing Works
Using brand storytelling in marketing works because it cuts through the noise by connecting with audiences on a personal level.
In personal brand storytelling audiences find you because they like your story
In business brand storytelling you find audiences and tell their story to them
You tell the audience their story and how your business can solve their problem by telling them a story that gets them to re-experience the problem and see the solution - your solution to their problem.
The indices (details) of the story enable people to interpret the meaning of the story by relating their experiences with the story being told. Indices are the details people can relate to. This is why knowing which details to include in the story is important to ensure you are attracting the right audience and connecting with them.
Let’s say I was writing for a company and they wanted their audience to be filled with 30 something single mothers, I’d add details specific to their situation and experiences to ensure they related with the story and other people didn’t. I’d add sounds of kids playing, or maybe whining for ice cream, set up the sprinkler in the back yard. Probably something about so much to do around the house even though it’s hot and they are tired. Probably wishing there was someone else who could mow the lawn as they sat drinking a cold beverage. Now, I have more indices to qualify the audience and I want to go out and tell stories about that experience because my client sells lawn care services.
Knowing the audience is important because the more focused the audience, the more common threads you can identify, the more details you can add to enhance the story and you can draw the individuals deeper into the story.
Listen to the full story of how to market to audiences using business brand storytelling structure - click the image.
Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of telling your brand story online? You aren't alone many people don't do anything because they are unsure about what to do or they've given up because there were no results to their brand storytelling efforts. When it comes to content marketing or brand storytelling people are so inundated with content they don't know where to start. This is why I created a program to help people like you build a strong foundation for your content marketing campaigns and build your brand one story at a time.
Why Storytelling Works
Brand Storytelling Quotes
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.”
—Jimmy Neil Smith, Director of the International Storytelling Centre
‘We would be nothing without our story.’
– Richard Branson.
‘A great salesperson knows how to tell a story in which the product is the hero.’
– Peter Guber, Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment.
“If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.”
—Jay Baer, Renowned Keynote Speaker, Author, Marketing Expert
“Every business has a story to tell.”
—Jay Baer, Renowned Keynote Speaker, Author, Marketing Expert
An SEO Guide
Before You Create Your Brand Story Content-
In the case of a transactional website, more traffic does not necessarily mean better results. When the wrong people show up on your website, their behaviours could adversely affect your sites search engine ranking (SEO) by increasing bounce rates and decreasing the average time on your site. It is more advantageous to have less traffic that will stick around, explore, and convert by completing the transaction. To determine the best way to get the right people to your website, I asked people who actively work on improving website metrics and create content for their companies, here’s what they said.
The Before you Create Content List
-
Research your competitions content
-
Determine how your audience talks
-
Know questions people ask
-
How people use the Internet
-
What topics are people searching
-
Create a content plan based on keywords
-
Determine channels, PPC, Social, SEO
-
Install a heat map on your site’s pages
-
Find Influencers to work with
-
Give a survey to find the platforms they use
-
Know where your touch points are
Read the Advice from over 70 SEO, brand storytelling & Content creating experts or listen to the podcast
Before You Start
SEO Content
How to Write Good SEO Content
Let's face it, the reason you are reading this is you want to get more traffic to your website by writing the right content. When it comes to writing your brand story on your website, you need to consider SEO keywords. By choosing keywords you want to be known for, you will be able to tell a more concise brand story.
I was quoted in that will give you 9 tips on how to write blog content that converts. click the link to learn more.
The BrandAPeel: Brand Storytelling in the Digital Age
Podcast
Learning about SEO to Rank for
"Brand Storytelling"
To know what to write about, you need to know which words people are typing into the search engines and that takes research. I started studying SEO back in 2005 by taking the Moz courses and following Rand Fishkin. Over the years, I'd dip a toe back into the SEO waters to learn how Google changed the rules to improve searchers experiences and to penalise those who tried to game the system. With every major update two things consistently remained of top importance – Keywords and Backlinks.
Sitting here in my bubble overlooking downtown Vancouver, I couldn’t even start to guess which words people were typing to find people who created content to tell brand stories, let alone if anyone was searching. Which words would bring me the traffic I needed to obtain clients who wanted their own digital magazines and readers for those magazines?
The Answer is Keyword Research.
Back in 2005, Moz.com was the only game in town when it came to understanding SEO and which keywords mattered to people. Now there are lots of different sites providing limited research results for zero dollars and in-depth results for a monthly SaaS fee. Each system has its own strengths, ranking systems, and features.
Thanks to these tools I felt I had a good understanding of backlinks and where to go to find out how I could get a backlink on a quality site. It also gave me the ability to check the Domain Authority of a site before adding my site to ensure I was protecting my Domain Authority Ranking. After all, if I suddenly was blacklisted or finding my ranking slipping because of being listed on high spam, low ranked, sites, it would be devastating. I’m putting in hours of work in research, writing, publishing, linking, applying, searching, and more. The last thing I want to do is blow it up with a bomb because I blindly added my website to whichever site I could find.
This is why it is so important to be careful about whom you hire to get you backlinks. The guy may be cheap, but does he know what he’s doing? Ask questions before you hire to make sure they are putting you on reputable sites and not just on their own spam sites.
I have a client who has a number of new platforms with low Domain Authority due to the newness of the domains and the lack of content. One of their platforms is an online directory with a domain authority of 3 and they are getting significant sign ups from previously unknown businesses. The only reason I can uncover is a paid for backlinks SEO company found the site and are systematically adding all their clients to this low ranked site. This is a sign of a person who doesn't know what they are doing.
