How to Tell Your Brand Story Through Your Brand Identity

Marketing Tips

Feb 11

Written By brandmerry

*This post was updated in 2022

Storytelling is my superpower.

It is my specialty and I put the concept of storytelling into everything that I reach.

And while I’ve shared so many blogs and videos on brand storytelling, today we’re going to dive into the concept of Brand Identity.

One of the reasons that I truly love storytelling and the role that it plays in building a successful business is that so much of making the impact you desire to make, comes down to understanding who you are, your mission, and the purpose that you have behind your business.

And then sharing that in a way that deeply resonates with your audience and builds that trust. Storytelling does that, which is truly amazing.

Today, we’ll dive into the importance of storytelling, as it related to brand identity, and three action steps to help you in taking action on this process to share more of your brand story through your brand identity.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND STORYTELLING

Before I get into this we need to talk about the power of storytelling.

Storytelling is truly one of the most powerful things that you can use in your business because of how it allows you to connect with your audience. And there's a lot of cool stuff that happens when we share story through our content.

As a content creator myself, who spends time making that high-value content, I want to make sure that my audience actually remembers that content. So when you incorporate story into your content you are actually increasing the likelihood that your audience will remember it.

In fact, you're increasing it by 22 times.

If you're going to take that time to create those posts don't you want people to actually remember them? Of course, you do.

So incorporating storytelling into your content, even if it's just a single sentence, allows you to do that. It makes your content more memorable which is very, very important when you're building that know, like, and trust factor with your audience.

I hear people say a lot, "Well, my story doesn't connect with my audience or I don't have a shared experience." Here's the thing, it's not really about that.

It's not 100% about you and your audience having the same story or the same journey. It's just about the art of telling the story.

By telling stories and by your audience reading and listening and ultimately receiving those stories, there's a lot going on inside of their brains and inside of their hearts, that is building that connection with you and with your brand.

Neural coupling is one of the things that's happening where the story is ultimately triggering, firing their brain, and connecting through the piece of content. Just because you're sharing a story.

It's activating the brain and keeping them engaged which leads to them actually remembering your content. In addition to that, dopamine is released, which makes them feel good.

So they're feeling good when they're reading your content, seeing your stories, hearing your stories on a podcast, or however you're sharing your content. And that is powerful.

Those are just two examples of what's happening in your audience's brain that is really contributing to the growth of your business. Because this is how they become fans.

Storytelling is very, very important. It can be incorporated into every single level of your business and you’ve just got to do it. The science is there, we just need to learn the strategies to actually do it.

What is THE Brand Identity?

When you think of your brand identity, I want you to think of the collective elements of your brand that make up its personality.

Much like your personal identity, it's who you are. So, when you're creating a personal brand it can and should have parts of your personal identity represented throughout. Now it's not a carbon copy, but the pieces you determine to integrate into your brand are what give it its personality.

This looks like:
+ Your story
+ Your mission
+ Your values
+ Your voice
+ Your emotional connectors
+ Your "superpower" (or as the industry likes to call it, your positioning)

It is the combination of these things that build your brand identity.

And much like your personal identity, when you've clearly stated these elements, it makes it a lot easier to show up in the world.

You're more confident in how you'll dress, how you'll speak, what you'll surround yourself with, etc...

And, the same goes for your brand: your colors, fonts, brand photos, etc... all stem from your brand identity.

When you're creating a personal brand it makes it a lot easier because you're front and center, you're sharing yourself, you're sharing your stories. So, that personality just naturally happens which is why personal branding is so powerful.

If you want to learn a little bit more about emotional branding and all these different elements make sure you check out my blog.

When you think of Brand Identity, I want you to think about the personality behind your brand and the overall experience you’re creating for your audience.

Effectively Write Your Brand Story

Now that we know what your brand identity is, let's talk about how we use our story to share that brand identity and ultimately experience with the world

The first thing that you've got to do is figure out what your brand story is. So this will look different for different types of businesses. There are different ways and structures to actually create your brand story based on your personal story and based on your individual business.

But really what I want you to focus on now is stripping away the, "How do I write this on my about me page?" And, "What does this look like on my bio, on my homepage?" Strip all that away and just focus solely on the story.

In fact, when you're writing this out I want you to think about actually telling this story to someone.
Some of you might want to even record it and transcribe it. It might feel a little bit more natural to you.

