How can you make your brand's story more memorable?

In relationships, we need reasons to believe in the people, businesses and causes we stand behind, and for someone to believe in us. Companies spend a lot of time developing products and services, creating messaging and engagement, nurturing customers and prospects. Why? To create reasons to believe (which often lead to reasons to buy). To powerfully communicate these reasons and instill a clear sense of mission for customers and employees, companies and organizations must create a rallying cry. A rallying cry elevates a business, taking it beyond a features and benefits or price-comparison perspective. It delivers a manifesto, an aspirational message that inspires staff, partners, investors, clients and the media.

Human stories are memorable, so Brands can build stories that are emotional and relatable to their TG. Understanding of TG will help you identify the elements that are a must for the Brand Story & then make use of emotions to talk about it in an elaborative manner. You retain stories that are relatable so make sure to create a narrative that majority TG can connect to. Though we need to study the trends but don't go overboard with trends. Try creating a timeless story based in human relationships so that you don't have to build the narrative again which would affect the Brand Recall. Lastly, have a powerful voice to tell the story. Purpose driven stories are powerful enough to get the rippling effect. for example: Base it in Environment

It’s worth remembering that your brand story isn’t simply the story of your product. Separating out people, including: - Talent, prospects, customers, investors, from - Product - what you do, and how you do it, Means you’re setting up a human and product story for your brand from day one. This makes it easier to build both the rational, and emotional, stories you will need to build - and sustain- a meaningful brand story.

Before you start writing your brand story, you need to identify who your target market is because that determines how to communicate with them. What appeals to one group will turn another group off, so your messaging has to be tailored to the kind of people you want as clients. This enables you to tap into their emotions, making you more persuasive. Obviously this helps you to earn more clients, but it also helps you to be more effective because they’ll be more likely to follow your advice. You need to know exactly what excites, motivates, annoys, and scares them, and what they stand for. But it’s also critical that you’re authentic. You could tell the best story, but if your views don’t align with theirs, they’ll see through you.

Keep it simple and relatable. Use storytelling techniques to create an emotional connection. Highlight what sets your brand apart and be consistent in your messaging.

Avoid the vanilla proposition. The number one mistake B2B communicators make is saying the same thing as everyone else. Many try to cast their nets as far and wide as possible because they're afraid to be too specific and miss out on potential briefs. But a one-size-fits-all approach truly fits no one. What's your unique selling proposition? Write down the three reasons your audience should buy from you and not your competitors. Individually, these things might not make you stand out. But combined, they should be truly unique. If you don't have that, it's back to the drawing board.

You need to find something about your brand story that hooks people emotionally. One way is something called “The Heroes Journey” which you’ve probably seen from countless brands, but it’s also the basis for most movies too. Some other ways to hook your audience are to: ? Address their sense of fairness. ? Leverage their passion for a cause. ? Identify a legitimate fear or risk. ? Leverage their desire for money. ? Create an us vs. them mindset Obviously, there are a virtually unlimited number of ways to do this, and you can combine several together to create a more powerful effect.

Ideally, your brand story "hook" will be something your audience can directly relate to, as well as something your competitors can't replicate. This way it will not only interest your audience to learn more, but explain why they should choose you over other options.

What's also important is... Relatability: Make your brand story relatable by featuring real people and real situations. Authenticity helps people connect with and remember your story. Surprise and Uniqueness: Incorporate elements of surprise or uniqueness into your narrative. Unexpected twists or distinctive features can make your story stand out. Conflict and Resolution: Like a classic story arc, your brand story can benefit from conflict and resolution. Highlight challenges or obstacles your brand has overcome, making the journey more memorable. Use of Metaphors and Analogies: Analogies and metaphors can simplify complex ideas and make them more memorable. They provide a mental framework for understanding your story.

Finding your 'hook' is like discovering the heartbeat of your brand. It's that punchy, irresistible element that grabs people's attention amidst all the noise. We're living in an age of distraction, so you've got to ask yourself, 'What makes my content different? Why should someone stop scrolling and listen to what I've got to say?' That's your hook! It could be your personal story, a unique perspective, or an innovative solution you offer. It's not just about being louder; it's about being more relevant, more genuine. Once you've nailed down your hook, the rest flows seamlessly. It's like the chorus in a hit song - it's what people remember and come back for. So, dig deep, find that authentic angle, and lead with it every single time.

When you describe emotions and sensations within your story, you make it more real and vivid for your audience. They can more clearly envision it in their minds, making it more impactful.