Another example of SEO paid for backlinks is the sudden amount of spam my personal page's forum received, driving up the short term domain authority, which of course fell once the spam rate of the site began to rise. I didn't have time to manage the site and in the end took the domain down off it and froze the forum until I can rebuild the site.
Read full article about SEO: Writing to Rank for the Keyword Brand Storytelling
Who is the HERO of a Business Story?
Every story has a hero, but every hero does not belong in your brand story. Since you don't have a lot of time to gain the attention of your audience and you aren't creating a re-make of Tolstoy's War and Peace, have one hero in each of the stories you tell about your brand.
When you tell the story about your life, is it one story or is it a bunch of stories woven together to create a larger epic? Sometimes you are the hero in the story and sometimes you are the supporting character. In some stories, you'll even be the antagonist or villain. Your brand's story is no different. It is made up of lots of different stories, which tie together to weave a tapestry of its life, so it is important you know which type of story you want to tell and which type of hero you want your brand to be, otherwise the tapestry will be a mess of different colours, shapes, textures, and materials.
You have to determine who will fill the role of hero.
This is where traditional storytelling, personal brand storytelling diverge from business brand storytelling. And I’ll explain what I mean. When writing a novel, I either write in the first person or the third person depending on the experience I want the reader to have with the characters.
When I write in the first person, I’m putting the audience in the role of voyeur. It’s like they are on stage with the hero watching the story unfold without any extra details beyond what the hero can see or know. The hero and the storyteller are one and the same. The storyteller only knows what the hero knows about the story and the audience experiences the story through the hero’s point of view.
This is where Personal Brand Storytelling happens because the person is both the hero and the storyteller. The audience’s role is to watch the story unfold.
When I write in the third person, I am putting a storyteller between the audience and the hero enabling me to tell the audience things the hero doesn’t know. I’ve removed the audience from the stage and put them back into the seats to watch scenes unfold with different character grouping on the stage. The audience experiences the story from the storyteller’s point of view and will know more about the story than the hero does.
In the third person I have three separate people in each role hero, storyteller, audience. Oftentimes, this is point of view people use when telling a business brand story. To make a bigger impact, you need to see the audience differently.
When it comes to business brand storytelling the hero of the story and the audience are one and the same. There is nothing between the audience and the hero because the audience is the hero. The storyteller guides the hero, who is also the individual in the audience, through their own story. This is the only place writing a story in the second person works. So, you want to use YOU language.
In traditional storytelling and personal brand storytelling the audience is passive, meaning they watch the story unfold and don’t affect the narrative or the hero’s journey. They may engage with the story with a like, a comment, or applause but this action does not change the story. The story exists regardless if they are watching or not.
In business brand storytelling the audience is active. They are the one with the problem that needs to be overcome and will transform as they journey through the story. The audience knows more than the storyteller about the story and adds details from their own experiences, which the storyteller does not know. They determine the hero’s transformational journey, direction, and without them, there is no story. They are an active member of the narrative.
They click to go one way or the other through the digital world and steer their customer journey from awareness of a problem to advocacy of the solution. And it is the job of the brand storyteller to ensure the brand is considered as the preferred solution when it comes time for the audience member to make a decision.
There are a number of story and hero archetypes to help you choose which story you want your brand to tell.
Your Story Heroes
Do YOU want MORE Brand Story?
Subscribe for tips, advice and to
know about webinars coming up
Storytelling Hero Archetypes
The Classical Hero is the romantic hero who possesses a quality ordinary people don't have, a talent, exceptional good looks, money, or intelligence. Examples of a classical hero in storytelling are Harry Potter,
The Epic Hero is the classic Greek heroes of tragedy in legendary lore and mythology. They are larger than life men of good character whom people admire and this brings them fortune and success. Examples of an epic hero in storytelling are Odysseus, Lancelot,
The Iconic Hero does not change from the beginning of the story to the end. They are known by their own brand of character, behaviours and choices. The do not grow as individuals during the story, though they drive the story forward they are the same at the beginning as they were at the end. When in a series, they are the exact same in every book and there is no self reflection, no growth, no understanding. Examples of iconic heroes in storytelling are James Bond, The Lone Ranger, Optimus Prime, Sherlock Holmes
The Tragic Hero was defined by Aristotle in the tale of Troy. This hero is flawed and must evoke pity or fear in the audience because they are fated to die or be ruined. Examples of the tragic hero in storytelling are MacBeth, Romeo,
The Everyone Hero is the ordinary individual that we identify with. Unlike the classical hero, the everyday hero has no extraordinary qualities. They are usually os sound moral judgement and selfless.
