As a Chamber of Commerce, we are constantly keeping our fingers on the pulse of trends. Our goal is to help our businesses and provide various resources to help them thrive. As most businesses know, online marketing has taken off in the last few years but people still struggle with the question: “What do I post?”
In today’s environment, businesses can no longer afford to be faceless entities. To survive, businesses need to connect with audiences, create a community, and be consistent. That’s where Brand Storytelling comes in. It’s no longer enough to just post a photo with a generic caption: you have to create a cohesive narrative. Brand Storytelling is a cohesive marketing plan that weaves together the facts and emotions that your brand evokes. In addition to giving your customers reasons why they should buy a product or service, businesses need to start sharing the story behind their brand, why it exists, and why this matters, consistently across all communication. Creating “Content Buckets” that weave together behind the scenes of your business with your product is a proven way to be profitable, visible, and break the sea of sameness that so many people scroll through.
You know your product or service is quality or else you wouldn’t provide it, right? But, it’s not enough to only talk about those facts, statistics, and testimonials. Your online marketing strategy should focus on making your brand thoughtful, memorable, and real. Use your captions to tell a story that captivates the audience and simplifies the information. Creating a story will not only make your business more favorable in the eyes of the Algorithm, it will also make you more memorable than a statistic. No one can tell your story, your history, your highs or lows better than you; after all, it’s YOUR BRAND. Statistics can be used by multiple companies, but the story of your brand cannot.
A brand story can do so much more than connect you with your ideal audience, get you noticed in the noise of your competitors’ messaging, and drive profits — it also has the potential to create a major impact.
In today’s day and age, marketing is no longer the key competitive differentiator. Consumers are increasingly demanding for companies to prove how their efforts are making an impact, supporting a cause, and achieving results beyond just profit. Ironically, knowing that a company cares about something other than their own profit is an incentive for consumers to buy more. By shifting your marketing strategy to brand storytelling, you’re giving customers an inside look at the human side of your business.
Where to Start?
We’ve convinced you to consider Brand Storytelling in your 2021 Marketing Strategy? Great! Here are three ways to get started!
1.DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE: A few months ago, the Chamber hosted a “Translating your Brand to Instagram” webinar where we provided a wonderful downloadable workbook for Business Owners to get to the bottom of their story. You can download that workbook by clicking here! Use those pages to develop your target audience, your content focus, (Hint: you should have at least 5 areas to focus on), and your story.
2. REVIEW YOUR BRANDING: Take a look at your website. Now your business card. Now a piece of literature you use. And, now open one of your social media pages. Is it all consistent? Are you using the same RGB codes? What about the fonts? Everything you put out there should act as your business card and if you’re not consistent, your customers won’t feel connected. Now is a great time to review your branding and hire an expert to get your brand consistency. The incredible artists at Digho are experts at creating a Brand and can help you do the same. You can visit their website by clicking here. ‘
3. CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT: Branding is all about content and consistency! You should aim to post on social media 3 times a week and the best way to do that is by investing in content. Hiring a professional photographer who specializes in this area of business will elevate not only your social media but your website and marketing materials. Len Marks, of Len Marks Photography, is an expert at creating digital content and can help you bring your brand to the next level in 2021. Learn more about Len Marks by clicking here.
With storytelling the way of the future, we can’t wait to learn more of your stories in 2021. Have a question? Feel free to e-mail leanne@huntingtonchamber.com.