The Cobbler’s Children Get Shoes

Like many businesses today, First Flight Agency has a business plan with a marketing strategy. One of our goals for 2022 is to provide our website users with case studies based on our work. I am happy to say that we added the first one earlier this year based on a campaign we did with our local public school system to regain market share and improve enrollment. Please check out the case study here to see the excellent results and how we accomplished this.

This initiative made me wonder how other businesses are sharing their success stories. How is your business telling its story? 

Storytelling has been around as long as humans have, and our history has been documented with a story from cave paintings and oral traditions onto printing presses, radio, television, the internet, and now social platforms. This is how we as humans communicate, and this is also why it’s vital for any marketing and brand identity.

The brand is the story of your business, and your story connects your brand with customers, in turn, building loyalty. How does one tell a brand story that creates trust? By keeping it simple and straightforward. Start with the problem, solution, and success. Now you can turn this into a 3-part story.

• Beginning: Problem – explain the problem your business or service can solve.
• Middle: Solution – describe how your business or service solves this problem.
• End: Success – share the excitement about the successes your business or service has experienced.

Remember: Customers buy into a story, not just a product or service.

Here are a few creative ways to tell your brand’s story:

Let your employees tell the story. When you have created a company culture that the staff truly believes in, you also develop a team of brand ambassadors. This type of storytelling is organic and authentic. One company that has done this well is Remote Year, with leadership holding monthly Town Hall to celebrate employees who exemplify their core values; work-life flexibility, community, being present, global perspective, dreaming, and empathy. Their website clearly states, “In our marketing: We want all of our program participants and staff to see themselves in our marketing. We seek to celebrate the diversity of our community in all of our visual outlets, such as our website, social media, emails, and advertisements.”

Use Video to tell your brand story. Visual and audio triggers emotions. Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman says in his book, How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market, “that 95 percent of our purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind.” Casper, a company that does a great job with emotional contagion combined with neural coupling, is seen on their YouTube channel.

Simply tell a story with empowering content. Sometimes stripping down to the basics is more and powerful copy doesn’t need to be wordy. In today’s society, we want solutions quickly. One example of this is by Holded, a project management software company. When they first started, they summed up their company’s culture and mission into one statement; “We’re a young, dynamic team with dreams of creating the world’s best software.” Simple, omnipotent, and engaging!

Your story will connect you to customers and start to earn trust. Ultimately, the user’s experience will turn that trust into loyalty. How are you going to tell your brand’s story?