The Reluctant Hero is similar to the anti hero in that they are forced to be the ones to step up and act. The difference is their morality. The reluctant hero saves the day because of a moral code, though they do not want to be the one called upon. Examples of the reluctant here in storytelling are Wolverine, Shrek, Captain Jack,
The Anti-Hero is not seen as a hero due to their lack of character or other flaws, which lead others to see them as villains more than heroes. By the end of the story, they've saved the day despite themselves. Examples of the antihero in storytelling are Jay Gatsby, Lady MacBeth,
The UnHero an everyday person who bumbles along and does little to elicit good in the end, even if they do elicit change, save the day, or move the story forward they make unethical decisions and actions to save those they care about. Examples of an unhero in storytelling are Darth Vader, Inspector Gadget, Walter White,
The Liminal Hero is caught between two states, elements, or spaces. Teenagers are liminal characters because they are no longer children but they are not yet adults, they are in the inbetween. The supernatural genre and YA genres are filled with the liminal heroes who have limited influence in the world around them. Examples of a liminal hero are Spiderman, Casper,
The Romantic Hero is from the romantic period of literature and they reject the established societies rules and expectations. They are plagued by inner turmoil and during the story they reject society's authority and turn away from what they are expected to do. Often referred to as the misfit hero. Mr. Darcy, Katniss Everdeen,
The Byronic Hero is based on Lord Byron himself, as the first real celebrity with a personal brand. This hero is a sub-category of the Romantic Hero as they are from the same era. The difference is that while romantic heroes are better off in their rejection of society, the Byronic hero is hurt and rejected by society. The Romantic the hero rejects society and Byronic are rejected by society. Examples of a byronic hero are Loki, Mr. Rochester, and Heathcliff
The Willing Hero knows he is a hero and works hard to be the protector of society. They are willing to take on the responsibility of hero as it defines their identity. Examples of the willing hero in storytelling are Hercules,
The Super Hero possesses a quality that ordinary people don't have, however, unlike the classical hero who is still part of world they are placed in, a Super Heroes quality is so much greater is they are considered outside of the society they protect. Examples of a super hero in storytelling are Superman, Thor, Wolverine
Multiple DatesThu, Apr 18ZoomApr 18, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PMZoom
Multiple DatesWed, Mar 13ZoomMar 13, 2024, 1:00 PM – Mar 16, 2024, 1:00 PMZoom
Multiple DatesThu, Jul 27ZoomJul 27, 2023, 4:00 PM PDT – Jul 28, 2023, 4:00 PM PDTZoom
Multiple DatesSat, Jul 22OnlineJul 22, 2023, 10:00 AM – Jul 23, 2023, 5:00 PMOnline
Tue, Jun 20zoomJun 20, 2023, 11:00 AM PDT – Jun 21, 2023, 1:00 PM PDTzoom
Multiple DatesFri, May 26Virtual MeetingMay 26, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDTVirtual Meeting
Membership OfferMon, May 01on ZoomMay 01, 2023, 8:00 AM – May 05, 2023, 10:00 AMon Zoom
Tell the Right Story to the Right Audience
Good Storytellers know their audience.
Last winter when we had a reprise in restrictions and we could go out, I was scrolling through event brite and saw tickets to a comedy show. And I thought, hey why not get out, be around people, and laugh at something other than my Covid hairdo. I bought the ticket, put the event on my empty calendar and when the Friday came, I jumped in a taxi and went for a ride.
There I was sitting at the bar, drinking and expensive glass of cheap wine, in this tiny dive of a club looking forward to having something to laugh about.
The comedians come out do their set and … they were all 30 something, unmarried, with no kids, some played for the other team, others drank lots and had fun with the odd recreational drug. Now as you can see, I’m a nearly 50-year-old, I’m divorced, single, empty nester, with 2 grown children at University. I’m a social drinker and though I can smell the BC bud but, in the air, I rarely partake.
Do you think I found the comedian’s jokes funny? Nope. I couldn’t relate to what they were talking about. There stories fell flat, and their punch lines didn’t land --with me -- just me --, because I was probably the oldest in the room by a couple decades. The comedians were getting plenty of laughs because 99.9 % of the people in the room, were their right audience and they got the jokes. I’m the one who hadn’t done the research.
When it comes to knowing your audience to determine the story you will tell and how you will tell it, there is a difference between personal brand and business brand story marketing.
If you are on the personal brand stage, the right audience will find you because they relate to your story. Like the comedians up on the stage, people who enjoyed their type of comedy made a point to be there that night because they knew they’d like the comedy. They even brought friends.
When it comes to business brand storytelling you have to research the audience, know what they need, and then go find out where they hang out.
Let’s take my night of comedy, it would be like I was a business who knew that single 30 - somethings needed my product and I went there to get on stage and tell a story that related to them but didn’t have much to do with who I am– I’d have to do research to find out what they think is funny and craft stories to engage them.
So if there is one point that you walk away with today
In personal brand storytelling audiences find you because they like your story
In business brand storytelling you find audiences and tell their story to them.
The indices of the story enable people to interpret the meaning of the story by relating their experiences with the story being told. Indices are the details people can relate to. In my comedy club story, the comedians indices of being 30 single gay partying were not things my experiences or indices could match up with – there was a disconnect. This is why knowing which details to include in the story is important to ensure you are attracting the right audience and connecting with them.
In traditional storytelling and personal brand storytelling the audience is passive, meaning they watch the story unfold and don’t affect the narrative or the hero’s journey. The story exists regardless if they are watching or not
In business brand storytelling the audience is active. They add details to the story. They determine the hero’s transformational journey and without them there is no story
Know Your Audience
MarketAPeel's Story
Know Your Audience
The Brand Story of the MarketAPeel Brand
I am Peel crazy.
Growing up with a last name that was a verb and a noun had its interesting moments. When my brother's friends called him Peeler, they didn't mean the same thing as those who called me Peeler, thinking it was funny. Add Shannon to the mix and I'd get Bannon Peeler. Yes, having a word as a last name gives me lots of interesting word play opportunities.
When I first started my company, it was natural to use the name MarketAPeel because that is what I did, I created market appeal for brands, it is my job to make brands look good. Then I went Peel Crazy by using Peel when naming my products and services.
APeeling Digital Magazine was the flagship magazine created to publish real stories by real people with real solutions for life and work. Whether you want an appealing life, career, or business APeeling has stories for you.
CurbAPeel Digital Magazine was created to help Realtors® create a personal brand with curb appeal. MarketAPeel publishes digital magazines to tell brand stories to connect with the marketplace and Real Estate Professionals need to stand out.
