In the world of marketing and sales, having a compelling brand story is essential for capturing the attention and interest of your target audience. A well-crafted brand story can be utilised across various marketing and sales assets, such as landing pages, emails, and other promotional materials, to effectively communicate your value proposition and engage potential customers.
By understanding the components of a brand story, you can create a cohesive narrative that resonates with your audience and drives them to take action. In this exercise, we will work through six exercises to develop your brand story, culminating in Exercise 6 where you will bring it all together.
Goal
The goal of this exercise is to guide you through the process of building a strong brand story that captures the essence of your offering and connects with your target audience. By completing the following exercises, you will define your hero, identify their challenges, establish yourself as the guide, outline a clear plan, and determine the next steps for your customers.
Instructions & Resources
Copy the brand story worksheet. If you have done the exercise from the ‘Customer Insights & Value Proposition’ bucket then you can copy/paste lots of your answers. In that case, the last exercise will be most valuable.
Exercise 1: Our Hero
- Identify who your hero is, the central character in your brand story.
- Define their "why," their underlying motivation or purpose.
- Clearly state their goal, what they are seeking to achieve.
Exercise 2: What's Their Challenge?
- Identify the external problems your hero faces in the outside world or market that hinder their progress.
- Explore the internal thoughts and personal challenges that prevent your hero from achieving their goal.
Exercise 3: The Guide
- Determine how you can communicate empathy to your prospects, build a relationship and establish trust in your solution.
- Highlight your authority by showcasing your credentials, training, experience, and any testimonials or case studies that validate your ability to deliver results.
Exercise 4: The Plan
- Develop a step-by-step plan that outlines how your hero can overcome their challenges and achieve their goal.
- Clearly define each step of the plan to provide a roadmap for your customers.
Exercise 5: What's the Next Step?
- Create a direct call-to-action (CTA) that invites customers to engage with your business and take the desired action, such as signing up for a service or making a purchase.
- Develop a transitional CTA that offers an alternative next step for those who may not be ready to commit yet.
Exercise 6: Bring it All Together
- Use the provided template to craft your brand story by filling in the relevant details from the previous exercises.
- Make sure your story clearly addresses the hero, their desired identity transformation, the problem they face, the empathy and authority you bring, the steps to success, and the direct and transitional CTAs.
Remember to be concise, compelling, and customer-centric throughout the exercise. Your brand story should resonate with your audience and inspire them to take action.