Writing Your Brand Story Part I: What, How, & Why

Traditional PR strategy and tactics­­, such as media outreach, thought leadership, and social media, can help you reach your target audience to contribute to brand recognition and business growth. But they will only be successful if you’ve first taken the time to define your brand story.

What is your brand story, and how do you get started writing it? Here’s how:

What is a brand story?

A brand story is exactly what it sounds like: the story of or behind your brand. In other words: What does your business do? How was it established? What is its mission? What products or services do you offer? What makes you different than your competitors?

Your brand story is an extension of your mission statement where the personality and history of your company can shine. It should demonstrate the values of your business, explain who you are, and establish what kind of relationship your business has with its customers.

How is your brand story different than your background/press materials?

As you start preparing your business’s messaging for ongoing PR strategies or for a specific launch, you’ll also need to think about writing your company’s background materials. There are a few key differences between this and the brand story.

Background materials are like the content that you might have on your website’s “About Us” page. They explain things like: what year your company was founded; how big your team is; and key milestones you’ve reached in your company’s history.

Your background materials explain more of the facts of your company; your brand story, on the other hand, describes your brand’s personality.

Why do you need to write a brand story?

If writing isn’t your game, you may not be too enthused about sitting down to write your brand story. You might even think, “Do I really need this?”

To successfully reach out to the press, introduce your business on social media, and market to potential customers, you must be able to give a clear image of who your business is and what it can offer.

The best stories are simple, straight-forward, and written by someone who knows and cares about the business — that’s you!

What next?

Once you’ve written your brand story, the next step is to determine which social media platforms are the best fit for you to introduce your business and share your latest news.

How do you know where to go?

Stay tuned for Writing Your Brand Story Part II: Sharing on Social Media to learn how to best present your brand story on social media.

Until then, check out The Importance of Social Media to Tell your Story to learn more, or reach out to me on Twitter @merryshoebell.