UnPeeled Blog is where I publish all the stories from the digital magazines on the MarketAPeel website to provide contributors and guest bloggers with a quality backlink to their own websites for SEO.
BrandAPeel Podcast is the MarketAPeel podcast to tell stories about the professionals and brands we interview to peel back the layers to get to the core of their story
APeeling in Audio is a podcast where I read the articles from APeeling to share with those who want an audio version of the stories instead of reading the words.
BookAPeel is the MarketAPeel store where we sell products to help people tell their stories and other items with our branding or graphic designs. It enables people to purchase MarketAPeel books, workbooks, journals, and bags.
EyeAPeel is my photography company, which I only do family and event photography upon request these days.
If you have any other Peel ideas you'd like to share - share them on the MarketAPeel forum, I'm sure I'll need more names because I have lots of product ideas to bring to market as MarketAPeel grows. I wasn't sure about playing with my name as a brand name because it felt a bit gimmicky or cutesy and I don't do rainbows and unicorn cute. Turned out people like the MarketAPeel brand because it is witty and the design is minimalistic. It works and I am Peel Crazy.
Brand Storytelling Quotes
‘And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling . . . good storytelling . . . is a vital component of a marketing campaign.’
– Gary Halbert, marketing guru.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-- Maya Angelou
“Stories are how we learn best. We absorb numbers and facts and details, but we keep them all glued into our heads with stories.”
—Chris Brogan, Author, Marketing Consultant, Journalist, Speaker
“The stories that spread today empower us and give us belief in our own heroic potential.” -- Jonah Sachs
“And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling…good storytelling…is a vital component of a marketing campaign.”
—Gary Halbert, Direct Marketing Guru
‘Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell.’
– Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur.
Book Review
Brand Storytelling Book Review: The Storytelling Animal, by Jonathan Gottschall
I love books and always have. I love the paper, the feel, the small of books. I love the education, the thoughts, and the words. I love the stories. In 2012, I started listening to books while I did the housework to keep my mind from wondering to other things I needed to do that are more interesting than laundry, windows, and floors. I now have almost 500 books in my audible library, many of which I have listened to multiple times. Every night I ask Alexa to play an audible book for 30 minutes to keep my brain focused on the story instead of the wild ride it usually likes to take right when I need to sleep. Every night I wake up more than once and Alexa is always ready to play a book from my audible library so I can fall back to sleep.
When people ask me what music I listen to, a blank look comes over my face as I have no answer. You see, I listen to books. Both fiction and non-fiction, mostly fantasy novels with lots of sword fighting and blood, not sure what that says about me but Jonathan Gottschall might just have the answer to why I choose stories of struggle and fighting on a journey where the good guys don’t always win instead of choosing a good romance where everyone ends up with the love of their life in the end. Yeah. No. Give me Game of Thrones over 50 Shades and I don’t care if Bella chooses the Vampire or the Werewolf.
Back to the book I’m listening to, The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall. I’m interested in discovering what story says about the human species.
Stories tell us the values of people throughout history. I was a bit concerned about what the preschool children of this book had been exposed to considering the dark stories they were playing out at school. Then Jonathan reminds me about the stories parents used to tell their children back when fairy tales and nursery rhymes were first told. Protecting children’s innocence from the horrors of the world they live in is how contemporary parents raise children not how children were raised even just 60 years ago.
This book has barely started, and my mind is already filling with ideas, thoughts, and insights about what stories say about our society and culture.
Read full Book Review of The Storytelling Animal
Write a Book
Points to Remember When Telling a Brand Story
-
Know Yourself
-
Know Your Brand
-
Focus on Why Your Brand Exists
-
Your Voice and Your Mission Matters
-
Your Brand Story Needs Personality
-
Find Your Narrative
-
Have a Clear Vision
-
Find Your Audience
-
Narrow Your Expertise
-
Keep It Simple
-
Be Human
-
Use Your Story to Connect with Your Customers
-
Get Other People to Tell Your Brand Story
Do YOU want to WRITE a Book?
Write a Book as a Marketing Tool
I went to a seminar on how to write a book and use it as a marketing tool, put on by a very expensive vanity publisher, Black Card Publishing.
Some of the things I got a kick out of:
Write a book in 40 hours by planning it out first and then writing in 5 minute increments. The planning of the book can take 40 hours, then the writing of it can take another 40 hours, and lastly the editing can take a whole lot more than 40 hours.
It takes me all day to write 4 000 words, whether it's blog posts or a chapter of a novel. Do the math, 40 hours of writing will create a book that is 20 000 words. To put it into perspective, a full novel averages around 80 000 - 90 000 words. So a 20 000 word book is going to be thin.
They have accumulated 700 titles making it sound like they believe in the authors they publish and invest in them, like a traditional publisher does. The fact is, they found 700 people to give them a lot of money to publish a book. Most are not sold in stores or online.
"I talked to my publisher." OK sure. You buy in and can say that you have a publisher, but is that the same as having a publisher? As their client you have a publisher, whom you paid a lot of money to hire, not the other way around.
A Book Can add Credibility
One thing they got right. Writing a book, and using it as a story marketing tool, will give you credibility as an expert and have longer staying power on your client's bookshelf than any fancy brochure or marketing package.
It doesn't have to cost you tens of thousands of dollars up front to do it.
If you have a lot of cash up front, Vanity publishers like Black Card can give you a better per item rate because you are ordering in huge bulk quantity. If you don't have the capital to order in huge bulk, the online self publishing world has Print on Demand options, which enable you to order copies as you need them and can afford them.
