A 6-Step Guide for Telling a Compelling Brand Story – Bitly

Did you know that the average person’s attention span is about 8 seconds?

As a marketer, hearing this can make your job seem a bit daunting. Figuring out how to grab the attention of someone who has ads and content thrown at them every second can add to a long list of worries.

But, there’s good news. There are strategies you can use to grasp the attention of your potential clients and it all starts with telling a compelling brand story. By doing this, you’ll help inspire trust and loyalty in your brand’s audience, as well as attract and keep more of your ideal customers. 

Below, we’ve broken down six steps to begin telling your brand story effectively. 

1 – Know your target audience

You can’t tell a story without having someone to tell it to. So, diving deep into who your audience is, what they do and what motivates them can reveal valuable results for your brand story and overall strategy.

Start listening to current customers, potential customers and employees to see what might motivate them to buy. When you know what your customers like and what motivates them, you can tell your brand’s story much more effectively. 

2 – Communicate authentically and consistently

These days we’re subject to so much advertising. With so much going on around us, consumers look for brands that seem to have the highest integrity and authenticity before making a purchase. 

An “authentic brand” typically tells their story with honesty and reliability. As a result, companies perceived as authentic can usually build better loyalty to their brand, which impacts their bottom line. 

Making sure you are honest and telling your story in the most authentic way will help you draw in ideal clients and make them stay long term. Consumers respect transparency and consistency and are more likely to refer their friends and keep coming back if they trust you and hear from you often.

3 – Get your audience’s attention

We talked about attention span at the beginning of this article, but how do you actually get someone invested in your brand story? One way to do this is by telling people why they should listen to you and how you’ll solve their problem.

Even better, you can set up a custom domain in Bitly to start sharing branded links. Not only will you replace the “bit.ly” with your brand, but you’ll also get a view into how your audience is engaging with your content and communications. This can help you determine what content is resonating and inform your future content efforts. 

4 – Define your product offerings

A clear definition of your product and offerings is key to managing your story. The goal here is to make sure you know exactly what your business offers so you can articulate it in a comprehensive way.

Make sure you have a clear definition of what you are selling and who you are selling to and you’ll find yourself a step ahead of your competition. 

5 – Narrow your focus

Try to narrow your brand focus to keep yourself aligned with your authentic business values and what your customers actually want. Answer questions like: 

– What is unique about you that you can share with your audience? 
– What’s going to set you apart from your competitors? 
– Why do you do what you do? 
– Why are you good at it?

6 – Be human

We’ve all gotten emails from the email address donotreply@company.com. It’s somewhat of a turn-off knowing you can’t respond to these emails and get a human on the other end. Nowadays, consumers expect brands to be more human and genuine with their engagement with customers. 

In fact, Marketing Week states that “consumers who perceive your brand as human are 2.1 times more likely to love the brand and 1.9 times more likely to be satisfied by it.”

Genuine, simple messaging can get you a lot farther than you might think. And the more you can connect with consumers on a human level, the better! 

—

It can definitely be a challenge in today’s market to stay ahead of the competition. However, creating a strategic, consistent brand story is necessary in order to grab the attention of your prospective consumers and effectively market yourself in the current business landscape.