The digital sphere has become a more competitive space for businesses. Several strategies are coming out left and right to give brands the edge over their competition.
One of the strategies that brands do to establish their presence digitally and compete against others is focusing on their digital marketing, SEO services, social media marketing, and content marketing.
Trust also plays a major role before a consumer commits to a brand and heavily influences their purchasing decisions. This is where storytelling comes into play. More brands and businesses acknowledge the power of heartfelt stories to establish authenticity and strengthen trust among its consumers. The world’s biggest brands are not only known for their extremely popular products, but also the stories shared behind them.
What makes stories a powerful weapon in gaining the trust of consumers? How helpful is it in developing a strong foundation and establishing authenticity? How do brand stories evoke ‘trust’ from its consumers?
Brand Stories Establish Trust
There is good reason behind every brand story that go viral. Research suggested that people are more responsive towards descriptive stories and touches on their emotions in different ways, which affect sensory and motor cortex.
When humans read stories, they find themselves being immersed with the subject of the story and develop an emotional connection with what they read. These emotions somehow make it easier for humans to trust, or simply let go of suspicions and let their guards down.
Different scenarios in stories build up trust and comfort among those who encounter them, but not for all stories. Brands need to create stories that are genuine and shows integrity.
Brand Stories Need to Have a Personality
To establish trust, your brand story should feel genuine. People have that emotion inside them that will make them feel like someone’s stories are genuine, and your brand stories should evoke these emotions.
Brand stories are not ads or any form of marketing tool that have standard procedures when you create one. Stories that seem bland or too formatted won’t work on consumers who value emotion and trust.
Brand stories should be embodied through a brand persona and emphasize the personality of the writer of the story. Readers will be more interested in stories that are overflowing with personality and experiences they can easily relate to compared to stories that appear too formal and borderline boring.
After all, people are more likely to trust real people than faceless corporations. This is precisely the reason stories should always emphasize personality and have a ‘person’ to represent the brand.
Make Brand Stories Simple Yet Impactful
Despite stories having a strong effect on your brand, brand stories do not always necessarily have to be complicated. People often mistake simple as synonymous to easy, yet that is far from the truth. Simple stories attract more readers and viewers because they are easy to remember.
Stories that shows a problem, solution, and result should already be good and enough to get your message across.
Highlight the Reason Your Brand Exists
When it comes to creating a successful brand story, it should always come with a purpose. If people ask the reason you established your brand in the first place, then you can answer them through a story.
Dig deep on the goals that made you want to pursue in establishing your brand – it’s always important to go back to the why’s and how’s. People are always driven and extra-motivated when they are shown purpose and inspiration.