These print on demand options also enable you to sell your book through Amazon easily, without inventory, order processing or delivery charges for you. It's all handled by the printer & Amazon.
If you want to know more about writing a non-fiction book to use as a marketing tool, send me a note and let's have a conversation. I might be able to help you.
How to Write a Brand Story
Here’s how to write a brand story - You grab a pot of coffee, sit down at your computer, and write.
Every storyteller starts with a blank page and only succeeds by typing. Telling a story doesn’t take a lot of time. Now editing, revising, and polishing a story – That takes time, a whole lotta time. I love what Hemmingway said about the first draft, - it’s sh*^! When you sit down to write your brand story, don’t sweat it because your keyboard has a delete button. Let the words flow on the screen and then worry about what you will say.
The good news about brand storytelling is, you don’t have to submit 60 000 – 90 000 words to an editor. You only need 280 characters for a Tweet, 20-50 words for a social media post, and 1500 – 2000 words for a blog post. Which do you think is harder to write, a Tweet or a novel? Not which takes the longest, which is the hardest. Try to tell your brand story using only 6 words, can you do it?
Hemmingway’s style of writing is perfect for social media and online content consumers because he used as few words as possible. His famous short story is 5 words: For sale, baby shoes, never worn.
It’s brilliant because he doesn’t tell you the story, he lets you experience it. Practice telling your brand’s story with as few words as possible and enable your audience to experience the story. - Read more on how to tell a brand story.
How to Write a Brand Story
Show Don't Tell a Brand Story
A good storyteller doesn’t tell a story. They show a story what do I mean?
Well, A live band was playing at a wedding reception. After their first break, the lead singer came up on stage addressed the guests, “Hey everyone, we have a 15-year-old kid here who has asked if he could play with us. I want everyone to give him a chance, he’s only been playing a couple of years so, be kind it’s hard to learn an instrument so be patient with him and offer up your support. It takes a lot of courage for him to get up in front of all of you.” The boy walked up on stage and borrowed the lead singer’s guitar and they started to jam. During the song the drummer’s mouth was hanging open the bass guitarist kept shaking his head and looking at the kid. After they finished the lead singer bellowed into the mic, now that is talent. Wow. You can play with us any time. And that is how my son showed our family that he is a rock star instead of telling them.
Showing is about allowing people to experience it for themselves.
In three different studies - (Adaval & Wyer, 1998; McKee, 2003; Wells, 1988). – researchers discovered that when people are lectured at they tend to get tired, shut down, and want to go to sleep. Basically, tune out. Whereas, when told a story, the audience is moved to action. They may not move physically in the moment, but their minds are engaged, ideas start coming at them left and right, and they are motivated to do something, even if it is to lean in and hear what I’m saying right now and put buy that refreshing beverage on your grocery list.
Not all stories are created equal.
Many storytellers take the tell part of storytelling literally and tell the audience a story and their story quickly reverts to a lecture disguised as a story. There are a number of reasons why this happens:
-
Haven’t learned how to craft an engaging story
-
Don’t trust the audience to put 1 and 1 together to get 2
-
Thinks the audience needs a bunch of details and back story
-
Wants everyone to know how smart they think they are.
Crafting a story in marketing
Content marketing is about creating content to tell a story with the right key words so people who are looking for a solution to their problem will be able to find your business. When you craft a story that puts the audience or reader in the middle of the problem they are having, you will naturally use keywords the potential customer will use in their search.
For example, if I wanted people who want to know how to tell a story in their marketing, I would write about how frustrated you are because you aren not getting the results you want from social media. You work hard to create content but people are not coming to your website to buy your product or service. You ask yourself, "how can I get traffic to my website?" or maybe you are getting traffic but they just won't convert. "Why won't they convert? How can I get visitors to my website to buy my product or service?
The answer to those questions is to use a story marketing strategy to ensure your audience is connecting with your business and want the solution you provide. Want help crafting your story and building out your digital footprint?
You came to the right place, Click here to join the CreateAPeel community for support, programs, and coaching.
Do YOU want HELP writing YOUR BRAND STORY?
Elicit Emotion when Telling Your Brand Story
The reason brand storytelling works so well is because it elicits emotions and draws the audience in by being relatable. Creating the right copy to touch the hearts and minds of the reader is an art. You must understand how your audience consumes content on the platform and use a multimedia approach to tell your story. Digital magazines are conducive to guiding readers through a brand story and engaging them by adding video, audio, widgets, and fun features. MarketAPeel publishes digital magazines for brands to communicate with their audiences on a regular basis. Social media is a bunch of sound bites to gain curiosity and encourage people to move further into the brand story. Websites and blogs enable an audience to jump around and find information they are specifically looking for about the brand.
Copywriting, emotions, and Brand Storytelling:
The first thing to take into consideration is the image and values of the brand because the customers need to identify with the brand to build trust. The next variable to address is the objective and goals of the project. What do you want the reader to do when they read the words? Where will the copy be used and where in the funnel is the reader likely to be?
If a brand wants a quick reaction to [encourage] a short-term purchase, then fear of missing out or appealing to one's ego as an early adopter might work. If a brand wants to build a long-term, trusting relationship with its audience, then the copy needs to speak to the values, opinions, and ideals of the reader to show how they and the brand are aligned.
Connect by Resinating with the Audience
The funniest comedians are the ones who tell funny stories about something you relate to. If a comedian is telling stories about the messiness of being a parent and you've never had kids, his story is not going to resinate with you and the joke will fall flat. Brand storytelling is no different. You want to tell stories about your business which your audience will relate to because you are solving their problem, issue, or frustration. Write stories about fictional customers experiencing a problem and how you were able to come in and fix it for them. Finish the story up with a happy result and call to action. When the customer can see themselves in the story, they will know your company can help them.
