The Power Of Brand Storytelling For Solopreneurs
While on a call with a fellow solopreneur, we were discussing her hesitations and doubts surrounding sharing more stories in her marketing content. She wasn’t sure if she was sharing the ‘right’ stories, or if the stories she was sharing were resonating with her audience.
“I want my stories to connect with people who share my values. And I want my audience to understand what it is that I do through my stories.”
As soon as I heard the words leave her lips, I knew that this boss fully grasped the purpose behind using storytelling in her marketing efforts.
When we use stories to demonstrate what we believe and value as brands, we humanize our business and start to guide our aligned audience further down the sales funnel, turning followers into fans.
Why storytelling?
Stories have always been the common thread that connects us all. We understand one another through stories and personal experiences — see how someone’s brain processes experiences, what they value, what bothers them, and what they believe. Stories have been passed down for generations — they’re shared at Happy Hour with friends, told at funerals to describe a person’s life, and they’re exchanged on a first date.
When it comes to brand storytelling, many solopreneurs lack the confidence in knowing that their story matters, or aren’t entirely sure what to share. But the truth is, your audience wants to know your story. They want to do business with brands that share their values, why you’re here, and what your mission is.
Your story — if nothing else — is the key differentiator that makes your brand different than any other because your story cannot be shared by anyone else.
Last year, I started using more story-led content in my email marketing and social media marketing, and my engagement increased a ton! Before I used stories in my marketing strategy, I felt like I was talking to nobody, an abyss. But after using storytelling, I felt like I was having a conversation, an exchange, building a friendship with my audience.
And I want the same results for you! Here are some easy-to-implement tips to get your brand stories sorted and applied to your marketing strategy now.
What makes a good brand story?
I’m frequently impressed by personal brands that I follow on LinkedIn that have 500+ likes on a single post. These are not typically influencers with tons of followers on Instagram and big brand collabs either — these are real-life entrepreneurs like you and me.
In every post they share, I notice that they know what makes a good brand story because their content does at least one of the following:
Increases audience attention and engagement
Makes your brand more memorable
Increases brand awareness and sales
Makes you relatable and creates a connection
Humanizes your brand
Inspires others to act
Now, the stories themselves need to have a little spice, and evoke some emotion. And what better way to evoke emotion than through some sort of drama, conflict, or change? Without any transformation, conflict, or change you don’t have a story.
Here’s something you can do that I like to do with my clients. Think about a transformation that has impacted you. A transformative experience can be as simple as:
Who I was → what happened → who I am now
One of the most powerful places to start is here: in what ways are you a flawed character? It’s powerful because if you only focus on sharing content of the perfect image, people won’t relate. They might admire, but they relate.
But if you convey that you have flaws and that you have room to grow, you’ll build authentic connections with your audience.
When thinking of your flawed character, think about any mindset limitations, struggles, challenges, rock bottoms, or heartbreaks. This can be vulnerable, but it’s so empowering because we as humans want to see proof that our own transformation is possible.
Your audience is looking to you for support with whatever it is that you’re offering. They need this support because in this particular area, you’re the expert and they’re not (yet). They want the transformation that you’re offering, and by seeing that experience in someone else, they are empowered, inspired, and expanded. It’s like reaching your hand backward and understanding their pain right now.
P O W-E R-F U L.
How can you decide which stories to share?
You know what types of brand stories will resonate with your audience. But how can you decide which stories to share?
Start by looking at three to five talking points you’d be happy to deliver if you were on a podcast. Common stories are:
Brand origin
Personal struggle or challenge people ask you about (rock bottoms)
Hobbies, interests, values
Stories need to have a purpose. Their purpose might be to inspire, encourage, motivate, or relate with your audience. Know the message you’re sharing & why. When you’re considering sharing something deeply personal, ask yourself why it’s important to share it.
What mission are you trying to further in this world by sharing this story?
What purpose does this story being shared have?
Is that purpose aligned with your brand?
