It’s called a brand story but all it really is a shorthand way of describing the most important parts of your business.
A brand story just means what inspired you to set up your business, why it exists in the world and what real problem it solves for your customers.
People buy from people. And people love stories. To light a fire in your potential customers, your brand story needs to be:
- Authentic and honest
- A story that sounds like it’s come from a human being
- Written from the heart
Let’s Look at a Great Example of a Brand Story
One of my favorite brand storytellers of all time is Innocent drinks. This is their brand story:
hello, we’re innocent
…and we’re here to make it easy for people to do themselves some good (whilst making it taste nice too).
We started innocent in 1999 after selling our smoothies at a music festival. We put up a big sign asking people if they thought we should give up our jobs to make smoothies, and put a bin saying ‘Yes’ and a bin saying ‘No” in front of the stall. Then we got people to vote with their empties. At the end of the weekend, the ‘Yes’ bin was full, so we resigned from our jobs the next day and got cracking.
Since then we’ve started making coconut water, juice and kids’ stuff, in our quest to make natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people live well and die old.
Let’s Break It Down
Let’s break it down so we can see how Innocent cover: what inspired the business, why it exists in the world, who their ideal customer is and what real problem it solves for their customers.
How They Started and Why It Exists
We started innocent in 1999 after selling our smoothies at a music festival. We put up a big sign asking people if they thought we should give up our jobs to make smoothies, and put a bin saying ‘Yes’ and a bin saying ‘No” in front of the stall. Then we got people to vote with their empties. At the end of the weekend, the ‘Yes’ bin was full, so we resigned from our jobs the next day and got cracking.
What They Sell
Since then we’ve started making coconut water, juice and kids’ stuff, in our quest to make natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people live well and die old.
Who Their Ideal Customer Is
Since then we’ve started making coconut water, juice and kids’ stuff, in our quest to make natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people live well and die old.
What Problem They Solve for Those Customers
to make it easy for people to do themselves some good (whilst making it taste nice too)
So, can you see how they neatly cover off those points all with a tone which is light-hearted and upbeat?
Over to You – How to Write Your Brand Story
Fill out these questions as quickly as possible so that it comes from the heart and you don’t have too much time to overthink it.
- What is your business? What do you sell?
- Why did you start your business?
- What inspired your business?
- What were you doing before you started your business? Is it related to why you started it?
- What motivates you to get up and do your work every day?
- Who are your ideal customers?
- What problem does your business solve for your ideal customers?
- OK, now out of all the answers above, which bits stand out for you? Which bits really tell the true heartfelt story? Is it what inspired your business? Or why you left your previous job?
- Pick out two or three points that mean the most to you. They jot them down together.
- They say them out loud as if you were telling your best friend a story. Keep it fairly short. As humans, we are natural storytellers so don’t overthink it.
- Write it down as you’ve just said it out loud.
Ta-da, you have your brand story.
Try telling people at networking events, write it on your website and see how it feels. It doesn’t need to be a finished-forever-done piece of writing. Use this as a basis and tweak it over time if wish.
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