Is Your Manufacturing Company Harnessing the Power of Storytelling?

Brand storytelling is more than a buzzword. For many brands, it's a key part of their overall marketing strategy. When it's handled correctly, it shows enormous potential as part of your B2B content marketing strategy, public relations, and much more. To ensure that your story starts—and stays—on brand and compelling, enlist the content marketing services and social media services in Rockford, IL provided by Cain & Company.

What is Branding?

To understand how and why brand storytelling works, let's first review what “branding” is. In the broadest possible sense, it's the many ways in which your business identifies itself and how, in turn, your clientele comes to identify it. A successful brand deploys several different tools to that end, among them:

• A logo
• A website
• Assets and brand collateral (your brand's business cards, packaging, spec sheets, handouts, visuals, social media messaging, and more)
• A mission statement or statement of purpose
• Your brand bible or any other guidelines you've developed for brand consistency (stick a pin in this—we'll return to it shortly)

What is Brand Storytelling?

Like any other story, a brand story is a narrative that builds a connection. In fiction and nonfiction alike, we tell stories for any number of reasons, including advancing a narrative, imparting a bit of wisdom, building authority, or simply making sense of something that might otherwise be confusing. Whether we realize it or not, when we tell a story we're talking about characters in a certain setting who must address a conflict, overcome obstacles, and then apply what they've learned as they move on through life.

If that sounds like the outline of every case study you've read, you're not imagining things. But there are many other uses for brand storytelling.

The Uses and Benefits of Brand Storytelling

The simplest use of brand storytelling is filling a blank space; if you leave a void where your story should be, someone else—a customer or a competitor—will tell it for you. Not only have you lost the plot at that point, but you're also ceding your meaning and purpose to someone else. And that someone may not have your best interests at heart.

So how can you leverage storytelling to your advantage?

• Speak to your mission and history to build credibility
• Tell your story—loud and proud—in places like your company blog and your social media to build trust
• Use it to reinforce company culture and the values everyone from the mailroom clerks to the team in your C-suite works daily to uphold to attract and retain top talent
• Help your brand stand out by communicating what makes your business unique
• Show how your mission and values inform everything from product design to pricing, reinforcing your value and your public relations strategy alike

Of course, your business is a collaborative effort. So, don't merely tell the story of Widget Manufacturers Limited. Tell the stories of its people because human beings relate to human brands. We're hardwired for story, so getting to know the line workers who bring your products to life or the customers whose businesses have been advanced by your products has unexpected resonance whether you're cultivating new business or attracting top talent.

Getting Your Story Right

There are a few key guidelines to getting brand storytelling right.

• Don't overlook conflict; it's the engine of every good story.
• Make sure the story you tell is consistent with the rest of your brand.
• Don't be afraid to hand the microphone to a trusted client; their stories are validation and social proof that prospects often find compelling.
• Be true to your brand; your story will be seen as a cynical marketing ploy if it's on-trend but not on-brand.
• Perhaps most importantly, be honest. Negative perceptions have a way of lingering, so treat the trust in your brand like the hard-earned currency that it is.

Brand Storytelling and B2B Marketing

Like other forms of manufacturing marketing, brand storytelling works best when there's an understanding of your customers, your own brand, and your goals. When you're incorporating something new into your marketing mix, it helps to avoid missteps. Cain & Company has helped countless businesses in the Rockford area uncover and tell their unique stories, and we'd love to help you do the same. Contact us today for a consultation.