EP: 98 - The Power Of A Compelling Brand Story ...

“Tell your brands real story, not it’s highlight reel.”
 

Welcome to Episode 98: The Power Of A Compelling Brand Story ...
 
Every business and everyone behind it has a story. When done well, business storytelling gives a compelling reason for your audience to buy from you. But an exceptionally powerful brand storytelling experience can inspire trust between you and your audience -- and that’s the main end goal we’re wanting you to go for. Why?

Because brand trust can be the vital difference between someone choosing you or your competitors instead.

After many years of working with different business right across the globe, we noticed that this is where most struggle … finding a true authentic way to connect with people. And we truly believe that storytelling is the answer that bridges that gap.

Here's what we will be untangling in this episode ...

• The 3 Ss of brand storytelling
• Interesting statistics on brand trust
• How to build brand trust and set expectations
• Top steps on creating follow through
• 4 key traits to drive away stale content 

Are you ready?
Pop in your awesome earbuds and let's dive in!

Transcript

Every business and everyone behind it has a story.

When done well, business storytelling gives a compelling reason for your audience to buy from you. But an exceptionally powerful brand storytelling experience can inspire trust between you and your audience -- and that’s the main end goal we’re wanting you to go for. 

Why?

Because brand trust can be the vital difference between someone choosing you or your competitors instead.

After many years of working with different business right across the globe, we noticed that this is where most struggle … finding a true authentic way to connect with people. And we truly believe that storytelling is the answer that bridges that gap.
 

While doing some research on the very topic of customer experience and brand trust, we can across some interesting statistics …

• 65% of consumers have switched brand loyalties because the experience didn’t match what they had been promised by the brand’s image.
• Younger consumers are likely to leave if they feel their experience hasn’t lived up to what they’ve been led to believe. 
• 70% of Gen Z and millennials have switched brands because the customer experience didn’t meet their expectations. 
• For older consumers, customer loyalty only goes so far -- more than 50% would leave if expectations aren’t met even the slightest.

So, creating a solid foundation of brand trust can help you to retain loyal customers even when they have one-off experiences that don’t meet expectations. To build brand trust and a reputation for following through means that when your audience or customers have a negative interaction, they see it as a one-off, rather than how your brand typically operates.

We’re all human and yes, we sometimes admittedly make mistakes. So, we want to build a compelling brand and story that services us and them well. This way, when a hiccup does actually happen, they perceive it as just that … a “one-off” because they know and TRUST us well. 
 

Now let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of it all … and get to creating that compelling brand story you need to up your game, empower your brand, and make you stand out! 

Storytelling is an ancient and valuable art that extends around the globe.

In it’s true form it is the art of conveying a series of events in magical words which are often supported by creative thinking or an exaggeration.

Finding and telling the story that gives your brand meaning and helps your audience develop a sense of loyalty and affection for your business is a pivotal element of a successful business strategy. 

To accomplish this, all you have to remember is the three Ss of storytelling:

Speed, story, and sizzle. 

With SPEED … Consumers have an 8-second attention span, which is 1 second less than a goldfish. Ouch! That means you have 8 seconds to get people interested in what you have to say before they get bored and swim away. So, make it snappy.

Then with STORY … You must engage them emotionally, make them feel a connection with your brand and with your message. Do that by telling them a story.

As humans, we respond to story on a primal level, and we crave the meaning that they give. If you want people to take notice of what you’re creating, doing, and offering, you must tap into the power of story. 

And lastly with some good SIZZLE … You need to find a way to make your story interesting, innovative, exciting, and impactful – all the while triggering their emotions and solving their pain points. Because when your message is interesting and relatable, it’s also memorable. 
 
Remember the Old Spice guy? Of course you do, because he is interesting, funny, and ultimately left an impression on you.

Okay so, now that you have the framework to create your brand story, it’s time to talk about one of the biggest brand secrets the “big folks” don’t tell you about … 

BUILDING BRAND TRUST. 

Brand trust and loyal customers won’t be built overnight (even though that’s the dream, am I right?!) -- but with a sensible strategy for brand management, you can create a reputation that will draw new customers in and keep existing customers from leaving.

Here’s a short list of “untangling” best practices to help you get started or improve your brand trust through the art of your compelling story -- and customer loyalty. And to do that, you need to SET EXPECTATIONS.

The setup and delivery on audience expectations is at the core of creating a business that people will feel comfortable with and trust. Creating and meeting expectations in their minds requires a thorough understanding of what they are looking for THEN create a stunning strategy to build awareness of how your brand solves their pain points.

And in order to achieve all that, here’s a few pointers:

• Make sure you understand your target audience on a granular level.
• Offer customers information that guides them to solutions they want.
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
• Promote your brand values -- and stick to them.
• Be transparent.

