Who is the hero of your brand story? This question is critical to how we help our clients connect with their customers. Because if the hero of your company’s story is yourself, you’ve got a problem. With the right framework, you can optimize your messaging to better connect with your audience and reposition your storytelling so that your customer emerges as the hero.
Having worked at KWSM for more than seven years, in my role as Director of Accounts, I’ve collaborated with a wide range of clients. Despite coming from diverse industries, they share a common objective: to boost engagement with their customers and, as a result, drive business growth. This is achieved by crafting brand storytelling around what we call “The Hero’s Journey.”
The Science of Brand Storytelling
To see success in your marketing, you must have messaging that addresses the key problems that your audience is facing and ensure it takes minimal effort to understand your content. If you don’t, your customers’ brains can’t compute how this message relates to the need to survive, therefore deprioritizing it. The more complex your messaging, the more energy they will need to exude to understand it.
Where some business owners find this most challenging is when fighting the natural instinct to make your marketing story about you and your company. But your customers are wired to see that type of messaging and immediately disregard it because it doesn’t address the need to survive.
Instead, position your messaging to address the single most important issue that your audience is facing and make it clear and easy to understand. By putting your audience’s needs first, you are addressing what their brain sees as most important.
Related Article: What is a Brand Journalism Approach to Content Marketing?
Crafting Compelling Brand Narratives
Keeping the science in mind, there are a few different elements that all brand messaging should follow to best connect with your audience and their needs.
- Clarify the Challenge: Articulate the specific issue your audience faces.
- Depict the Resolution: Illustrate the positive change your audience can expect by overcoming their challenge.
- Present Your Role: Share how you intend to guide them towards this resolution.
- Integrate Your Service: Explain how your offering is crucial in achieving this transformation.
You can still tell your story, but that should come in the form of empathy and authority. You are the guide for your customers, and they are the main character in the story. As the guide, you have experienced the problem they are facing before, and you have the solution to help solve this problem.
“Everyone loves feeling like the hero of a narrative; it’s human nature. While some marketing techniques appeal to that part of the consumer’s brain, they do so in a roundabout way, which can turn customers off and lose them before you even have a chance to pitch your service or product. Taking a brand story approach trims the fat and streamlines messaging to make your copy not only more easily digestible but more effective.“
- Josh Rodriguez, Copywriter, KWSM: a digital marketing agency
Case Study: Brand Storytelling for Websites
At KWSM, we’ve seen firsthand the success of implementing this story-driven approach. Our client, a Riverside, California-based CPA who specializes in financial care for senior citizens, was interested in increasing the number of leads that her website produces.
After auditing her website, we noticed that her messaging was geared toward a more general audience, and not focusing enough on her prime demographic. Our copywriting team reworked her brand story to speak directly to a senior audience and address their pain points – not just outline her services.
By creating a website that speaks directly to the financial complexities that emerge as we age, our client presents herself as a guide who has empathy and experience and, as a result, has seen an improvement in SEO ranking, website traffic, and lead generation – the website now brings in about 15 new high-quality leads a month!
Incorporate Brand Storytelling in Your Messaging with KWSM
At KWSM, we utilize a content creation strategy that is designed to form a connection. Our mission is to illuminate your role as the mentor guiding your customers, the true protagonists, toward the solution they seek. By fine-tuning your story to highlight their journey and needs, you will enhance your connection with your audience and elevate the impact of your messaging.
If you’re ready to refocus your brand messaging to drive more meaningful engagement, our team is here to lead the way. Connect with us, and together, let’s craft a narrative that places your audience at the center, transforming engagement into lasting relationships.
