Eight Ways to Improve Your Brand’s Storytelling

THE STORY A company tells to its audience has a direct impact on the way its potential customers think and feel about its brand. Whether you want to inspire trust, encourage a feeling of camaraderie or build subject matter authority, the way you communicate your message will often determine how successful you are as a business. In this way, your ability to weave a narrative into your brand messaging should be a skill you are always looking to improve upon.

As business leaders themselves, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have experience sharing the stories of their own brands. Here, they offer their help by recommending their top tips for how to improve your storytelling to better communicate your brand’s message to your intended audience.

Stay True to Your Brand

Be authentic. Today’s consumers are more online than ever, and they’re flooded with content that is designed to capture their attention. Authenticity, no matter what that looks like for your brand, is a refreshing change of pace for most consumers — and one that will create a longer-lasting, more positive impression than hyper-targeted or gimmicky storytelling. – Evan Nison, NisonCo

Leverage Various Storytelling Mediums

Of course, be authentic and transparent, but use a mix of written content, videos, images, podcasts, social media and other mediums that suit your audience’s diverse preferences. Tailor your storytelling techniques to the specific medium, ensuring consistency in the core brand message. Different people engage with content in various ways, so diversifying the content mix is key to success. – Harrison Wise, Wise Collective Inc.

Add a Human Element

Brands can improve their storytelling by adding a human element. People relate to people, not products. So, share stories of real individuals who have benefited from your brand. Show your audience the human side of your brand — the people behind the product — and how it affects lives. This not only makes your message relatable, but it also instills trust and loyalty. – Adam Ayers, Number 5

Tap Into Your Audience’s Emotions

Incorporating emotional storytelling is a powerful way for a brand to enhance its storytelling and communicate its message to the intended audience. By tapping into the emotions of their target audiences, brands can create a deep and lasting connection beyond simple product features or benefits. Emotional storytelling allows brands to captivate their audiences, evoke empathy and inspire action. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

Listen to What Your Customers Are Saying

Listen to how your best customers talk about your products. You can have all the best ideas and intentions, but there’s nothing more valuable than seeing how people interact with your brand in the real world. If people are consistently saying similar things, chances are that reinforcing those same themes in your brand communications will draw in equally strong new customers. – Charlie Friedmann, Proxies

Encourage Feedback Loops

Create open lines of communication that encourage a continuous feedback loop. It involves not merely broadcasting messages, but actively incorporating the audience’s views and experiences into the storytelling narrative. This makes the brand’s storytelling more authentic and compelling while ensuring its message deeply resonates with the audience, fostering a shared identity and purpose. – Tim Haldorsson, Lunar Strategy

Invite Your Audience to Participate

Discover new methods to express your brand’s voice. Instead of solely promoting your brand to your desired audience, invite them to participate in sharing their reasons for engaging with your brand. Content featuring personal narratives on your various platforms can significantly humanize your brand and make it more relatable. – Michael Klein, cannabisMD

Offer New Perspectives on Customer Passions

Understand consumer passion points. Identify ways to associate and immerse your brand in those passion points. Find ways to deliver consumers new perspectives on the areas of culture they love. – Glenn Minerley, Momentum Worldwide

Source: Rollingstone.com