7 Ways Your Brand Story Helps Drive Success Learn how your brand story can help drive your small business's success.

Some companies spend millions of dollars a year to share their brand positioning with prospective and current customers. Many jingles and slogans are ingrained in our memory because we have been highly exposed to them through these massive campaigns – I'm sure you can think of several off the top of your head.

For most small businesses, however, a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign is likely not an option. Therefore, small-business owners, like you, need every advantage available.

One powerful tool that's often overlooked is the brand story – your brand story.

What is a brand story?

A brand story is a narrative that encompasses the values and mission of your business. It goes beyond what you sell and delves into why you exist, what you stand for, and how you're different. It's the emotional and value-based foundation of your brand that resonates with your audience.

Yes, we need sales and customer transactions, but your brand's strength is in its ability to have a strong and deep connection with your customer base.

A business's brand story typically includes:

- The origin of the business

- The problem the business sets out to solve

- The business's unique approach or solution

- The values that drive the business

- The vision for the future

A good brand story isn't just a chronological history of your small business. It's a strategic narrative that links the business's past, present, and future in a way that engages and inspires the target audience.

This story is told over time through brand messaging via a variety of channels, like your website, social media, email marketing, your sales team, advertising, and more. But the central place where you can really showcase your brand story is your website, where you control the narrative and the content—think your "About Us" page.

Why is a brand story important?

A well-crafted brand story can be a powerful asset to drive your small business's success because it helps to:

1. Create emotional connection: Stories have a unique power to evoke emotions. When customers connect emotionally with your brand, they're more likely to become loyal advocates. Your story can inspire, motivate, or resonate with your audience on a personal level.

2. Build trust: A genuine story can humanize your brand, making it more relatable and trustworthy to potential customers. By sharing your journey, including challenges and successes, you demonstrate authenticity and transparency.

3. Provide context: It can give meaning to your products or services, helping customers understand the 'why' behind what you do. This context can justify your pricing, explain your processes, or highlight the quality of your offerings.

4. Enhance memorability: People often remember stories better than facts or features. A compelling visual story told through videos and images can be particularly engaging and shareable and can help make your business more memorable in a crowded marketplace.

5. Guide brand development: Your story serves as a foundation for all your efforts, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints including your website, social media, packaging, logo, and more.

6. Differentiate your brand: In a sea of similar products or services, your brand story can set you apart from the competition by highlighting your distinct approach or philosophy and the values that drive your decisions.

7. Align your team: When team members understand and believe in your story, they become more engaged and committed to your mission. It helps guide employees in making choices that align with the brand's values and can transform daily tasks into meaningful contributions to a larger narrative.

How to leverage your brand story to attract customers

As an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, my brand story has been a powerful tool over the years to attract investors, customers, and partners. I include my story on all my websites including RamonRay.com and ZoneofGenius.com. I am known for being high-energy and unapologetically positive; in fact, that's my slogan and it's woven into all my customer touchpoints. I even registered the domain name UnapologeticallyPositive.com to forward to my main website RamonRay.com because the phrase is such an integral part of my brand story.

Once you have crafted your brand story, reinforcement across all your touchpoints is key. If you haven't already, a great first step is to register a .com domain name featuring your brand and build a website where customers can learn about your story as well as your products and services. Creating blog posts, videos, or podcasts that elaborate on different aspects of your story is another great way to attract customers. This content can showcase your expertise, values, and business personality.

I also recommend participation in local events or causes that align with your brand values, to not only demonstrate your commitment to your story and attract like-minded customers, but also to support the communities that your business serves. There is also an opportunity waiting for you with your client email list! You can use your domain name to create a custom email address to share updates, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and personal messages that highlight your brand story. It's a fantastic way to strengthen relationships with your customer base and reinforce your website marketing.

Finally, think about how you can encourage your customers to share how your brand story resonates with them. An easy way to do this is through customer reviews, testimonials, and asking them to share your content on social media to their followers. These real-life examples can powerfully illustrate the impact your business has on others.

Taking the next step

If you invest time in crafting your brand story and sharing it online with a custom .com domain name, it can become a catalyst for your small business's growth. Your brand story is not just a marketing tool—it's an important part of your small business. It differentiates your products and services, aligns your team, attracts the right customers, and guides your business decisions.