Today’s startup market is becoming more crowded by the day. According to statistics, nearly 500,000 new businesses are vying for the attention of U.S. customers and investors every year. The number has grown continuously since before the pandemic. At the same time, the number of adverts and marketing messages consumers see has grown steadily, now sitting around hundreds, although perhaps not thousands per day. The point is this – startups need to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Leveraging the power of storytelling for their branding can achieve just that.
Ever since the beginning of humanity, stories have captured people’s attention. Great storytellers have drawn audiences around fireplaces, and captivating stories continue to sell millions of books and lead audiences to cinemas or streaming platforms.
But storytelling is more than a way to spend your free time. For startup founders, storytelling is an essential tool to build their brand. Traditionally, branding has (wrongly) been reduced to logos and straplines when the field really encompasses much more. The Branding Journal defines branding as the process of giving meaning to a specific organization, company, products, or services…by shaping a brand in consumers’ minds.
Storytelling can be transformative in this respect, changing consumers’ perception of what a brand is all about. Startups can use a narrative-driven strategy to fill a blank canvas with a strong image in potential customers’ minds. The same image can also help convince investors and strategic partners that this startup is standing out from the crowd.
Although many startup narratives feature similar elements, the stories themselves vary widely. That is what makes them so compelling and relatable for audiences.
Crafting your brand story starts with these elements. In most cases, they include your origin story. Talk about how the company founders came up with the idea for the business. Did they need to solve a specific problem? Were they struggling to find a product that truly met their needs? And how did they move from the idea to the current stage of the company?
Audiences love to hear about personal experiences. Sharing that startup journey is what makes an anonymous company relatable and turns a business into an entity that consumers feel they can connect with.
Aside from their origin story, most startups have great values and a long-term vision. Sharing both allows potential investors to understand your founding team better, share their vision for the future, and become excited about being a part of this future.
Crafting your brand story does not mean rewriting history. No one expects your journey to be entirely smooth. In fact, startups and their founders become more relatable when they talk about some of the obstacles they had to overcome.
Without reinventing your brand story, consider tailoring your narrative to your audiences. Few startups are aiming to reach one homogeneous demographic, and it pays to bear this in mind when you are addressing different people.
Without customization, your narrative will still resonate with different audiences, but a brand story that has been tweaked to address specific groups will have a much stronger impact. The difference is between creating a fleeting connection or laying the foundation for a more profound and lasting connection.
Those profound connections are essential when it comes to turning clients into ambassadors and one-time partners into long-term business allies. Tailoring stories does not need to be hard. Startup teams simply need to understand their audiences’ specific pain points and tailor their communications to establish emotional connections that address those points.
It would be easy to think that the term story implies something made up, but that could not be further from the truth. The strongest brand narratives benefit from authenticity and transparency, and they are being told in a way that leaves no doubt about the narrator’s sincerity.
Investors, consumers, and potential business partners can see through insincere narratives. Rather than forming a connection and building trust, the narrative is likely to undermine any existing trust in the startup. Authenticity, on the other hand, is a great tool to establish credibility and foster trust between a startup and potential customers.
Add consistency to the mix, and your startup is beginning to work toward long-term relationships with loyal customers.
How can you make your brand story work even harder for your business? Using a multi-channel marketing strategy allows startups to amplify the impact of their brand story.
Consider using your company’s own social media channels, other content marketing outlets such as blogs, and public relations tactics to ensure your story is seen by as many people in relevant audiences as possible.
As your narrative gains traction and audiences begin to relate to it, you will need to see an increase in externally shared content. Truly relatable, powerful narratives may even go viral and reach audiences your team may not yet have considered.
Never underestimate the power of the humble story. Centuries ago, stories passed from one generation to another were a form of recording the past. Today, they serve that same purpose but can do so much more.
For startup branding, storytelling has the power to appeal to the audience’s emotions rather than simply reasoning with them. Emotional connections between brands and consumers are the type of bond that inspires brand loyalty that can last for generations. While that may seem far-fetched for a new business, it is never too early to start forming this bond.
