How to Tell a Captivating Brand Story that Keeps Your Target Prospects Coming Back for More [Part 1]

Why is it important for a company to be able to tell its story in a captivating way?

A bunch of reasons here:

• To capture and hook the attention of cold prospects who know nothing about you,
• to trigger an innate, biological response in readers (or viewers) that literally releases happy drugs into their brains,
• and to create a connection with consumers and have them relate to you on a human level, which leads to emotional investment, which leads to customer loyalty…which leads to more sales.

(Let’s not tiptoe around this shit, this is why we’re all here)

Stories captivate us. We spend our hard-earned money to watch movies and read books. Without even thinking about it, we're drawn towards commercials that have a protagonist going through some sort of conflict, and our brain literally craves a resolution to it.

(The next time you have your TV on as background noise while you scroll through whatever dumb app it is on your phone, notice which commercials drag your eyes up from your tiny screen to your bigger screen)

Everyone loves a good story - and I'm 99.9999 percent sure your brand has tons of good stories to tell. It's an incredibly useful tool in your arsenal - and it's free. It's basically unlimited content. So tell the dang stories.

Hey, I don’t know you personally - but I can say with confidence, whether it’s the story of how you built your business, the struggles you might have gone through in life, the ups and downs of growing up, or how Burger King messed up your order last weekend, 

Everything that has happened to you can be turned into a story worth telling.

You know better than anyone the heat that ran through your chest when you were denied your first loan. You know better than anyone the feeling of sleepless nights weighing on your eyelids like 20 pound weights. You know better than anyone the triumph of making your first sale. 

Whether you’re telling a two paragraph story in your company’s email sequence or you’re writing a massive sales letter, telling a genuine story is vital to getting to the heart of your consumer.

People crave genuine connections - and how better to create genuine connections than by telling genuine stories? 

Part 1: Know Your Audience Like the Back of Your Hand

Let’s point out the obvious first. Every story isn’t built for every kind of person. Some people love romance stories, some people run on action movies, some people resonate with inspiration, some people just want to laugh and see the light side of life.

So who are you selling to?

Who is the person buying your product? Why is she buying your product? What is her deepest fear? What makes her happy? What does she do in her free time? 

Describe your target avatar in detail. 

Tell me what time they wake up. Tell me the food they hate. Tell me about the moles on their face. Tell me about their childhood rival who they still have nightmares about.

Notice I said “the person buying your product” and not “the people buying your product.” 

Focus down to one, true target avatar. Paint the picture of them in your head. I know of some copywriters who will research, get the picture of their target in their head, go on Google images, and literally print out the person’s face and stick it up on their wall as they write to them.

Too extreme? Not extreme enough?! You be the judge.

Chances are, if you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve already heard from your customers, which is obviously tremendous source of information. 

But should you need further research on your target market, dive into the the lion’s den. Go hang out where they hang out. YouTube, Reddit, Facebook - it’s all gold. Those people are genuine people. Take note of the exact phrasing they use when they complain about things. 

Anna, age 32, from Delaware, has two kids, freckles on her cheeks, hates bananas, wants to go to Argentina, doesn’t want to die alone, currently wants a Chalupa from Taco Bell, etc.

You get the picture. Know who you’re writing to.

As my favorite author in the entire world (Kurt Vonnegut) once said: 

“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”

Once you know who you're writing to, then we can get down to creating a relatable voice and crafting a narrative that will keep them engaged.

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That's it for today. Stay tuned for the next parts where we discuss building a genuine voice and narrative for your brand.

If you're looking for seasoned storyteller to help you craft your brand's narrative, drop me a line.

[email protected]