Brand Stories for Entrepreneurs and Artists

Crafting a brand story is something businesses pay agencies hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to strategize.

The process is time consuming. Agencies do competitive research. They interview the founders. They interview employees, customers, the public. They brainstorm. They test. And they weigh the benefits, the unique value proposition, the brand personality.

It is a lengthy and expensive process that no individual or artist has money or time to do.

Why Entrepreneurs and Artists Need Brand Stories

Is it a valuable exercise in the first place?

Yes, the reason we create a brand and a brand story is to stand out from the others in our space and to broadcast who we are in a way that will connect with the people who want to work with us and who can benefit from our work, our way of seeing the world, the creative way we show up in the world.

There are many trainings out there that help you look at others, to look towards your customer and to look at the competition and to craft a message based on a promise. There are many trainings that remove you from the equation.

The problem with those approaches is that you are removed from the equation.

Why Your Brand Story is about You

You see, people buy from people. And people buy from solopreneurs and artists because of you. They buy from you because they resonate with who you are and how you see the world.

So if you create a brand story and you are not in the story you give up your competitive advantage, which is you.

Here’s the rub. The brand story industry has told us that a brand story is not about us it is about our customer. Yes and no.

The second rub, we don’t really want to talk about ourselves. Thinking about our story makes us feel uncomfortable. It can bring up insecurities. We begin to assess ourselves based on others and think about our own talents, “I can’t talk about that because I’m not as good as so-and-so.”

The Power of Your Story

There are many reasons we don’t want to talk about ourselves so thinking that a brand story isn’t about us is comforting.

But as an entrepreneur or artist, your best brand story asset is your own story.

Think about some of the most well-known entrepreneurs. Many of them tell their story of overcoming adversity to get where they are – their brand is built on their own journey. Their company brands have a separate identity but their personal brand involves their journey of overcoming adversity or realizing something was wrong/under appreciated/inefficient/fill-in-the-blank and then finding a way to fix the problem.

For entrepreneurs, your story is a mirror for your audience. It shows people what is possible for them. And it shows that another human has been there, done that.

For artists, who open a question and access a place of curiosity that is within your audience waiting to be explored.

Artists, while not problem solvers dealing with adversities, you have influences and themes that dive you and values that inspire your work. What interests audiences is what drives and motivates you, personally. When you share what are you exploring you open a spark that resides within us as an audience. You invite us to leave our daily routine and think about something different. We don’t need to know what your piece means to find this spark but we do want a glimpse into what you are thinking.

Your Next Step

If you are in the process of creating a brand story, look to others in your field who share their story and see how they share their journey. Then look inside and ask yourself, how did I get here.

If you want help crafting your story I created an online course for individuals and artists who want to tell their brand story, who want to do so in a way that sparks an interest, even a deep connection with their audience, without getting too personal. This course also addresses any hesitancy to look at your own story. I give you a frame to contain your self-judgement. And I share how to tell a powerful brand story in an easy to digest four-element story structure.

Learn more here: Create Your Brand Story.