I had one client who contacted me after I posted a story about an overwhelmed individual he helped. My client was worried I was the one who was overwhelmed and wanted to make sure I was OK. This is the response I wanted his LinkedIn followers to experience when they read the story. OK it wasn't an actual 100% it happened story - but it was a truthful one because that is exactly who his clients are and how he helps them. The story was a composite of how we feel when we are overwhelmed and the ending was the result his clients experience. Don't lie - be truthful, but it can be a generalized truth.
Which Emotions to Target in your Brand Storytelling
There are lots of different emotions you can try to elicit in your brand story, however some emotions work better than others at creating a lasting impact or short term action. Advertisers have used fear and love since the beginning of advertising to sell goods and services. Think about how the reader may experience a fear of missing out or fall in love with the idea of what your product or service can do for them. In today's world, we are all looking for connection and community because we want to feel accepted, liked, and a sense of belonging. Think about the emotions your brand story naturally brings out of people and tell stories to touch on the heart strings to inspire your audience to act.
The most important emotional incidents to explore in your brand storytelling is their moment of greatest fear. It is perhaps the most important emotional trigger, because our limitations, failures, frustrations and disappointments can be traced back to a fundamental fear and a moment of our greatest courage. What has happened since the worst failure? Ouch. I know. But don't ignore that moment of deepest shame. The moment of most profound guilt. The lessons you learned in that moment defined you and your brand. These are the stories your audience will resonate with because they've been there or are in that place.
How you tell your Emotion Trigger Brand Story Matters
You must tell the story from a place of success not a place of shame, failure, fear, or guilt though you are telling a story about those emotions. If the story you are telling only contains the problem, the cause of the problem, and the result of the problem, you are telling the wrong story.
Only tell brand stories about the solution. The problem is the conflict you were facing and the story is about how you beat your adversary, the problem, to arrive at a positive resolution. You want to tell the story using a voice of power and wisdom.
Not every Story should be Told
There are certain things in our lives that need to remain private in order to protect the brand image. There is such a thing as TMI. If the story or its lesson has little to do with the value of your brand, don't talk about it. Were you an alcoholic who ended up on the street and then crawled your way back to greatness? That could be an amazing story to motivate people and show the strength of your character. It also could also show a weakness of character and cause customers to turn away from you. Whether or not you tell that story will depend on your brand, the industry, and the level of personal trust a customer needs to have with you. If you are a financial planner and you tell me about your time as a homeless drunk, I probably will question your capability to manage my wealth. There are certain intrinsic values and characteristics you must portray in your brand story.
Brand stories can touch your audience on an emotional level where they will resonate with them. It's easier for personal brands to tell emotional stories based on events in their lives. Business brand stories can still elicit emotional connections by sharing personal stories, but those personal stories are stories about how the business solved customer problems. Watch commercials big corporations have created to tell an emotional story to sell products to learn how to structure brand stories. Click the videos below to discover commercials you want to watch.
Brand Storytelling Videos
Brand Story Commercials
Brand Story Commercials
Search video...
JOHN LEWIS "The Man On The Moon"
02:00
Play Video
British Airways: Fuelled by Love
06:31
Play Video
P&G - Proud Mom's Sponsor
02:02
Play Video
Elicit Emotions
Brand Storytelling Quotes
“No tribal Chief or Elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs, or lists to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.”
—Peg Neuhauser, Author & Business Consultant
“Authenticity, honesty, and personal voice underlie much of what’s successful on the web.”
—Rick Levine, Author, Marketing & Sales
“You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.”
--Beth Comstock
‘People think in stories, not statistics, and marketers need to be master storytellers.’
– Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post.
“Great storytelling can make the difference between someone paying attention to you and someone just tuning you out.”
—Christopher S. Penn, Digital Marketing Authority
Storytelling Structure
A story is three parts a beginning a middle and an end. In his book poetics, Aristotle wrote, "The beginning is not simply the first event in the series of three, but rather the emotionally engaging and originating event. The middle is the natural and casually related consequence. And the end is the inevitable conclusion event. Stories have an origination an escalation of conflict and a resolution." The brand storytelling structure is problem, solution, result. Regardless of the three words you use to describe the storytelling structure you need to know how to begin the story.
The First Sentence Hook.
The first sentence is the most important part of the story, it’s so important, novelists will agonize over each word. I know I did. It is the hello, would you like to come in and experience my blood sweat and tears? If the sentence doesn’t hook them, they will move on.
You’ve probably heard studies show people have the attention of a gold fish – that’s not true. We have become experts in making extremely quick decisions to either swipe left or right. And we don’t agonize over those quick decisions.
If we are interested, we do focus for longer than a goldfish, it just has to be something we find highly engaging. That is how important the first sentence is.
When writing a novel, I have a few pages to hook a reader into wanting to know more about the story and that first sentence is critical. The first line of my coming of age YA novel is, "Jack's eyes snapped open and his heart was a heart shaped object protruding from his chest." The first sentence of my chick lit book is "Was there ever a time when it was simple to be a woman?" What do these first sentences tell you about what those books are about and do they make you curious enough to want to read more?
Can you identify which books the following first lines come from?
-
Call Me Ishmael.
-
I am an invisible man.
-
Mother died today.
-
Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.
-
You better not never tell nobody but God.
-
It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.
-
The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling.
-
124 was spiteful, full of Baby’s venom.
-
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.
