How To Craft a Cohesive Brand Narrative for Your Company When Just Starting Out

When you start a business, people are going to want to know who you are. As a brand, you’re so much more than the product or service you sell. Granted, this will be a large part of your brand, but you also need to determine what you want your brand’s narrative to say about you.

“Your brand is the perception consumers have of you. If you don’t tell them who you are, they’ll decide for you,” says Josh Keller, Founder of OTTO Quotes.

Crafting a brand story helps to convey the history, purpose, and values of a business in a narrative that resonates with consumers. A brand story or narrative helps your target audience to feel more connected with you. If you are just starting out, you’ll want to play a role in telling that story rather than letting your audience tell it for you.

What Is Your Brand’s Voice?

One thing that you will continue to hear about as you craft your brand narrative is your brand’s voice. Your brand’s voice is the embodiment of your business’s mission, vision, and values. If you are a small self-run company, your brand’s voice could be a voice that mirrors your own.

“People think in stories, not statistics, and marketers need to be master storytellers,” says Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post.

If your company is run by a team, your brand voice will need to be developed and established amongst the team so they know how to keep it consistent across all channels. When your customers interact with your brand, they should always feel like they are speaking to the same person.

Why It’s Important

Creating a cohesive brand narrative helps guide your marketing team in all their outward communications relating to your company. All social media posts, email campaigns, and customer service interactions should all be written in your brand’s voice. They should also use the colors, fonts, and imagery that you’ve decided to define your company by.

“In business, your brand narrative is what enables you to guide perceptions and build connections,” explains Sanford Mann, CEO of American Hartford Gold, a company that specializes in Gold IRA retirement accounts.

Creating a consistent narrative across all channels is essential to customer retention. Consumers like to shop with brands they trust. If you can make your audience feel like they really know you from your brand’s narrative and voice, then you will start to develop trust with them.

How To Craft Your Narrative

When you begin to craft your brand narrative, you need to start by asking yourself a few questions. Who are we? Who are our customers? What image do we want the world to have of us? Use the answers to these questions to start forming your narrative.

“Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill when it comes to business,” mentions Gary Vaynerchuk, entrepreneur.

There are so many companies that have no real understanding of who they are as a brand. If you start to really get to know yourself and your customers early on, you will be able to craft your narrative when you are just starting out. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to do while crafting your brand’s narrative and voice.

Have a Clear Vision

Once you’ve figured out the identity of your brand, you need to have a clear vision of how you plan to proceed. If you can’t stay true to your identity and remain consistent, you will have a hard time writing your own narrative. Make sure you are showing people, rather than telling them, who you are as a company.

“A brand’s narrative needs to echo its values. Then, the narrative will reverberate through every communication,” suggests Cody Candee, Founder and CEO of Bounce.

Try developing a vision statement if you are concerned about staying consistent. Your vision statement should be a brief description that defines your brand's values and vision for the future. Use your vision statement as a reference tool when you feel like you are getting off track.

Know Your Audience

It can be hard to craft a narrative if you don't know who you are telling that story to. You need to first establish who your target demographic is. This will be largely determined by the type of product or service you offer and who is most likely to purchase it. Once you know who to target, you can figure out how you need to talk to them.

“In marketing, a brand’s narrative acts as a bridge between a company’s intentions and the consumer’s perceptions. When the two meet, connections will be made,” explains Jason Zhang, CTO of Tapin.GG, a company that specializes in LoL boosting.

You need to get to know your audience on a genuine interpersonal level. Figure out what they value, where they spend their time, and what their hobbies are. Asking these questions helps you not just with brand narrative but with marketing and product development, too.

Use What Makes You Unique

Your brand’s narrative will be formed around the things that make you stand out in your market. Maybe you offer packaging features that are new to your industry, or perhaps you only use ethically sourced ingredients. Regardless of what makes you unique, make sure you let it help you shape your brand's voice.

“There is no point in making a product that has already been made 100 times. You need to have an X-factor or something that makes you stand out from the crowd,” advises Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of OSDB.

You will most likely be competing with dozens of other companies who are doing similar things to what you’re doing. This is why it’s important to focus on the things that make you unique. Figure out what that is and use it to your advantage.

Don’t Overcomplicate It

Your brand narrative should be a brief story about who you are and what you do. You want to avoid overcomplicating the process as much as you can. Consumers don’t have the time or patience to digest novels from every brand they encounter.

“While branding is a complex process, it can’t look like it is. What takes time to develop has to look effortless to the consumer,” says Asker A Ahmed, Director of iProcess Global Research.

Keep your narrative clean, simple, and easy to understand. Think about Nike’s infamous “Just Do It” branding. It says so much while saying so little. Use this tactic to shape your brand’s narrative.

Don’t Be Robotic

It can be all too easy to start talking in a standard customer service voice when speaking on behalf of your brand. The issue is that the customer service voice we typically default to can be cold and robotic. Your brand’s voice needs to be inherently human for people to connect with it.

“People connect with other people a lot easier than they connect with companies. Make sure that your brand’s voice sounds like a trusted friend rather than a corporate slogan,” suggests Nicholas Mathews, CEO of Stillwater Behavioral Health.

If you feel like your brand’s voice is coming off too robotic, try personifying your company. Think about who they would be if they were a person. Come up with some adjectives to describe them. This will help you build a persona that your audience can easily connect with.

Have a Vision for the Future

Use your vision for the future when telling your story. Think about the ways in which you are evolving as a brand and what goals you’re working towards. Sharing stories about your vision for the future will help to generate excitement around your brand.

“People like to invest their time and money into companies that have longevity. No one wants to fall in love with a product just to find it has been pulled from the shelves next time they go to repurchase,” says Kristen Pechacek, Chief Growth Officer of MassageLuXe, a notable spa franchise company.

When you talk about your future as a brand, you are inviting your audience to become a part of that future. People find it easier to make connections when they feel directly involved. Don’t be shy about sharing your plans for the future.

Imagery

While voice is going to be the most important element used when telling your brand’s story, you also need to make sure your imagery is in line with what you’re looking to portray. This is especially important when you start creating a website and social media pages.

“Everything needs to match when it comes to branding. It’s important that your customers can recognize you no matter where you are or what form of marketing you’re using,” suggests Den Montero, Marketing Director of Moeflavor.

Your brand’s imagery will include things like colors, fonts, logos, and any other design elements being used. These images need to be consistent across emails, social media, advertisements, product packing, and anywhere else you’ll be seen.

Crafting a Cohesive Narrative

Crafting a cohesive brand narrative can be intimidating when you're just starting out, but with a bit of time and effort, you should have no issue creating a strong identity for your brand. You just need to get to really know and understand who you are and what you're trying to do.

“Use your brand’s narrative to tell the world who you are and why you do what you do. Because if you don’t tell your story, someone else will,” says Max Schwartzapfel, CMO and Fighting For You lawyer.

Take your time to develop a story that will really resonate with your audience. If you can find a way to form strong connections with them, you’ll be well on your way to success.