What is a Brand Story or Story Brand?

The brand story is the narrative of how a client or customer group interacts with your brand and how they benefit physically, emotionally and philosophically from the interaction. In the story, your customer is the main character and the brand makes them the hero of the story if they act (call to action) on the recommendations of the Guide — the brand. The brand exists to guide them to overcome some sort of emotional pain in their lives — provide the tools to solve a problem thus making their life easier.

This is not to be confused with the Brand Backstory. Although the storyline may follow a similar path, it is more about the history of the company or founder or how and why it started.

StoryBrand is a Trademark of Donald Miller Words LLC who is a NYT Bestseller, American Christian author of personal essays and books on self-discovery. He does not have a degree in marketing or experience in branding. What he has done is taken the seven aspects of a universal storyline and marketed to the business community. StoryBrand is a “framework” or “process” to connect people to the message of a business. It is designed to help businesses use the time-tested structure of a story in their marketing message. The seven aspects to a story are; 1. A character, 2. Who has a problem, 3. Character meets a guide, 4. The guide provides a plan to overcome their problem, 5. Encourages them to take action, 6. to avoid failing, 7. Once the character acts overcoming their fears, the story ends in success.

The power of story is putting the character (the customer) at the center making them the hero by listening to the recommendations and expertise developed by the company or business. It's important to offset the data-driven marketing (Artificial Intelligence, marketing innovation, big data, intelligent products, digital platforms, etc.) with a human story so customers can relate.

Why you may need a Branding Professional to write your Brand Story

An outsider, a branding professional or writer, will make your story simple and clear to those that don’t have the time or energy to work at understanding what benefits your product or service will bring to their lives. There is too much competition in the marketplace for them to put in the effort to “get it.” At Purpose Branding, we are always striving to attract the right people for the right reasons by communicating in a way customer quickly understand.  

What is the process?

I would recommend that the Brand Story or StoryBrand be a part of a full Brand Workshop to incorporate a holistic understanding of your company, industry and the customer groups that are particular to your business. The Brand Story is developed in context with the Mission, Vision, Purpose Statment, Values, Attributes, Brand Voice and Archetype of the Brand to paint the picture with depth and color.

Purpose Branding has an online course, a Workbook or can conduct an on-site Brand Workshop with the leadership team of your company. After the workshop is complete, a complete Verbal Brand Document is created to get your feedback and approval that the description is authentic to your Brand Culture. This is the foundation of any brand and branding activity, naming, renaming or rebranding. Without a clear understanding of who you are and where you want to go, a rebrand will be just a decorative upgrade.