Top Ten Tips to Engaging Content: #2 Visual Storytelling
This week, we are going to break down the story behind your Brand.
What does your brand stand for?
What is the voice you want to portray?
How will that help you build your video brand guidelines
And how do you structure your copy.
Marketing vs. Branding
There tends to be a lot of confusion between branding and marketing. And while they play on the same team, they have different purposes in the life of your business. And if you aren’t educated on these differences, you won’t be able to effectively do either.
Branding, on the other hand, is all about standing out, breaking through the clutter. Branding makes the connections and builds the trust that converts first-time tryers into lifetime customers. It transforms indifference into brand enthusiasm and takes your business to a new level.
In short, marketing attracts and branding nurtures.
Exercise #1 Write a few paragraphs about what your brand stands for.
Don’t let your logo trip you up: Branding Mistakes.
Failing to recognise the importance of a well-developed brand can result in a myriad of challenges, from poor recognition and a weak competitive edge to underwhelming customer loyalty and lost revenue.
One of the biggest mistakes new businesses make when branding is rushing to create a logo before developing a solid strategy. A logo does not a brand make. Branding isn’t something that can be done in a single workday. It’s more than a few colourful designs.
Branding is the conceptual act of defining your business. It is a complex persona with human characteristics, striving to nurture relationships and understand the audience.
The key to building your brand is to completely understand the why of what you’re doing.
Exercise #2: Insert some screen grabs of websites you like and websites you don’t like, of videos you like and don’t like, and analyse why. Tone of voice, aesthetic, use of graphics, music, presenter style, call to actions. What is it that you can transfer into your own video’s?
Stand for something: Brand Purpose.
What is the voice you want to portray? Why do you do what you do? Your brand has to have a greater reason for existing—other than just turning a profit. Defining the deeper ‘why’ of your business and your brand lays the foundation for everything else to build on and grow.
There is a human relationship between buyers and a brand. Consumers are more and more willing to pay a premium for a brand that has a conscience. Be that sustainability or community philanthropy while simultaneously providing a quality product or service. Brand purpose also plays a role in attracting and retaining top talent for your company.
A clear and compelling brand purpose isn’t some romantic, dreamy concept. Purpose-driven brands and businesses outperform their competitors on multiple levels.
Exercise #3: Write out what your brand values are.
Your brand in the mind of a consumer: Brand Positioning
Brand positioning is more than an edgy logo, a clever tagline or a fancy logo. Brand positioning is the unique strategy used to set your business apart from all the rest. And successful brand positioning will guarantee your brand is perceived favourably—different and credible—in the mind of the consumer.
To effectively position your brand, it’s critical to establish an emotional relationship with your audience. Connecting on a human level builds trust. Reinforce the qualities that make your brand unique and how you will provide value in consumers’ lives—help them solve a problem or overcome a challenge.
Exercise #4: Create a brand style guide.
that details your guidelines around the use of all the assets that make up your brand: the positioning of the logo, graphics, photos, videos, tone of voice in text, etc.
Canva has some great templates here:
https://designschool.canva.com/blog/your-brand-needs-a-visual-style-guide/
https://designschool.canva.com/tutorials/building-brand-kit/
More than just a pretty face: Brand Personality
Your brand is going to stand out, not just by how you position yourself in the marketplace, but how you make personal connections with your audience. And like most people, a brand without a personality is just boring.
Brand personality plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining a strong brand. It’s the set of human characteristics that your brand represents for consumers, and it directs the tone and style for how your brand speaks to customers. People want to see humanity in the brands they buy—it’s differentiating and it’s endearing.
Exercise #5: List the characteristics of your brand, and as the business owner, of yourself!
What do you stand for? How do you want to be perceived? Imagine your brand is a famous person, what does that person stand for?
Branding is empowering
Branding isn’t quick or easy, and it’s never really finished. But it can certainly be powerful. With the right branding components implemented in the best way, your brand will stand strong, and your company will find success well into the future.
Show me a story: Brand and Visual Storytelling
We are living in an age where visual marketing is royalty. The images your brand sends out into the world are critical. They will quickly reach busy and distracted consumers, but there’s no guarantee they’re going to stick with these consumers past their first cup of coffee.
This is why visual storytelling has quickly become the foundation of a strong brand strategy, leading to increased new followers and lifelong loyalty.
Creating and delivering honest, meaningful visual narratives will help you communicate complex messages with minimal effort and set your brand apart from your competition.
We live in a world where capturing consumer attention is the ultimate prize. Seemingly, nothing is more important for a brand than telling the right stories. They need to captivate, stir emotions, stop us in our tracks. They need to challenge us, change our perspectives and compel us to act.
Start with the classics: Three Act Structure
Travel back to your school days and recall your studies of the classic story arc: Beginning, middle, end. This same structure can go a long way when it comes to your brand storytelling. Problem, solution, results.
Begin with the problem your brand will solve. Whether you’re creating simple infographics or fully produced videos, present a visual that is recognisable and relatable to the consumer.
Next, illustrate for your audience how your brand will help them overcome the obstacle that stands in their way.
And lastly, create a powerful representation of results your brand will deliver.
Exercise #6 Timebox yourself to write scripts
Timebox yourself to produce some stories around:
Your brand.
Your product or service.
Don’t write it just yet, simply audio record it, adopt a stream of consciousness style, and then review and refine.
Get going today to quickly capture and keep your audience’s attention with messages that resonate and connect on an emotional level.