Humanizing your brand with relatable language is especially effective for products and services that don't necessarily create emotional connection on their own. For example, the (now) famous $1 Shave Club humanized an absolutely mundane commodity product (razors) in one ad by displaying the exact same shave kit 2x, with one labeled "his" and the other labeled "hers." In doing so, showcasing that it's great for "all humans." Simile and metaphor are also effective tools to humanize your brand and messaging. Again, an example from $1 Shave Club: "Your old razor's so scummy it 'swipes right' on everything."

You know who brings emotion to your story? People. Rather than thinking of them as brand stories, think of of them as people stories. Find the people who can communicate the joy, the humanity, the urgency behind your brand. The people can be our team members, your customers or clients, your partners. Find the people.

Absolutely spot on! Emotion and sensory details are like the secret ingredients that turn a bland story into a blockbuster. When you tap into your audience's feelings and senses, you create a deeper connection that lingers in their memory. Whether it's describing the aroma of your freshly baked goods, the soothing sounds of your product in action, or the heartwarming experiences your brand provides, it's those vivid sensory elements that make your story come alive. So, in the world of storytelling, emotions, and sensory details are your superpowers for crafting a tale that truly sticks.

Enhance your brand story's memorability with emotion and sensory details: - Evoke empathy, curiosity, joy, or inspiration. - Appeal to the senses with vivid descriptions. - Create an engaging, immersive, and memorable narrative.

Try incorporating some of Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" into your brand narrative. Lead with the "Call to Adventure," identifying the customer's problem that your brand can solve. Your product/platform is the mentor, providing the tools for success. Showcase "Trials and Triumphs" through testimonials, illustrating challenges overcome with your solution. Finally, highlight the "Return with the Elixir," where the customer's life is improved. This narrative structure can be engaging and emotionally resonant; distinguishing your story from the rest.

I like to follow the construct of Logos, Pathos, Ethos i.e. logic or rational, followed by emotion and credibility of the person/ brand delivering the message. Similarly, for individuals, the story of self, story of us and story of now is a useful structure that helps build on personal experience, shared values and commonalities followed by a call to action and urgency. This was developed by Harvard professor Marshall Ganz and is very useful to develop social action or purpose led stories.

Craft an impactful brand story with a clear structure: - Utilize the classic three-act format: setup, conflict, resolution. - Introduce your brand, mission, and context in the setup. - Present the problem, obstacle, or opportunity in the conflict. - Showcase your brand's solution and benefits in the resolution.

There are too many tools now that can help with structure. I think this is less of an issue. Make sure that the team is made up of a mixture of minds and experiences to enhance the story.

A call to action is always necessary, but its structure and wording will vary depending on the context it’s displayed in. For example, on your landing pages, it will be clear and direct, but on your “About Us” page, it should be a little more subtle. There are no black and white rules here, but it’s usually best to err on the side of caution.

When you think about making a brand story memorable, the call to action should also be memorable. A reader/viewer who takes time to invest in learning more about your organization should be "paid" with an opportunity to participate. That can include access to exclusive content that is helpful to the audience, or a way to join the organization in giving back to a cause or mission.

Your brand story will evolve over time as your company does, but also, as you share your story, whether online or in person, you’ll gather data that helps you to refine it. Ideally, you should always be looking for opportunities to improve, so watch how people react and test incremental changes. It’s also important to keep track of your changes so you don’t implement things that didn’t work before.

Keep your brand story alive by testing and refining it: - Use tools like surveys, analytics, and social media for feedback. - Experiment with formats, channels, and angles. - Measure impact and effectiveness. - Adapt and evolve your brand story for lasting impact and memorability.

Fill your story with real cases and solutions to problems. Show the story of fall and rise. Fill it with emotions and bright colors.

Don't forget that your brand story is going to evolve over time. As your business grows, so will your audience(s), so take time to build on your story to ensure it remains relevant and compelling to your prospects, customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

Don't follow the box of rules, dare to test your crazy ideas. Just like how Flipkart did for its big billion-day fest ad! We are living in a world with little attention span, and people need "Crazy" ideas that break the "rules"

The PR guru Whitney Houston told us about "one moment in time." I took that challenge to mean how can you bottle up the best of what happened and share it in such a way that feels like everyone is talking about you. To that end I recommend a blog that captures all the coverage or a sizzle video that highlights the best hits. Finally, think about entering your work in a reputable awards program to codify your work!

Content needs more heads then the core team. Teams develop a rhythm and that could be detrimental to creatively breaking barriers.