Then comes the next virtual puzzle piece … the FOLLOW THROUGH.

Now you’ve set up the expectations for your brand, you need to follow through. And to help with these next steps, here’s a few ways to achieve that: 
 

#1. OFFER CONSISTENCY.
Meeting expectations means setting up an experience to deliver and follow through in the way you said you would. Any failure to follow through consistently will be a negative mark against your brand -- and this will affect your brand trust. So, following through consistently on the experience you’ve promised will keep your audience and customers coming back for more – because you will become the brand they trust. 
 

#2. FOCUS ON QUALITY.
Sometimes we’re way too busy and our days get all garbled. And when this happens, it can be tempting to focus just on quantity when it comes to sales and our customers. But that’s the wrong move … Quality is vital for amplifying your brand trust. 
 
 Think of things this way … If you sell a million offerings but they’re unreliable and frequently not up to par or as you promised (and it doesn’t matter whether this “offering” is a product or a service), that failure to meet those expectations – which you set for yourself might I add -- will likely be flagged on social media and reviews, and subsequently reflected in your brand trust. And nobody wants that!

 #3. PRESERVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS.
There is truly no point in building trust in a relationship with your business to then lose it through lack of care. So, you need to engage with your people as well … Follow up not just with customers who’ve had a bad experience, but shyer customers who frequently don’t reach out. Send automated, personalized messages to them all as part of your marketing communications to help them feel connected to your brand. Make them feel like they are the reason you do what you do -- because it’s the truth and they deserve it.

#4. SHARE THE LOVE.
Once you’ve started to instill trust, it’s time to get your loyal peeps to spread the word on how they feel about your brand. They are your missing puzzle piece to growing trust beyond your regular audience -- and this will help do your marketing for you.
 
 To be quite honest, before I go to a new store, eat at a new restaurant, hire a contractor or a new team member I make Google my BFF and do a search on them. I check their socials, their website, and read their reviews as this helps me gauge the type of experience I am about to have with them.

Then from here on out, it’s a simple rinse n’ repeat of this 4-step process.

As I’ve said before, consistency is key to building brand trust. Repeating the above steps and making sure that you’re measuring how you’re doing will be instrumental in creating a trustworthy image in the public eye.

Now as I sit back and reflect on my past few business years, it dawned on me how quickly this fresh new year is rushing by … it’s already the last day of January for fuck sakes!

Some were in a scramble at the end of last year and even now, some are still stuck in that same scramble trying to figure out where they left off, how they want to start, what goals are on the books for this year, and how they’re going to tackle it all … To Team VU, that’s a hogwash way to start off a new year chapter -- but sometimes business life gets away from us and there’s not much we can do about it.

Actually that’s not true … there’s plenty one can do to prevent this. But that’s a story for another day. And if you’ve been listening to all our “untangling” episodes from the past few years, we talked a lot about how to prevent that “scramble”.

Setting that aside for a minute and getting back to the topic at hand, it’s truly about good content in all its forms … with a compelling story at the very top of that list.

Content attracts readers and builds strong communities. And if it’s really good, can even go viral. But if it’s not, well … that’s a whole other story altogether. 

Stale, under-performing content will just drive your audience away. But it’s not like you don’t have options! So, if you’re looking to gain the trust of your audience (which we all are), always be thinking about everything I shared with you today, alongside, these next four very important traits …

• CONSISTENCY by delivering regularly and reliable content every single time.
• PERSONALIZATION based on what you learn from you audience.
• RISK APPROPRIATION as you need to void asking for anything before providing true value. And …
• CUMULATION as you must always be building on what came before. 

Compelling stories gets people excited, it’s relatable, and it’s a successful marketing strategy across the board. No matter your niche or offerings. In all honesty, it has become a way to give businesses a personality, make things more human in a tech heavy world, and brings data to life. It makes a connection, and it’s powerful. 

To round today’s entire Digital Glue “untangling” episode into a few simple words … it all boils down to this one sentence …

TELL YOUR BRANDS REAL STORY, NOT IT’S HIGHLIGHT REEL.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re publishing your brand story on your website, on social media, or using it to inform your overall mission – the overall goal is to make sure it’s fact, not fiction. 
 
 Spitting out a highlight reel, like almost every other brand does, won’t resonate with people. Instead, it's crucial you tell the honest to goodness truth about the adversity your business has faced (or is facing), and how you’re working to overcome your very own pain points. Because what people relate to and get inspired by isn’t endless success -- it’s the rocky journey of pursuing a goal, getting knocked down, and, ultimately, finding a path toward success.