6 Mistakes Most Businesses Make When Telling Their Brand’s Story

The business landscape is becoming increasingly fiercer and companies are struggling to set themselves apart from the competition. Providing the best products or services in a particular category doesn’t guarantee instant success and solving the consumer’s problems is no longer enough too.?

These days, customers gravitate towards businesses that offer authenticity and human connection. For instance, the cosmetics start-up Glossier managed to disrupt the entire beauty industry by emphasizing its focus on make-up that celebrates, rather than hides, natural beauty.?

Thanks to this strong brand narrative, it now enjoys more than 3 million customers, leading to an estimated valuation of about $1.2 billion –?something that took decades for other established companies in the space to achieve.?

Glossier is just one of the many businesses out there whose dominance of their industry was due to how their strategies sought to highlight their unique story. Another example is Aerie, whose focus on body positivity and inclusion allowed them to topple other well-known lingerie brands, including Victoria’s Secret.?

From these examples, it’s clear that a brand’s narrative plays a crucial role in sustaining a business. Implementing strategies with that in mind enables companies to boost their sales and strengthen customer relationships.?

In fact, research shows that 55% of customers are more likely to buy a product in the future if its brand story resonates with them.?

Here’s the thing, though. While a lot of companies are now beginning to acknowledge the importance of brand storytelling, many of them are failing to communicate it properly. Unfortunately, this has resulted in customers feeling alienated and downright infuriated by the messages they’ve received.?

If you don’t want the same thing to happen to your business, then keep in mind these six mistakes that brands often make when telling their story.?

1. Focusing on Sounding Smart and Complex?

Companies strive to be perceived as experts in their particular industry, and for good reason. After all –?what customer wants to buy from a business that doesn’t know the ins and outs of the product or service that they’re providing?

However, there comes a point when the brand’s storytelling becomes so long-winded and verbose that they end up distancing their customer. For instance, their marketing campaigns may use industry-specific jargon that the average customer is unable to comprehend. Or they may fail to explain technical specifications in a way that can be easily understandable by people who have no prior knowledge about the product or service.?

There’s a difference between sounding snobby and sounding like an authority figure who knows what they’re talking about. This distinction is even more important in brand storytelling when you aren’t sure about the limitations of your audience’s knowledge.?

How to Avoid: If you want customers to easily understand your brand’s story, then opt for simplicity and unambiguity. Keep in mind that there are interferences between you and the recipient of your message so don’t introduce any complications that might serve to widen the gap even more.?

2. Mythologizing the Products or Services?

It’s natural that a company wants their product or service to be perceived as the best possible choice in the industry; however, blatantly emphasizing this in their narrative only makes them look arrogant and unreliable. Customers are smart enough that nothing is absolutely perfect and thus, many become automatically suspicious of brands that portray themselves as such.?

Consumers today value brands that are sincere and authentic, which is why marketing strategies that are hinged on exaggeration and boasting no longer appeal to them. For a narrative to be effective, it has to be genuine, with a focus on building and fostering human connection.?

Among the companies that do this best is Nike, whose “Just Do It” campaign is often regarded as a pioneer in the switch to more authentic marketing strategies. Not only do its collaterals do a great job of communicating the brand’s values, but it also resonates with customers because of the positive feelings that they inspire.?

By focusing on the professional athletes that use their athletic wear, rather than on the products themselves, Nike is able to make themselves appear as the best in the industry without arrogantly stating it outright.?

How to Avoid: To build a sincere and effective narrative, you have to put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Refrain from seeking praise and admiration from your target audience. Instead, focus on building a genuine human connection with them.?

3. Emphasizing the Economic Gains?

Companies have always been encouraged to provide their customers with exclusive discounts, coupon codes, and deals that allow them to save money. It can’t be denied that this is an effective strategy; however, its effects are less than desirable when combined with brand storytelling.?

When communicating its narrative, a business should concentrate on building and strengthening the relationships it has with consumers. Hooking them with an emotional element then ending it with a discount or a coupon code cheapens the entire narrative, destroying whatever bond that the customer may have already begun to form.?

