How Not To Tell Your Brand Story

The other day I was asked to tell my story. But, instead of telling my story, I told some version of what I thought that person wanted to hear. Why? Because I wanted to please that person. Unfortunately, the brutal truth was that I didn’t please him with my “story”…because it wasn’t really my story. And, because it wasn’t really my story, it came off that way—it didn’t feel real to him or me. It was flat, uninteresting and not very engaging. There was no emotion, no connection, no zing.

How is this relevant to you and your company? Because often, in an effort to engage with prospective customers, we end up telling them what we think they want to hear instead of what really is our company’s authentic brand story.

Yes, it's all about the customer...but your brand story must be your own

You have been told over and over that in today’s world it is all about your customer, what is important to them, not what is important to you as a business. So, if it’s all about your customer, then what’s wrong with telling your brand story to please them? What’s wrong is it’s not authentic and your customers will know. It will come out flat and uninteresting and your customers will not be engaged…just like what happened to me. You want to tell your story in a way that resonates with your target customers, in words to which they can relate, in mediums they prefer, in channels they hang out in, but the story itself has to be your own.

Yes, your customer needs to come first, but (and that’s a big but) your brand story needs to be your own, real and authentic.

When have you told the brand story (personal or company) you thought your customers wanted to hear rather than your own story and what happened?

As posted on LinkedIn

Picture by Carli Jean

#customer #marketing #brand #storytelling #story