“Call me Ishmael.” What makes this such a great opening is the unusual name. “Call me Bob.” Doesn’t have the same ring to it. "I am an invisible man", "Mother died today", and "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink", elicit curiosity in the reader who either want to know what happened and they can identify with the story already because they either feel invisible or their mother died. As they read these books they learn what happened.
Our senses and minds are tuned to focus on irregularities, those things that doesn't quite fit, doesn't make sense, or is simply changing. This is an evolutionary adaptive trait it helps in analyzing the environment for threats. Orwell used this human adaptive trait when he wrote, "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." Toni Morrison did the same thing with, "124 was spiteful, full of Baby's venom." These sentences are odd and make the reader take notice.
You want to hook the reader. A hook is something that intrigues the reader and it can virtually be anything that makes the reader want to continue reading. It could be a story question Will the protagonist overcome the daunting problem confronting him?
Start by putting the hero, the audience, in the middle of their problem. What does it look like and how do they feel?
Going on A Journey
The next part of the story is the middle where the journey happens where the plot develops. This is where things happen to heroes, where they learn and grow. Describe the struggle the hero needs to be overcome and resolve. As the stakes are raised, the two struggles will serve to drive the story forward and deepen the readers engagement. At the climax of the story, the hero makes a discovery that changes his life from making a choice. The change marks the resolution of the crisis and the culmination of the story.
If you present us with an emotionally stirring crisis or calling, we will get hooked. If you show the stakes rising as the character struggles to resolve this crisis, you'll draw us in more deeply. And if you end the story that reveals a transformation we will be satisfied.
End With a BANG
Once you’ve finished the meat of the story it’s time to end it with a killer ending. What will your customer experience if they choose your brand? Describe the emotional reaction from the benefit and end with a strong call to action.
Arthur Miller once said If I see an ending, I can work backward. The most difficult part of writing any story long or short is ending it. In order to write your ending you have to ask yourself what action you want to set forth in the start. At the end of your story, you don't want to give readers the sense that all there is to know is already known. You really just want to give them a whisper and a dream and send them on their way.
The end of a business brand story is different from storytelling and personal brand storytelling. The ending of a traditional story ties up all the threads and provides the audience with a resolution that satisfies them. And the same is true with personal brand stories. but In business brand storytelling, you want to leave the audience unsatiated with the promise of satisfaction if they choose your solution to their problem.
When you end your brand story, it's not the end because you are asking them to act, to do something, and interact with your business. The end of your brand story needs to motivate and that means you need to communicate the value the audience will get if they make the decision to go to the next story.
Traditional stories have endings - Brand stories have calls to action
We’ve all seen movies or read books where the hero doesn’t change, become self-aware, or in the case of Game of Thrones – stay alive. Well, in Brand Storytelling the objective is to help the audience transition from problem to the promise of a solution and go from unhappy to promise of happiness.
Do YOU want HELP writing YOUR BRAND STORY?
Brand Storytelling Structure
Brand Story Marketing Funnel
The client journey is rarely straight. To help you tell your story throughout the customer journey you need to map out the digital footprint of the journey to ensure there are no gaps. There are a number of ways to do this with various types of mapping. Today, we will focus on the top part of a cone shaped linear marketing funnel I use to ensure the right platforms are represented in the digital footprint.
Brand Awareness
I craft Brand Awareness stories for social media, write articles for the UnPeeled blog for organic search to find, and reach out to other sites for mentions, interviews, and quotes. I have multiple places throughout the Internet where I have listed my company with links back to my website. I am trying to show up when people don't know anything about MarketAPeel but are seeking out a podcast, information on brand storytelling, a brand storyteller coach, or consultant. I want to be seen enough times, which is over 11 times now, so they are aware of my brand's existence even though they don't know who I am.
Brand Credibility
For credibility, I interview brands on the BrandAPeel podcast, interview them for the APeeling Magazine. And reach out to other sites looking for interview opportunities to gain credibility, which is where you come in as PR experts.
Another type of brand credibility is reviews. I worked for an online review site for a few years, and I coach people on how to create their own processes to build that credibility channel by encouraging customers to write stories. When companies ask for reviews, they need to give their customers three questions, a beginning, a middle, and an end so the reviewer will write a story about their experience, but review gathering can be a whole other hour presentation. I only mention it now because it is an important part of credibility for the brand story.
Brand Authority or Brand Interest
For Authority and Interest, brands need to have a platform where they can build their library of knowledge. It can be a book, a magazine, a blog, a video channel, a podcast, anything where they are able to establish themselves as the ‘expert’ and audiences don’t need to interact with them. This is where the audiences are interested in what you have to say, are watching you but don’t feel the need to engage with you. They are keeping you at arm’s length. This is where I like to work, and my platforms give certain people an opportunity to build their authority without all the work that goes into it.
Another type of marketing funnel you will nee to understand and use for brand storytelling is the one content creators use to ensure they will show up with the right story based on the customer's search intent.
A content marketing funnel is simply three parts.
Top of Funnel – TOFU
Middle of Funnel – MOFU
Bottom of Funnel – BOFU
By understanding the intent behind each stage, you will understand how to construct the story and write the correct headline based on search intent. There are 4 different types of search intent.
Informative Search Intent: This one you use most often for Brand Storytelling.
When Audiences are looking for an answer to a question, information about a topic, or to learn something new, their searches are classified as informative searches in the Top of funnel.
This is the Why does and what is headlines. Choose the keywords you want to be known for and then Google them to questions people are asking and then create pitches with similar headlines using Why and what.
If you want to pitch a story to a website or new media channel like a podcast, consider using Informative Search Intent as the foundation of your pitch. If you do, the pitch will have a headline at the top, then you’ve got the hook, who and why you, three main points you will cover, which audiences will be interested in the story, and a call to action - Don't forget to tell them to contact you and how to contact you.
