Are you sick of reading corporate branding that’s as basic as the marketing scheme hanging out next store? You hear ‘born out of…’ and ‘pushing the boundaries’ over and over again. You’ve heard the phrase, ‘people buy from people,’ but how can you use that in your company?
It’s all just as bland as the fact that the same movies are remade every three years because a few companies own pretty much all media.
Creating a corporate narrative is more than just listing the timeline of your business and repeating history. It’s about creating and showing off your business’ unique personality because if you are a successful business, your making history. It’s about balancing who are you with how you can help customers.
A strong corporate identity helps to generate trust and a good reputation. It’s why Patagonia is known for its sustainability measures and why RedBull is famous for extreme sports(even though it might actually end up giving you a heart attack).
When you build a company narrative into your corporate branding in a meaningful way, you’ll see more loyalty, more customers, and more recognition.
Sound fascinating? Let’s take a look at how you can achieve serious results through creating a strong narrative-the right way.
1. An About Page That People Actually Want to Read
So many businesses’ About pages could be cut and pasted from hundreds of other companies. They use vague adjectives and impressive words that mean very little. They don’t give the reader a trustworthy impression of who the company truly is or what they stand for, much less why they should go with them.
Creating a company about page (often ‘Our Story’) gives you a massive opportunity to blow your readers away. By the end, you could’ve convinced them to become a customer even if they’ve barely glanced at your products.
That’s how compelling a good narrative can be. So how do you do it?
A successful narrative can show the following:
- How did your company begin?
- Why was it needed?
- Who are the people behind it?
- What challenges have you faced?
- What drives you to do your work?
- How do those things allow you to help the reader better than competitors?
- The raw footage of your journey
A strong narrative is as much about your company as it is about how your company can help the reader. This can be either implied or explicitly stated. Either way, the reader needs to finish the page understanding that you’d be a great company to buy from without feeling sold to.
The human element is crucial to a company narrative and talking about and showing your team is a great way of doing this. Giving the backgrounds of the founders helps show readers why your company exists in the first place.
Let’s face it; starting a business is challenging. It took Apple 28 years to break even, and they are still in debt.But you had an idea and went with it, and that takes a lot of courage, hardship, and pure child’s play.
2. Narrative Corporate Branding Video
If a photograph speaks a thousand words, a video tells a thousand more. Narrative company videos have the power to captivate your audience and show them who your business really is.
We created our company video to allow us to show our audience what goes into the work that we do. We wanted to be transparent in the effort we go to when creating client work.
Narrative videos allow you to establish a real, human connection with your audience. This transparency builds genuine trust and an understanding of your business.
You can highlight the areas of your brand story that you are most proud of too. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is a great example of how a company highlights its social mission, using staff interviews and storytelling.
When creating your corporate story video, you can tell your entire backstory or focus on a specific part. By highlighting how you’ve built your brand, who your staff is, and how you work, you’re giving life to the heartbeat of your creation.
3. Tell Your Story Across All Platforms
Your narrative story aids your corporate branding by giving it a deeper context than merely presenting your products or services. When customers can see who you are and why you do what you do, they’ll have a better concept of why they should choose you.
Your story shouldn’t just languish on a single tab at the top of your website. Your story should be shared as something that you are proud of-go out and shout it to the world. This is where breaking your company narrative into different formats is important.
While your website About page can include a full-length story and an embedded narrative video, other platforms have different requirements.
- YouTube – Your narrative video and shortened written story
- Facebook – A shortened written story in the About section and video on your page
- Instagram – A one-sentence narrative story
- Twitter – A bitesize narrative tagline
- LinkedIn – You narrative video and a shortened story
For each platform, your narrative story will be cohesive and the same. The difference will be in the length.
By sharing your story across every platform you use, you can weave it into your corporate branding. This means that no matter where your audience finds you first, they’ll instantly be able to see who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.
Humanize Your Corporate Branding with a Strong Narrative
Your corporate branding is unique to your business, and a strong narrative adds a context and a human element that your audience will resonate with. Any company can sell a product, but when you tell your story, you’ll be selling products for a purpose that customers can understand.
The human element is what drives business and why we feel uncomfortable with faceless corporations. By revealing how your company came to be, you’re extending a friendly hand to the reader and inviting them to be part of the story.
Because narrative stories show the faces, history, and processes behind your company, readers will see how you can help them. And if how you can help is clear, you’ve won yourself a new customer.
If you want to create a compelling company narrative that strengthens your corporate branding, get in touch with us today. We’re experts in corporate storytelling and work with businesses just like yours to touch the hearts of many through creative thought.