Brand storytelling
In this series, I’ll share how to start building your authentic brand—whether personal or business— in a way that turns complicated puzzles into strategic roadmaps, lack of direction into intentional moves, and scattered data into meaningful insights.
Stories are the universal language of humanity —they’re woven into our nature. In fact, neuroscience shows that we remember stories better than facts. They tap into our emotions, and emotions drive our actions. Whenever I think about customer behavior, I remember Zig Ziglar’s quote: “People buy on emotions and later justify with logic.” I’ve seen it in action countless times. This simple truth is why storytelling is such a powerful force in business. It moves people to action, making it a hot topic in marketing.
What is a brand story? 🤔
A brand story is the narrative your business uses to connect with customers. It is NOT a set of facts or a chronological description of how your business came to life. Facts could be integrated into the narrative to add elaboration and credibility. But a true brand story is deeper—it’s the emotional thread that runs through your brand, reflecting your values, vision, and mission. It’s how you communicate what you stand for and why you exist.
Key storytelling principles
When crafting a brand story, it’s essential to go beyond surface-level marketing. Your story should capture your core purpose while also deeply resonating with your audience. Here are a few principles that can help you construct your story:
Purpose – Why does your brand exist? What mission are you on? For example, Nike’s mission is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
People – Who is your audience, really? Who are you taking on this journey? Understanding our audience is critical because it shapes everything we do.
Problem – What core problem are you solving for your audience? This will become the foundation for your marketing and sales messaging.
Promise – What value do you uniquely deliver? Your promise doesn’t have to be a feature—your competitors can easily replicate those. It can be a belief, hope, passion, or worldview your audience shares.
Personality – How do you deliver that value in a way that’s distinctly yours?
Enemy – What are you standing against? What tension or conflict are you resolving? Having an "enemy" or ‘’villain’’ can be a powerful strategy for positioning your brand and attracting your target audience. This enemy isn't necessarily a direct competitor, but rather a concept, belief, or pain point your brand seeks to overcome. Example: Nike’s "enemy" isn’t Reebok or Adidas—it’s the inactive, lazy lifestyle. They position their brand against that, not a competitor.
Protagonist – Who’s the hero and ‘’main character’’ in your story—your brand or your customer? What makes your brand or your customer heroic?
What is strategic messaging? 🧲
Once you have your brand story, translating it into strategic messaging is the next step. This is where your marketing strategy takes over. Think of your message as a bridge connecting your audience to your brand. Effective messaging isn’t just about your brand or your audience. It's about aligning both - meeting the needs of your audience while staying true to your core values. Strategic messaging should be a clear, concise communication that speaks directly to your customers. While your brand story (the realm of branding) is broad, relational, and focused on building emotional connection and belief in your brand, your strategic messaging (in the marketing arena) needs to be more targeted, streamlined, and customer-focused.
In short, we cannot craft any strategic messaging without truly understanding our clients (depth over width). To do so, I often turn to a simple yet powerful framework like the infographic below. Think of this as a roadmap to understand why your target audience would choose your unique approach to reach their goals. What’s stopping them from solving their problem without you? Whether it’s a lack of expertise, time, or resources, identifying that gap is key to shaping your messaging. It’s a reminder to keep your message customer-focused and clear.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of tone of voice in building that connection. Just like we naturally change our tone when speaking to different people—think about how you'd talk to your grandma versus your best friend—brands need to adjust their voice to connect authentically with their audience. For example, appealing to 18-24-year-old male skateboarders requires a very different communication approach, message, and tone of voice than engaging with 35-44-year-old busy moms.
Tangible ways to sharpen your brand messaging
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from working with pre-launch and early-stage brands is the importance of simplifying your messaging—and ultimately your entire offering. So often, we dilute the core value of our business by overcomplicating it in an effort to make sure it feels high value, unique, and worth the price. But when you get clear on what the true "magic" of your offer is, you can laser-focus on delivering just that. This not only simplifies the process for you but also amplifies the impact and value for your clients.
Another key to effective messaging is embracing the iterative process. Don’t be afraid to write, rewrite, and even involve your audience to find the message that truly resonates. While straightforward, targeted messaging that hits key pain points is essential, standing out in today’s saturated market requires a more nuanced approach. Otherwise, you’ll end up adding to the noise instead of cutting through it. If you’re ready to dive deeper, I’ve created a free tool—Evolving Messaging Canvas—that I often use to refine offerings and add layers of depth to brand communication.
💡 As you continue to evolve your messaging, here are some strategic questions to keep you aligned:
Even if your business changes or evolves, which messages will always stay the same?
What are you communicating across your digital spaces?
Which topics should you consistently own, talk about, and amplify?
Which conversations should you be a part of?
This post is part three of a four-part deep dive into brand development series:
Conscious marketing: Evolving with confidence and intention