For example
Why is brand storytelling the future of Marketing?
Brands are not standing out in the digital world because marketers use the same analytics to create content that looks like their competitors. Brand Storytelling flips this approach on its head by telling the brand’s unique stories using techniques based on how people connect with story
Shannon Peel of MarketAPeel is a brand storyteller who helps brands define their stories and map out their digital footprints to guide audiences from awareness to advocacy. She discusses three points to answer the question, why is brand storytelling the future of marketing?
-
Analytics and Data Analysis has brands going after the same audience using the same copy, images, and process resulting in a lack of brand recognition
-
Humans are wired for story because stories elicit emotions, remind us of moments in our lives, and inspire us to take action resulting in brand interest
-
Brand storytelling creates an opportunity for brands to build community with their audiences resulting in brand advocacy
Business owners, branding, and Marketing professionals will be interested in this story because they are looking for a solution to get noticed in the marketplace.
To interview Shannon for a story, please contact me to discuss.
A pitch like this gives the media platform the story your client wants to tell and you can go back with another story next week – it’s not a one off here’s my client’s media kit for your collection. It’s a piece of the bigger story and the person responsible for choosing stories for the website doesn’t have to use brain power to figure out why or if your client is a fit for them. – You’ve given them a story idea and either they will want it or they won’t. And next week you give them another one.
It’s not like in the past when there were a few experts in the marketplace and journalists needed to go out and find them. Today, journalists and content writers are inundated by people who want to be seen as experts and thought leaders.
Plus, sending them a story ideas for the media platform is helpful, especially if you’ve done the SEO research and used specific keywords in the pitch.
Navigational Search Intent for Brand Storytelling:
This is where the WHO comes in as they are looking for a person or company who can help them solve their problem.
When people search using navigational intent, your Brand SERP will come up. This is their website, their social media profiles, videos, and high-ranking media. Google your customer’s name and see what comes up and what is missing. You want to see as much credibility of third-party stories as you can get in the first page. To help this happen, when a platform interviews you, ask that their name be put into the title of the article or episode. Add links to these stories onto your Google Business Page. You should also get your website person to create an in the news page on their website and back link to the stories using their brand name and core keywords as anchor text to let Google know that the story is about you.
Commercial Investigation Search Intent for Brand Storytelling
When searchers ask questions about which brand to go with or how to do the solution to their problem they are closer to the purchase decision and you need to ensure you have content to answer their questions.
The audience know they have a problem. They have a good idea about the solution they want and are either looking for the DIY how to or which company they will choose. This is where reviews, FAQ pages, and how to crowdsource articles fit in.
If you want to pitch a how story to a new media platform, do the same thing as with the Why and What questions – this time though, you are going to give them the How and which article ideas.
The last intent is the Transactional Search Intent for Brand Storytelling
This intent belongs in the bottom of the funnel – Your client’s website or e-commerce platform fits into these searches, by this time in the customer journey – it is click buy and checkout.
Discover more about digital marketing funnels and why they are so important
Brand Story Funnel
Brand Storytelling Quotes
‘Successful organisations and companies share the stage with their best storytellers. Brands are a collection of narratives. Unleash your best stories.’
Carmine Gallo, author and keynote speaker.
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
JOSEPH CAMPBELL, THE POWER OF MYTH
“The world is shaped by two things—stories told and the memories they leave behind.”
Vera Nazarian, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
‘If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.’
Jay Baer, content marketing strategist and keynote speaker.
“It is safe to assume that any individual or group you wish to influence has access to more wisdom than they currently use. It is also safe to assume that they also have considerably more facts than they can process effectively. Giving them, even more facts adds to the wrong pile. They don’t need more facts. They need help finding their wisdom. Contrary to popular belief, bad decisions are rarely made because people don’t have all the facts.”
ANNETTE SIMMONS, STORY FACTOR
How Brand Storytelling Can Improve Your Marketing Strategy
In the world of content creation, companies have an endless variety of marketing options to choose from.
Today’s digital media makes it more difficult for consumers to filter through the companies that actually show a more human side. Through brand storytelling, you can reach your customers in a more meaningful way. In fact, this type of content creation can actually help you reach more people and build stronger relationships with your core audience.
While offering exceptional products and services is always a good thing, it’s also vital to be able to express what you have to offer in a way that helps your business stand out.
Rather than relying on customer reviews and statistics alone, brand storytelling allows you to give the actual history of your product and your company. It’s the brand legacy, what makes your business human, and how you are different from other competitors who might offer something similar. Using your platform to tell an in-depth, colorful story will leave a lasting impression on people who will likely return for more of what you have to offer in the future.
The key to effective band storytelling is using emotions to draw people in.
Customers often forget about a store, product, or website unless it leaves some kind of emotional imprint on their hearts and minds. In fact, emotions can drive people to make a purchase more than almost any other type of marketing.
Using information and telling stories about what makes your business unique is one of the most effective ways to reach out to people and to get repeat customers in the future.
Make sure that you clearly communicate your values and what your company stands for. This will inspire people to buy from you and to tell your story as they reach out to others.
The simple act of meaningful storytelling is one of the best and strongest marketing strategies out there today that will build trust and lasting relationships.
Subscribe for Brand Storytelling Guidance
Subscribers receive notifications about new content to help you tell your brand story. Subscribe to learn when APeeling books are published.
MarketAPeel Members get MORE... tips, guidance, challenges, special content newsletters, community, promotion opportunities.
bottom of page