You need a powerful brand story in order to create a positive perception of your brand within your target market. That is because on top of solving their needs, people need to attach some emotional value to your product or service for them to be loyal. They need to know your journey and history, and how your brand story relates to their personal stories, for you to earn their loyalty and engagement. They need to get a sense of a bigger purpose and meaning in the services and products you sell.
As an employer, you need to create a strong employer brand in order to make your organization a desirable place to work. Your employee compensation, benefits packages, and employment terms have to be appealing in the eyes of potential employees if you are to attract the best talents in today’s labor market. You also have to quantify your employer brand by curating a strong narrative about you as a professional and an expert in your field, and what an honor it would be for a top-shelf talent to choose to work for your organization.
However, having the best brand story in your niche isn’t enough to generate the results you need. You have to communicate the story to the audience in a manner that they understand. If your goal is to hire international employees, you should liaise with a global PEO, such as NH Global Partners, to communicate your employer brand story. Communicating your brand story can help you better recruit and retain top talent. Overall, a strong brand story is instrumental in attracting the right customer, the right people, to your business. That is why you should read the following 5 tips on how to create and, through simple marketing, communicate a brand story that resonates with every audience you target.
1. Humanize your brand
Be human when marketing your products or services. You know, loosen up like you do when talking to a good friend. Be charming like you would be if you were chatting with your love interest over drinks or coffee. Be persuasive and professional, but be more of a likeable, knowledgeable, and cultured friend. Don’t talk down your customers and prospects. Don’t be disrespectful or dismissive of their faith and beliefs, their culture, or even their feelings. Don’t dwell over the customer’s English proficiency, or the quality of your grammar for that matter, as long as you understand each other. Go slow on jargon and bone shakers and instead focus on developing your messaging; pouring out everything you want to say on paper. Finally, edit your message multiple times and get it reviewed by multiple experts before you get it out there. That ensures that nothing offensive, inappropriate, or irrelevant reaches the target audience.
Bottom line: Be real when telling your brand story. Make your target audience feel like they are conversing with a real, considerate human being every time they listen to your message.
2. Focus on authenticity
Tell people about your products, but this time focus on the strengths that have brought about the final products they know and love. Make the story as authentic as possible and don’t lie about anything. Don’t take photos with fake customers. Don’t pay fake reviewers to give you 5-stars online. Unless you are ready to follow through with a promise, please don’t promise anything.
If a detail in your story is unpleasant, it is better to avoid it altogether than to flip it so that it works for you. Always remember that you are not the only character in your story, so someone might call you out for lying. What’s more, it is better for audiences to hear about your weaknesses from you because you have the chance of explaining how you have risen over those weaknesses over the years, as opposed to when someone else snitches on you. You can easily lose trust with your audience as a result of dishonesty.
3. Offer value in every message you get out there
Offer value in every piece of content you share with your audience. You don’t have to tell the whole story at once. Just share a few meaningful, relevant, relatable, and strategic content pieces instead of long-form content that most people choose to scroll through. Customers will engage more with your story and even share it with their associates if they find substance in it.
4. Be an authority voice
Answer questions for which you are an expert. Solve a problem through the story. Be an authoritative voice on social media and other online platforms. Incite emotion by telling people how someone or a group of people had a problem and how your company and its products and/or services solved/is trying to solve that problem.
5. Get customers involved
Get your fan base involved in telling your brand story. You can, for example, interview loyal customers on how your products have helped them in life. Share videos and images of happy clients. Encourage honest online customer reviews. Let your customers determine your brand messaging by asking them what they want to hear, and from whom.
Conclusion
Communicating your brand story is a perfect way to engineer moments of human connection. Don’t leave it at that, though.
Use the connections you make to make conversions and grow your profits by including powerful calls to action to every story you share. Don’t make your CTA sound like a sales pitch or request for purchase. Make it sound like an invitation for audiences to be part of your brand story.
