By: Ayesha Tak
The most powerful way to gain interest and attention is through storytelling. A brand narrative is a story about your business and what you do. People can't identify with a logo, but they can identify with the story behind your business name, or the meaning behind your logo. A brand by itself is a symbol, but a brand narrative creates a community.
Here are 5 steps you can take to build your brand narrative:
- Consider the Bigger Picture A brand narrative paints the bigger picture. Instead of outlining your purpose, goals, and other biographical details outright, a brand narrative presents these details in a story worth remembering. To begin your story, consider talking about where your passion for dentistry begun and what you did to materialize that passion. When you have a story with a beginning, middle, and end, weave your purpose and goals into the story.
- Connect With Your Patients Write a story with an emotional cause or message at its core. It is important to empathize with your patient, and using emotional storytelling in your brand can help you achieve that. In addition, when patients identify with your brand and its message, they are more likely to share it with their peers.
- Keep It Simple A good brand narrative is simple and easy-to-follow. Each chapter builds on the last and progresses the story. Avoid going off on tangents and adding unnecessary information. This can cause the reader to lose focus and interest in your brand story.
- Stay Consistent If your brand includes a logo and/or a tagline, make sure your story encompasses those details. Staying consistent throughout your story builds trust. Consistency also means using your story as a platform to highlight your services. Find a way to relate the story back to your services, and any other things you offer to your patients to improve their experience. Existing patients will start to identify with your brand and see themselves in your story. New patients will be attracted to your brand because it is personalized and meaningful.
- Transmedia Storytelling If a patient identifies with your values, they are more likely to share your brand on social media. It is beneficial for your practice to have a strong social media presence> and to use it effectively. If your practice is interested in upping your social media presence, creating content for social media, and other social media related services, check out UpOnline to see how we can serve you.
Good brand narratives not only raise awareness of the brand, but also create human connection. Make sure to bring out the human element in your story and make it about the people involved. This could be the dentist, the dental team, and even other organizations.Your patients want to matter - they want to see themselves in the story. Ask yourself: What story would my patients like to hear? What details would be relevant to engage their emotions?
Keep the content of the story relevant to your practice and services. It's okay to embellish some details in your story, but don't fake the story. Keep it genuine, true to yourself, and true to your practice.
Different social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be used in unique creative ways to tell your brand story. For example, including hashtags in your story would work well on Twitter. However, on Facebook, you can take advantage of other features, including descriptions, pictures, and videos, to weave your story together.
