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How important is a brand story?

Paul David

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I’m in the process of adding content to my new website whilst waiting for our products to finish production.

My products will be sold at a premium price compared to others; how important is creating a brand story, how personal should be it and is it imperative I add content as to why my products are high quality.

An example I found was here: brummelli.com
in the about us and our craft page. (This is different niche to us).

I’ve been on fiver and the best writers are charging around £250 for creating a brand story.


Thanks
Paul


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PizzaOnTheRoof

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Does a brand story directly increase sales or is it fluff?

I would get the first few sales on the books before worrying about content and a brand story.
 

astr0

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Personally, I probably haven't read any brand story on the web site, except, maybe some alcohol brands (just of curiosity, not buying). I do like hearing cool brand stories on the radio, but they haven't affected my buying decisions and I don't even remember the brand names behind so no contribution to building a name. But that's only me.

The strong story definitely won't hurt, but maybe track how many visitors are going to the page where you want to put that story? Then, assuming it would add at least something to conversions, you'll have an idea if it's worth it.
 

rpeck90

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I’m in the process of adding content to my new website whilst waiting for our products to finish production.

My products will be sold at a premium price compared to others; how important is creating a brand story, how personal should be it and is it imperative I add content as to why my products are high quality.

An example I found was here: brummelli.com
in the about us and our craft page. (This is different niche to us).

I’ve been on fiver and the best writers are charging around £250 for creating a brand story.


Thanks
Paul

If you're starting it from fresh, a brand story doesn't matter. What matters is having a product and drumming up people who're interested in paying for it. The whole "about us" thing is basically an after-thought to that process.

What you need is a good offer, that differentiates your product/process/company from everyone else. This is what I believe you're trying to get at. You'd do well to look at this post: Unique Selling Propositions: USP Formulation Guide w/ Examples
 
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U

User62861

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Just put classic ''About'' page that's written by you (let someone check grammar if you're bad in it).

Build your brand and the story will write itself.

Just make sure you're doing the best you can on all aspects of your company.

Don't use sites life Fiverr. If you don't have a budget for professional, search forums and hire someone directly. You can start from Reddit.

Don't go for a cheap logo, save that money until you can hire for a real logo development. Use free font from Google Fonts as your logotype. If Instagram did it, you can do it too.

If you hire someone directly, you can try to lower his/her prices by offering constant monthly payments (you will need...ads, banners, social media content, etc.).

Small advice...if you're hiring someone, don't try to fish for the prices. Decide what's your budget and look for the best guy that money can buy.
 

Paul David

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Just put classic ''About'' page that's written by you (let someone check grammar if you're bad in it).

Build your brand and the story will write itself.

Just make sure you're doing the best you can on all aspects of your company.

Don't use sites life Fiverr. If you don't have a budget for professional, search forums and hire someone directly. You can start from Reddit.

Don't go for a cheap logo, save that money until you can hire for a real logo development. Use free font from Google Fonts as your logotype. If Instagram did it, you can do it too.

If you hire someone directly, you can try to lower his/her prices by offering constant monthly payments (you will need...ads, banners, social media content, etc.).

Small advice...if you're hiring someone, don't try to fish for the prices. Decide what's your budget and look for the best guy that money can buy.

Thanks for your reply. I have a logo. I was thinking more about writing content as to why the brand came about and reasons as to why they should buy more products when they cost twice as much as most competitors.


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Andy Black

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Go through the free videos at www.storybrand.com. I thought they were well done and have just bought the book.

If you write an About page then try to talk about them (your customers) more than yourself. Visitors don’t really want to know about You, only what you can do for them. (WiiFM ... What’s in it For Me?).

As others have hinted at, you don’t *need* a brand story, you need sales/customers.

Speaking for myself, I still don’t have a website to speak of, and get enquiries every single week.
 
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U

User62861

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Thanks for your reply. I have a logo. I was thinking more about writing content as to why the brand came about and reasons as to why they should buy more products when they cost twice as much as most competitors.


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Yea I understand that, but I still wouldnt do it as a story.

You can explain your brand through branding and marketing. You can design your website that will explain customers what they are buying.

Puting story as a long text wont help that much. We live in time of scrolling, people dont have too much time for reading long texts.
 

1step

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I think it's highly likely that most of the people commenting haven't started a premium brand based on their responses.

In the long run that $250 is nothing for a crafted high quality brand story.
$250 is especially nothing if you are selling a premium item that can be compared to the shoes that you have compared it to.

My main brand is 2-4x as expensive as some others, we use our story not only in story form but in bullets and short copy form in different parts of our site. It is true that not everyone will ready your story but some people will read it all and some will skim it, making the content digestible for the various ways people read is very important.

Additionally, I want to emphasize the importance of using the story via email, product packaging, product inserts, etc. To ensure that in some way you are communicating your key story/brand points to your customer.

The story could move the customer closer to purchasing but in addition to that AFTER they buy they will have snippets of the story that they can pass on to friends to help with your word of mouth marketing. When someone sees your customers new (shoes in the example you linked to) they may ask about them and then the customer having skimmed your packaging, story, emails, inserts can tell them some key points (which you have already crafted for them) about why they are awesome
 

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I think it's highly likely that most of the people commenting haven't started a premium brand based on their responses.

In the long run that $250 is nothing for a crafted high quality brand story.
$250 is especially nothing if you are selling a premium item that can be compared to the shoes that you have compared it to.

My main brand is 2-4x as expensive as some others, we use our story not only in story form but in bullets and short copy form in different parts of our site. It is true that not everyone will ready your story but some people will read it all and some will skim it, making the content digestible for the various ways people read is very important.

