I recently interviewed the founders and marketing experts behind 5 incredible ecommerce stores and top agencies about how to turn your “business” into a “brand.”
According to them, if you’re only thinking about your next product launch, then you’re not thinking far enough into the future.
In this video, discover why developing an incredible brand story is an important step to building a successful online business. Plus get first-hand advice from expert CEOs, CMOs and Founders on how to create a long-lasting brand from scratch.
What Is Brand Story?
In the early days of ecommerce, it didn’t matter why you were selling something online, all that really mattered was what you were selling.
Ten years ago, if you were the top search result for “natural dog treats,” the odds were that you’d get the sale.
But today, ecommerce has gone social and consumers are interested in the why just as much as the what.
Here’s how I like to think of brand story: It’s whatever conversation you’re having with your customers. Because at the end of the day, your business is a group of people and a message.
For my 8-figure skin care brand, our group of people is woman over 40 who are experiencing the pain points of living in an anti-age society, and our message is simple: We are pro-age. We believe that their age has value.
By engaging these women in a conversation about a pro-age lifestyle, we have used this message to evolve from a collection of products to a brand with a strong emotional connection with its customers.
But enough about me… Here are the top takeaways from my interviews with the Founders and marketing experts behind these successful ecommerce brands and agencies:
Where Do You Want to Be in 5 Years?
“Developing a long-term brand story, I think, is extremely important if you want to have a brand that’s going to be alive 5 years from now,” says Steve Weiss, CEO of Mutesix, a top Facebook marketing agency that works with MeUndies.com.
“People don’t want to buy from brands, they want to buy from people. If you don’t have a brand story, people are going to look at you just as a company that’s selling to them.”
Ben Katzaman, Founder and CEO of Wanderer Bracelets, incorporates his brand story directly into the marketing and product design. This is how he elevated a product line of handmade bracelets into a brand based around preserving Balinese tradition:
“Anybody can make an incredible product, but if you don’t have the brand to back it up, you might not be around in five years. In order to do that, you’ve got to have the authenticity. You can’t make that up.
Creating a brand is something that takes time to do, and there’s a lot of different layers to it, from your messaging, the videos you create, the imagery you create, the aesthetic you use, down to your fonts and your colors, and how you tie it all together […]
What is the conversation you’re having with your customer, and how do they remember that?”
What Does Your Brand Stand For?
Your brand story is an opportunity to engage with the problems that your customers are trying to solve. Buck Rizvi, Founder of RealDose Nutrition, has relied on his brand story to help give him an advantage in the highly competitive supplement market:
“I think it’s critical to think about what your brand story is, what your brand promise is, what you stand for, why you’re different, why they should pay attention to you.
I think it has to be authentic. You really have to tell your story. It has to be meaningful.”
Mike Danner is the CMO of Quantum Media Marketing and leads the strategy for $100 million ecommerce brand Dr. Axe. For Mike, one of the best ways to craft an engaging brand story is to include your fans:
“I would constantly encourage entrepreneurs who want to create their long-term value, to include your customer — include your loyal fans into the story of what’s happening in your life.
Right now, the biggest thing on social media for brands that are built around a personality are “Behind the Scenes [videos],” because they’re seeing how people are doing it, and they’re watching the story…
They’re seeing the people that they really love and support grow. And [your customers] want to grow — everybody wants to identify with that hero’s journey.”
Creating Long-Term Value
But a brand story doesn’t just help you better engage with your fans. It can also give your business a real long-term financial advantage. Joana Galvoa is the Founder of GIF Design Studios, and she understands first hand the added benefits that come from focusing on branding over products:
“The power of having a great brand is that you can increase your product prices without losing customers to your competitor. You can convert leads more quickly, you can also hire more effectively. So right now, a brand is a really important asset to a business.”
What makes your business unique? Who are your products helping? What is your story?
If you want to evolve into a brand that is greater than its collection of products, start to incorporate the answers to these questions into your messaging.
You don’t need to figure all this out overnight, but the more effort you can put into crafting an engaging brand story like the experts above, the greater your advantage will be.
Because as Steve Weiss so wisely says, “The companies that invest, initially — before they launch, before they go big — into building a story about their brand of why they’re here, what value the product is, and they really build a rapport between the customer, and they really take the time to understand the expectations of the customer, they’re going to win long-term.“
Video Highlights:
0:21 It’s important to create an authentic brand
0:52 People don’t want to buy from brands, they want to buy from people
1:35 Include your fans in your story
2:32 Use customer feedback in the content you create
2:49 Companies that build a rapport with their customers will win long term
Click Here For Video Transcript
Buck: I think it’s critical to think about what your brand story is, what your brand promise is, what you stand for, why you’re different, why they should pay attention to you.
Steve: Developing a long-term brand story, I think, is extremely important if you want to have a brand that’s gonna be alive 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now.
Ben: It’s so important to focus on creating an incredible brand. Anybody can make an incredible product, but if you don’t have the brand to back it up, you might not be around in five years. In order to do that, you’ve gotta have the authenticity. You can’t make that up.
Joana: The power of having a great brand is that you can increase your product prices without losing customers to your competitor. You can convert leads more quickly, you can also hire more effectively. So right now, a brand is a really important asset to a business.
Steve: People don’t wanna buy from brands, they wanna buy from people. If you don’t have a brand story, people are gonna look at you just as a company that’s selling to them. People wanna buy from people they trust.
Buck: I think it has to be authentic. You really have to tell your story. It has to be meaningful.
Ben: Creating a brand is something that takes time to do, and there’s a lot of different layers to it, from your messaging, the videos you create, the imagery you create, the aesthetic you use, down to your fonts and your colors, and how you tie it all together. But it’s what is the conversation you’re having with your customer and how do they remember that. What are their takeaways?
Mike: I would constantly encourage entrepreneurs, who wanna create their long-term value, to include your customer, include your loyal fans into the story of what’s happening in your life.
Buck: I do notice that if people visit our About Us page, which typically where we tell our story, that the visitor value for that page is very high. If someone is taking the time to get there and read it, they’re gonna, you know, much more believability about us as a company.
Mike: Right now, the biggest thing on social media for brands that are built around a personality are behind the scenes, right, because they’re seen how people are doing it, and they’re watching the story, and they’re seeing one of their superheroes, if you will, in small ways and in big ways. They’re seeing their people that they really love and support grow, and they wanna grow. Everybody wants to identify with that hero’s journey.
Ben: I was at a conference a couple of months ago and somebody came to the table and said, “The brands that are gonna win are the ones that are obsessed with their customer experience.” And, I think, that makes all the difference. So constantly be looking at those feedback loops and hearing what your customers are saying, hearing about how they’re using or wearing your product, and find ways to incorporate that into the content you’re creating.
Steve: The companies that invest, initially, before they launch, before they go big into building a story about their brand of why they’re here, what value the product is, and they really build a rapport between the customer, and they really take the time to understand the expectations of the customer, they’re gonna win long-term.
