A Guide for Crafting a Compelling Brand Narrative
Much has been said about “writing your own narrative” and attracting the right people to your brand with your brand’s narrative.
But what is your narrative and how do you share it to build your brand, gain visibility, or become a thought leader?
Your brand narrative is a messaging framework that contains your stories and that you use to intentionally communicate with your audience to create an emotional and value-driven connection.
“Writing your own narrative” suggests that storytelling is part of your brand’s narrative and that your narrative should be personal and specific to you. That implies that you must figure out a few things before you start crafting your brand’s narrative.
The “5 Essentials” framework that you can see below, doesn’t only lead to brand messaging clarity, but it also helps you craft your narrative and outline the stories that you need to tell consistently to build your brand.
(You can get access to a workbook that gets you started on this framework by clicking on the image.)
In addition, in this article, I’ll delve into the intricacies of creating your own brand narrative and how to implement it in your daily social media activities so that you can infuse authenticity, your personality, and strategy into your content marketing to attract and nurture the people who need your knowledge and expertise most.
In the image above, you can see that everything starts with “YOU”. When you dig deep into every aspect of your personality, experience, knowledge, expertise, strengths, purpose, etc. – you can create a holistic and authentic image of yourself, that doesn’t only define your points of difference – it also makes you aware of how you can serve your clients better on the basis of your unique background.
Your brand narrative is based on your values, beliefs, purpose, experiences, vision – and any other meaningful belief that is reflected in your stories and actions.
My purpose words – listen – enlighten – empower – are part of my narrative and they guide my actions. That’s why I listen to my audience and try to understand their challenges so that I can share knowledge that empowers them to overcome their challenges.
My desire for congruence and authenticity stems from many years in corporate, where I felt disconnected because I couldn’t be myself and be aligned with what matters to me most. That’s why I am dedicated to helping my clients identify their authentic selves and the expression of it.
These are just a couple of examples of what flows into your narrative.
But…
Your brand narrative is the essence of your online presence. It defines how people perceive you. It guides you on how to show up and which messages to share. It also serves as a point of orientation and a framework that helps you to be consistent in your messages, congruent with your beliefs, and clear so that your audience understands what you want to be known for.
Your brand narrative has the potential to:
Writing your brand narrative can, with time, help you grow a loyal community of people who are aligned with you and what your brand stands for. And that can help you grow your visibility and presence to evolve from expert to influencer.
Your brand narrative is a complex being. It takes work and time to develop the insights, understanding, messages, and stories that you can share whenever you show up online.
Ultimately, you are writing your origin and brand story as part of your brand narrative. But before you do that, you need clarity on a number of things. Your:
You also need clarity on your ideal clients so that the right people can align themselves with your brand.
These insights allow you to craft a professional origin story that matters to your audience because they can relate to your experiences. They can see themselves in your story. And – when it comes to your brand story – they understand why your brand exists and why it resonates with them.
Your brand narrative encompasses the past but also projects into your future. You and your audience share aspirations, dreams, goals, and visions.
Your outlook motivates your audience because you give them the ability to what copywriters call “future casting”. They see what’s possible for them and envision their future. They feel hope, ambition, and the necessity to act and shape their future.
And all that because you share a narrative of who you genuinely are and what you genuinely believe. With your brand narrative, you are painting a picture that shows the best version of who you can be and what your audience could be.
That is a very powerful vision. A vision that is grounded in your authenticity.
Authenticity has been used so much that it has almost become a non-word. Many people glaze over when you mention it.
However, authenticity is crucial for brand building because it creates trust, connection, and influence. When you demonstrate to your audience that you have integrity, speak in your own voice, are true to your word, and are transparent, when you show up as yourself without pretense and constraints of how others expect you to behave – then you differentiate yourself from those who follow trends and fashions rather than their internal compass.
We all have taken poor-quality online courses or worked with “experts” and “professionals” who made brand promises they couldn’t keep.
We all have been disappointed, and lost money and trust.
However, when you show up authentically, you can…
Being authentic doesn’t mean that you need to be perfect. It means that you need to be real.
Now that we know more about what a brand narrative is and how you can define yours, it’s time to share how you can use it.
The short answer is – use it strategically!
If you want all your efforts to lead to results, then you need to use your brand narrative strategically. Having strategies at your disposal, allows you to take consistent and long-term action.
Here’s what you should consider…
When you pursue these strategies consistently, you will see that you increase your visibility and impact. You will attract the right audience, and grow your brand, and, with time, you might be able to make the transition from expert to influencer.
It is rare that you attract people to your brand and sell straight away. Usually, you need to nurture your audience so that they see the value in your offer, trust you, and understand that you are the right person to help them solve their problems.
There are different ways of nurturing your audience and you may use some or all of the following:
All these activities are designed to effectively nurture your audience and build relationships that are founded on trust and mutual benefit. By offering value and opportunities for growth, you empower your audience to move closer to their goals and value the connection with you.
Even if people never work with you, often they refer others to you who are ready and searching for the right service provider.
Mel Robbins is only one example of a person who has used her narrative to become a renowned speaker, author, podcast host – and much more. She’s shared her narrative online, in books, and in literally every other channel available.
Many times over, she has demonstrated what it takes to grow, evolve, and build different businesses from her experiences.
She is a person like you and me. She started out at zero but had the tenacity and resilience to grow to a level where she has an impact on millions of people.
And the interesting thing…
Her narrative started in a very ordinary place.
Everyone and their poodle are fighting for attention. Not everyone is getting attention and some are blaming it on the alleged goldfish brain and deficit attention spans of people in the online world.
Don’t shift the blame. Your narrative will get the attention you deserve when your narrative transcends from an everyday story to a relevant message. The message matters more than the story. There are many stories that can share the same message. And you have heaps of them at your disposal. There are endless stories that you can tell about your values, beliefs, and AHA moments. And all these stories relate to stories that your audience has experienced. Your aspirations are aligned with your audience’s aspirations, and that’s where you find the connection.
And if you want to learn more about your brand’s narrative and how to put it all together, then send me a message and we can talk about how I can help you develop a narrative that resonates with your ideal audience.
Categories: : Attention, Authenticity, Brand Messaging, Brand Promise, Brand Storytelling, Branding, businessfoundations, Clarity
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