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Podcast Show Notes
There’s no denying that stories have been told since the beginning of time. It’s how to build connections and understand one another on a deeper level. That’s why as a personal brand, you must use a story to trigger an emotional response from your audience. In this article, I share how to write a brand origin story to welcome people into your journey and encourage them to get to know you on a deeper level and encourage customer loyalty.
This your most cherished story
In episode #70, I spoke about using a value story to bridge the gap between your ideal client’s problem and your solution’s value. In this episode, I want to talk about another type of story: your Brand Origin Story.
While The purpose of the Value Story is to convince customers, they need what you provide.
The purpose of your brand origin story is to welcome people into your journey and encourage them to get to know you on a deeper level, and encourage customer loyalty.
Your brand origin story is your most cherished story because it’s the one on which all future stories and events are based.
What is your brand origin story
What you need to understand is that your brand origin story isn’t your bio. It’s not your list of accomplishments and things you did right in your career. But it’s the opposite. Your Brand Origin Story is your opportunity to become vulnerable, to share your authentic journey, failures, and struggles to establish deeper connections and trust with your audience.
A Brand Origin Story gives your readers a sense of who you are, where you came from, and what happened in your life to make you come up with the method or solution that you have now.
In a world where people have a lot of choices, the story may be the deciding factor. — Nick Morgan, author of How to Tell Great Business Stories
In my own experience, sharing my brand origin story over and over again allows me to stand out. Because no one else has my same story. No one went through the exact circumstances that I did and created the same solution as I did.
5 spotlights to include when writing your brand origin story
Let me share the five main spotlights to include when writing your brand origin story. This way you can start to attract more people to your business.
Spotlight one is the backstory
This is the beginning explaining who you were, what you were feeling or going through. It also includes your desires and what you wanted.
Spotlight two is the battle
This is when you realized your struggle and describe how this situation made you feel. Explain your failures and be honest about how you didn’t have it all figured out.
Spotlight three is the epiphany
At some point, you hit a wall, or an event happened. It pushed you to find a solution and overcome your battle.
Discuss what happened when you finally hit this wall.
- How it made you feel?
- What negative impact it made?
- What did this event reveal to you?
Spotlight four is the ah-ha solution
After you hit a wall, you found a solution to your problem. Your ah-ha moment shared here shows your audience that something you thought was right was actually wrong. Share your action you took as a result of your epiphany.
Spotlight five is the achievement
Once you solved your problem with a product or method, you now are bringing it to others to solve their similar issues. You want to reveal the big hurdle you overcame and what you’ve achieved by using this solution. It’s all about sharing the transformation you’ve made and are ready to help others create.
personal brand story example
A few years into my direct sales business (2015), I became frustrated with the copy and paste marketing tactics reinforced throughout our industry.
As a creative, I knew there had to be other ways to connect with my audience than with company photos and sales captions.
If I was sick and tired of seeing the same images and promotions in my timeline, I knew my readers had to feel the same way. So I searched high and low for a road map to help me stand out.
I turned to internet marketers, influencers, bloggers, authors, others in my direct sales industry. I bought over $10,000 in online courses + workbooks to LEARN how to grow an online business.
But to be honest, I couldn’t find what I was looking for in an online marketing plan. Often, what others were teaching didn’t exactly fit my industry – or I disagreed with the marketing tactics practiced across our channel.⠀⠀⠀
So I threw out the parts that made me cringe and leaned on my intuition and took action.
By reflecting on my experiences and sharing my beliefs, I created content around myself as a brand. I was thus making connections with readers and new clients in a way I had never done before.
As I continued to narrow down my core focus, I grew my business faster by focusing on a smaller niche of people with a specific need. It didn’t take long when other business builders noticed and wanted to learn what I was doing.
In 2017 I took action when God gave me an idea to start an email subscription for personal brand marketing tips. What began as 11 clients in my first month grew to over 400 paying clients two years later.
But I didn’t stop there.
I’ve always been a ‘systems girl.’ Meaning, I want my business to run without me being present to run it. So I took all the parts of my business and did just that. I automated it and developed my CORE Simplistic Sales Process.
Doing so freed up so much time that I could launch CORE Brand Marketing Group in October of 2020 to offer 1:1 creative and marketing strategy for serious online business builders.
Today I’m proud to offer a DIY – do it yourself option inside my online courses or a DFY – done for you option inside my marketing group.
Options that allow you to TAKE ACTION and serve the people God sent you here to help – humbly and confidently – while allowing you more TIME with those you love.
Yes, it would be best if you wrapped your business with love and attention, but you don’t need to be INSIDE it 24/7 when you have a simplistic sales process in place.
As I reflect on what I did ‘RIGHT’ in my business over the years, I created the Brand Roadmap I wish I would’ve had from the start.
Tell a brand story: In the end
As you can see, your brand origin story revolves around the problem you solved. This could be a simple problem or a more complex problem. But the brand origin story includes a transformation you’ve gone through.
A brand origin story isn’t about facts and dates, but it’s your honest journey written in the first-person voice. Not too short, but not a novel either.
Make it long enough to include the details so your audience can connect to your journey and build trust with you. They can see themselves inside your brand origin story and relate to much of your problems and desires.
Once you have your brand origin story written, there are many uses for it. For instance, you can include it on your website or sales copy pages to offer a product or digital course. You can speak it on live or recorded video or webinars. You can also break up your story to share on social media over and over again.
By repeatedly telling your story in a simple, emotional, and powerful way, you will establish credibility and gain trust. Your audience will start to remember you by your story.
need guidance writing yours?
If you’d like more guidance in writing your brand origin story, refer to step one in my Business Building Roadmap.
Inside my Personal Branding Playbook Mini-Course, there’s a lesson on how to use these five spotlights to write your brand origin story. Go to kristinkorn.com/playbook for instant access to this playbook mini-course.
In closing
Remember, your brand origin story isn’t about how you had all the right answers the whole time. But it’s about showing your authentic self and the problems you faced and then overcame. Keep it simple, straightforward, and relatable by including core stories and data that stick in your readers’ minds.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
- Build a Continuous Flow of New Clients Using This Simple Profit Pipeline™ – HERE!
- Turn Your Chaos Into Clarity in Just 90 Minutes with this One Call – HERE!
- Obtain the Support System You Need Inside Our Coaching Group – HERE!
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