Ultimately, what you want to do is highlight and share the journey that has happened that led you to the creation of your brand.

Your brand is not a product, your brand is not a service specifically, it's the whole thing.

It's that umbrella, it's the work that you're putting out into the world, it's your mission, it's who you ultimately want to impact all rolled into one. And you want to share the evolution of how that came to be.

So I want you to strip away, “How is this structured?” and “How does this flow?” and really just allow yourself to tell the story. That's where all the goodness gets to go in. And then when we format, we can pull out the unnecessary pieces and clean it up a bit.

But I want you to just deeply understand what has led you to this moment and think of really telling that story to your audience.

For example, when I talk about my brand story, one piece of that is this underlying feeling of not living a life based on other people's expectations or going against the status quo.

And I know that that's important to my audience, that's important to you, that's something that you also believe in. I share that through my storytelling and I share that through my brand story to get that message across.

You're probably already picking up on it, but your brand story is where that connection can really start for many of you. Because once we get to formatting it for an about me page, or we get to put it out there on social media, it might be one of the first things that people see and you have an opportunity to build that connection with them right out of the gate.

Focus on taking your audience on this journey, write out your brand story and become really clear on what you ultimately want to share about your journey and what has led you to the brand that you are creating today.

Identify The Brand Emotions

Step two is to elevate the experience by focusing on the emotional connection.

And this is where we really take your story and spin it around to pull in your audience and build that trust.

I call these brand emotions and I encourage you to identify five brand emotions for your brand as a whole.

Don't get too obsessed with the number. It could be three, it could be six, it could be seven. Don't do 25 or something like that. I find five is the sweet spot.

But you really want to ask yourself, "How do I want my audience to feel?"

I mean, the reality is you've got eight seconds to make an impression.

That's not a lot of time to read an entire message on a piece of content. It's not a lot of time to read a bunch of stuff on your homepage.

You've got to make that first initial impression a good one and powerful, and that really comes down to that emotional connection. How do people feel when they land on your website, when they see a piece of your content?

In order to exude that, in order to allow people to feel that, you need to know what you want people to feel.

Take the time to identify those brand emotions.

I want to give you two examples, because I know sometimes you might be thinking, "What do I want people to feel, Michelle?"

I have a client who is in the mindset space, the spiritual mindset space specifically, and she supports women in moving through a very difficult period of their life. She does a lot of shadow work. Her clients are currently in a difficult time but they are moving towards the light. They want to understand how to get there, they want to feel supported through that process, and they want to do it in a way that feels good and not forced.

We know this about her audience and we also know from her brand story she's really good at it. So when we were thinking of her brand emotions we wanted to show the light. We wanted to show what was possible, the desire, and what her audience was wanting to move towards.

Because her audience didn't want to neglect where they were and that was really, really important to communicate, we played with sharing that through messaging, through story, through brand colors, showing both the dark and the light.

That's just one example but again it comes back to how do I want people to feel and ultimately what are they looking for? What are they searching for?

With my brand, I decided very early on, well actually after eight months of having a brand that was not me at all, I redid the whole thing and now it's great. But when I redid it, I got back to this core piece of storytelling and brand emotions and I asked myself, "How do I want people to feel?"

And it kept coming up for me that I wanted people to feel safe and comfortable and that they could be their authentic selves. That there was this connection between the two of us, between my brand and between them and their story. That it almost felt like we were sitting cozied up by a fire on a fall day just having a really deep conversation and chat.

I used that to motivate all of these different pieces that we're going to talk about in just a second.

Again, take the time to understand who you are and the journey that you've gone on to get to where you are, to have the brand, the mission, the values, the core beliefs and the impact that you want to make in your ideal customer's life. As well as understand how you want them to feel from the moment they come in contact with your brand, through all of those different pieces.

Now that brings us to, "Now how do we actually use this Michelle? How do we use this? This all sounds great, I love it, but how do we use it?"

Let's talk about how we use that brand story and those brand emotions to enhance and communicate and have this wonderful experience also known as brand identity.

NOW, HOW DO YOU TELL THAT THROUGH YOUR IDENTITY?

Brand Identity Design: Incorporate your Brand Story into your visuals

One of the things that capture people's attention right away and has an opportunity to build that connection are the visual aspects. That's why a big part of branding is the colors, the fonts, the elements, and the photos that you choose to tell that story.