One of the biggest misconceptions of storytelling is feeling like you have to share this grandiose rags-to-riches story. Brand stories don’t all have to be about the rock-bottoms in your life. In fact, those can be too much for your audience sometimes too. Mundane, ordinary, everyday stories can also connect well with your audience. Why? Because it’s super relatable.
Whatever occurred when you took a trip to Target yesterday, or a funny moment at your kid’s soccer game, or the weird encounter with the Uber Eats delivery person over the weekend — these are all super relatable stories that are great opportunities to showcase your personality and build a relationship with your audience.
When deciding which stories to share, think about the invisible bridge that shifts the notion from a “me and them” to an “us”. When there is more “us”, there is more connection. The thing is, you don’t have to meet your audience where they are. Instead, you can invite them to where you are. Build that bridge, and cross them over to meet you, the flawed character, exactly where you are without the pressure of finding the commonalities that go beyond the basic human experience.
Be mindful of what your audience would need to know, care about, or believe before they buy from you. Perhaps you’re a wellness coach and your ideal client is ready to take their wellness and health to the next level. They might have specific goals they want to achieve, but what might they need to know or care about before they can commit to your program?
Maybe they need to know that more time is not promised, so putting off their health because they’re too busy is not acceptable. Maybe you have a story about a time that you were putting something off and it ended up being too late.
The truth is, we are on that social media platform for a shared purpose: to learn, to be inspired, to be entertained, to feel something. So think about what it is in your own experience that can help your audience feel something.
Where can you infuse more storytelling into your business?
Storytelling is a super effective approach to our marketing strategy, publicity strategy, and general customer experience. They can be infused anywhere, such as:
Social media content
Emails- Your ‘Welcome Sequence’ is a great place to start
Speaking engagements- podcasts, keynotes
Website & sales pages- not just your About page.
A great place to start sharing your story is through an introduction post on your social media. Give a little insight into who you are, what you enjoy, and what makes you unique. Think about how you want your audience to feel when you post this and invite them to engage.
Another way to begin your brand storytelling journey as a solopreneur is to select a story that highlights one of your values. For example, if you value community, share a story about an experience where you were part of a community, shunned from a community, or were dying to feel a part of a community. It’s a great way to relate with your audience and shed light on a topic important to you.
As mentioned before, be mindful of the purpose behind your story. You’re not sharing a story simply for the sake of sharing a story — you have a purpose behind sharing every story.
Want to know how to get started with your Brand Story?
Grab the free Mini Training here.
Here’s what people have said about the training:
“I'll be honest- I have felt a bit lost in my business and unmotivated to work on it. I spent THOUSANDS on a coaching programme to help with my sales but I didn't connect with it which left me feeling more lost than when I started. This mini-training has helped me remember my purpose and passion and kick-start momentum again. It helped me reconnect with my business's WHY more explicitly.”
— Kim S.
“It makes me feel more certain in why I'm doing this. It also revives my drive to do it well. Jessica talks about brand storytelling is such a clear way and gives easy actionable steps so you can actually do it. It's fabulous, bite-sized videos with prompts to work through instead of long videos that leave you forgetting what the first step is.”
— Stacey N.
“The lessons gave me the guidelines on how to do it. I finally started writing it!”
— Tabea F.
Wrap Up
Storytelling is a wonderful way to bring your brand strategy to life. It’s how you can spotlight your brand personality and add more soul to your business.
The best part is that you’ll start to be known for certain things through your brand stories. These things might not have much if anything to do with your offer directly, but they have everything to do with what makes you memorable. They relate to your values, your interests, and who you are as a person, and they might be the very thing that makes you stand out to a potential client over someone else.
Truthfully, you really don’t know what parts of your story your audience will take away or connect with. We all take away different things from different stories and experiences we share because most often, whatever we take away relates to what we have experienced in our lives.
The same goes when you re-read a book you haven’t read in years. New things will probably resonate with you that didn’t when you read it the first time. And it’s all because of your personal experiences and how they’ve impacted you.
So don’t be afraid to share parts of your story to inspire, encourage, motivate, educate, and connect with your audience. You never know who needs to hear whatever it is you have to share today.