Naturally, consumers are always seeking ways to save money on purchases they want to make but this is the last thing on their mind when in the process of forming a genuine relationship with a brand. Because of this, it’s important that your narrative focuses on how your product or service will enrich the audience’s lives, rather than the economic gains that they stand to receive from it.?

How to Avoid: Instead of a finale that offers discounts and coupon codes, introduce an open ending instead that invites the audience to engage with your brand. For example, create a conversation by asking them questions that will make them think about how they can benefit from using your product or service.????

4. Failing to Provide Brand Consistency?

Brand storytelling is often done on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter due to the massive reach that these have. Businesses have long been encouraged to go where their customers are and today’s consumers are spending the majority of their time browsing through these channels.?

Because of this, many have started to invest in their social media content. In fact, as of 2018, a staggering 97% of Fortune 500 companies use at least one platform to engage with customers and highlight their initiatives. This number has only increased throughout the years, especially with the rise of new channels like TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.???

While businesses are now focused on building their social media empires, a lot of them neglect to emphasize consistency. Not only are their posts illogically staggered, but the messages that they communicate also appear discordant with each other. For example, their photos on Instagram were published with week-long gaps in between, or their graphics were too strange and old-fashioned for their younger target audience.?

Apple is perhaps the best example to illustrate how powerful brand consistency can be. The tech company has made a name for itself by designing products to be sleek, intuitive, and convenient. These values aren’t just restricted to their iPhones and laptops, though. Rather, the company strives to ensure that every aspect of their operations communicates these, as well.?

For instance, their store representatives are trained to focus on visitor engagement instead of sales targets. Their marketing collaterals are also simple and streamlined, without the flashy elements that others in the industry tend to have.

How to Avoid: Set a social media calendar to make sure that posts are published regularly and in a timely manner. Additionally, you should also establish clear guidelines when telling your brand’s story. For example, besides standardizing the color palette and font styles used in your marketing campaigns, they should also be consistent across all collaterals too.??

5. Forgetting Current Customers?

Sustaining a business means driving leads and sales, which is why companies often invest in brand storytelling as a way to increase their consumers base. However, in their bid to appeal to new audiences, many of them inadvertently forget about their current customers and end up alienating even the most loyal of them.??

Unfortunately, a lot of businesses overlook the importance of their existing consumer base. Research shows that it’s five to 25x more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. More importantly, people who have already tried out a particular product or service are more likely to spend more and purchase more frequently.

Brand storytelling shouldn’t just concentrate on developing and increasing your business. Rather, it should also focus on strengthening the relationships that you already have. Keep in mind that customers who feel heard, appreciated, and taken care of are more likely to spread the word about your product or service to their friends and family members. Not only do you receive their unwavering loyalty, but you’ll also enjoy the benefits of organic marketing.?

How to Avoid: When telling your brand’s story, the narrative shouldn’t feel alienating to your current consumer base. The only way to achieve this is through market research so make sure that you have a feedback system in place to hear what your customers have to say. Doing so will allow you to develop messages that resonate with them.?

6. Overlooking the Social Climate?

The past few years have seen more and more customers supporting companies whose activities were aligned with their personal advocacies. In fact, a recent study conducted by Kantar found that 68% of consumers in the United States expect brands to be clear about their values, with Millennials and Generation Z being the most upfront about this expectation. To add to that, research shows that 92% of consumers claim to perceive a brand more positively if they support a social or environmental issue.?

These statistics illustrate the importance of businesses becoming aware of social issues and aligning themselves with them. However, this also means that they should be more careful with how they tell their brand story lest consumers perceive it as tone-deaf or insensitive.?

A recent example of this would be KFC whose United Kingdom arm released a campaign back in February 2020 that involved their usual slogan “finger-licking good.” The timing of this was incredibly poor, though, given that many countries at the time were experiencing their first bout with the COVID-19 outbreak. It garnered a ton of negative reactions from consumers and was immediately suspended.??

How to Avoid: Stay up to date on current events and issues to ensure that your business tells your brand story in a sensitive and empathetic way. The last thing you’d want is for your company to be regarded by consumers as uncaring and callous.?

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These are just six of the many mistakes that brands often make when telling their story. What do you think are other common pitfalls that businesses should avoid? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section down below –?I’d love to hear from you!