So many people choose those randomly or just choose things they like and they're not actually telling the story of their brand or making their audience feel anything.

So when you're thinking about colors, fonts, elements, and brand photos think about how you want your audience to feel.

This is that initial ding that gets people to say, "Yeah, I'll keep going, I'll keep reading, I'll stick around," or exit out and close out the screen.

So it's very important. It's like the subject line of an email. You really want to use this to pull your audience in.

If you are like, "Okay, great, love this Michelle, but what am I ultimately wanting to make them feel?"

Maybe there's a little uncertainty around that. Here's a great starting point. Think about your audience's desires, their aspirations, and how they want to feel when you support them in solving the problem.

Everyone's got a problem, that's why they're seeking out your brand in the first place. When that problem is solved, or even when you start the process of solving that problem, what are they working towards?

That's a really great place to start when you think about your brand emotions. Then carry those through all the visuals that you create. Take time to learn about color psychology and the different meaning behind fonts and elements and all of that juicy stuff as well.

Create a clear brand message

The second thing that you can do in order to carry your brand story into your brand identity is to create a clear message. We've got the visual component that captures their attention, now we've got to keep them engaged. That is where your copy and your messaging come into play.

You can use your values, your mission, your brand story, and your journey to communicate to your audience the purpose behind your brand.

This is very, very important. In fact, in my program Brandmerry Academy, I have all of my clients write out their mission statement because that is the guiding light.

That is why we do everything that we do, why we show up, and why we're ultimately wanting to create a brand that is of service and of impact to our ideal customer.

One of the best things that you can do is share that with your audience and build that connection right out of the gate. This goes miles when you are building that experience, sharing that personality, and elevating that brand identity.

Because consumers want to know the values and the mission behind a brand. We saw this really accelerate in 2020 and we are going to see it continue to play a vital role in branding, consumer interactions, why people buy, and ultimately the success of businesses as we continue.

In fact, 77% of consumers say that they buy from brands that share the same values as they do. And 64% said that they would actually boycott a brand because of their values on political and social issues.

It is important and many brands actually neglect sharing their values or even posting their mission or sharing their mission with their audience, so they never know.

But it's one of the best things that you can do. If you want to build a revenue-generating business, you need to know this stuff and you need to clearly communicate it with your audience, it matters.

One of the ways that I love to do this is through the art of storytelling. Create stories and social content, incorporate them in your blogs, all over the place that show your values.

You don't just have to have a place on your website that says our company values. You totally can, that is absolutely fine. But in addition to that, I want you to also share that through your content and your storytelling.

So if you're like, “What kind of stories can I start sharing?"

Write out your brand values and then think of why that is a value for you. Why have you decided to incorporate that into your company? And share that through your content as a way to really build deep brand affinity with your audience; which is that connection between shared values of the brand and the consumer.

Brand Identity: Consistently create value and branded content

Number three is consistency, which is one of my favorite words and I think something every single business needs to be putting a lot of emphasis on.

We talk about content creation a lot. It is a core piece of building an online business, of making sure that you're attracting your audience and showing up for them, nurturing them, and leading them through the buying process and ultimately to the sale.

We talk about consistent content all the time but what about consistent messaging? That is very important because you can create a bunch of different content but if your audience doesn't clearly understand what you offer them, how it's going to support them and those brand values, that mission, your story, and build that trust.

You're going to feel all over the place to your audience. And therefore there's going to be that break in trust and that's going to affect sales.

So when you are thinking about sharing your brand story as a way to amplify your brand identity, what you really want to focus on are those consistent messages. It comes back to what we talked about in the very beginning. Understanding your story, your values, and your mission and then consistently sharing that with your audience as well as creating this linear path on how you want your audience to feel with every single thing that you create.

If they land on your website, they read a social media post, they watch a live video, they see you at an event, it all feels the same. It all feels like you, it all feels like your brand identity, that's very, very important.

This is where the magic happens and this is really where you get to share these stories on your values to improve and create that brand affinity with your audience.

CONCLUSION

Don’t forget how crucial brand storytelling is to the success of your brand and business. To dive deeper into this topic, and learn my signature brand framework you can sign up for my free class at brandmerry.com/class.