Additionally, I want to emphasize the importance of using the story via email, product packaging, product inserts, etc. To ensure that in some way you are communicating your key story/brand points to your customer.

The story could move the customer closer to purchasing but in addition to that AFTER they buy they will have snippets of the story that they can pass on to friends to help with your word of mouth marketing. When someone sees your customers new (shoes in the example you linked to) they may ask about them and then the customer having skimmed your packaging, story, emails, inserts can tell them some key points (which you have already crafted for them) about why they are awesome
^^^ This x1000! I really can't add anything else to what @1step has. Some books that have helped us are Fascinate, Story Brand 2.0, Building a Story Brand, Brand Seduction, and Lingo.
 
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Andy Black

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The audio of “The Micro-Script Rules” was good too.
 

minivanman

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Well, I was going to give out my results in a few months but I was playing around with this. I made up a few stories and would leave them up on the ABOUT page...... just to see if I could see the difference and I'll be dang, I'm not sure if it's by accident or not but I put my real story on there and it seems to get the most action. I tried making up all kinds of stories.... maybe I wasn't good at making them up. lol But I did seem to see a difference.

Personally, I do read them a lot of the time. I just like to know how people got their start. Sometimes an About Us page is not really 'ABOUT' us.... sometimes people use that as kind of a sales page. When people do that, it doesn't stop me from buying from them and I haven't seen a story that made me buy or not buy from someone..... some people just like knowing what type of person they are dealing with. I can't say if the story made my inquires go up or not but it sure seemed to; depending on what story I had up.
 

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Below are all brands with a great brand story and marketing angle which I've compiled for my own personal analysis in the last few months. Google them, study them and see how they stand apart from their competition:

Johnny Cupcakes
Jadelynn Brooke
Life Clothing Co
Vineyard Vines
Soul Cycle
Swell Bottles
Method
MVMT
Pura Vida
Olly.com
Cuffed By Nano
Bippy
Funboy
HstlMade
FabFitFun
Evolutionofsmooth.com
Hello-products.com
Fannipac
Black Rifle Coffee Company
Happy Swim Suits
ZaharaSwim
 
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MHP368

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Really important.

People buy from people.

For a premium price I expect a little human connection , if I just want a doodad ill buy your competitors cheaper doohicky.

Sell my human side , feed my need for emotional connection.
 

Paul David

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If you have a genuine story you don't need someone who does not know it to knock one up for you.

So what is your story?

Dan

That’s just it I don’t have a genuine story. I’m not the first to market. I haven’t re-invented the wheel. I’m not living in a fashion designer city like London, Milan, Paris etc.




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Jaden Jones

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That’s just it I don’t have a genuine story. I’m not the first to market. I haven’t re-invented the wheel. I’m not living in a fashion designer city like London, Milan, Paris etc.




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Everyone has a story, it doesn't always need to be directly related to what your selling
 

Stargazer

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That’s just it I don’t have a genuine story. I’m not the first to market. I haven’t re-invented the wheel. I’m not living in a fashion designer city like London, Milan, Paris etc.

OK.

Have you been to a pub lately and looked at the menu?

Where is the normal food? Everything is Triple cooked this and 28 day matured that.

The pub could be in Scunthorpe (no offence to Scunthorpe :) ) never mind Kensington & Chelsea.

My point is this. When you list the products you can spin the value into the product description.

Look at this twaddle for a shirt.

Women's Shirts | Zip & High Neck Shirts | Holland Cooper

Dan
 

Paul David

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OK.

Have you been to a pub lately and looked at the menu?

Where is the normal food? Everything is Triple cooked this and 28 day matured that.

The pub could be in Scunthorpe (no offence to Scunthorpe :) ) never mind Kensington & Chelsea.

My point is this. When you list the products you can spin the value into the product description.

Look at this twaddle for a shirt.

Women's Shirts | Zip & High Neck Shirts | Holland Cooper

Dan

Yes this is exactly what I’m planning to do. And one of the main reasons why I was going to pay £250 to a brand story creator who’s got excellent reviews


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Stargazer

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What are you going to be selling? Some sort of clothing I guess.

Is it commissioned by you or a brand you are bringing to UK or something else?

Dan
 

Paul David

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What are you going to be selling? Some sort of clothing I guess.

Is it commissioned by you or a brand you are bringing to UK or something else?

Dan

It's a textile product and yes i've created a brand.
 

MarkusHG

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The story is important but it's not just a bit of text you put on your website.

The story has to be seen and experienced in how you communicate and how the experience with your product unfolds. It's a holistic aspect of your business and not just some random story thrown together by a dude (or dudette) on fiverr.
Get clear about your story, your motivation and what is special about your product and try to figure out how you can transport that to customers.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Saw this on IG...

24769
 

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Really important.

People buy from people.

For a premium price I expect a little human connection , if I just want a doodad ill buy your competitors cheaper doohicky.

Sell my human side , feed my need for emotional connection.

There has to be some equation or at least a "sweet spot" where the higher price/more premium a product is the more important the story/brand is.

If I'm spending on something big, that stuff is important.

If I'm looking for a cheap USB-C to Aux adapter on Amazon, all I care about is price and quality.

If you're positioning your product in the premium space, then the story is probably important.

Obviously exceptions abound, but I think it's a good rule of thumb to follow.
 

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I’m in the process of adding content to my new website whilst waiting for our products to finish production.

My products will be sold at a premium price compared to others; how important is creating a brand story, how personal should be it and is it imperative I add content as to why my products are high quality.

An example I found was here: brummelli.com
in the about us and our craft page. (This is different niche to us).

I’ve been on fiver and the best writers are charging around £250 for creating a brand story.


Thanks
Paul


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Business is two parts

Acquisition

Obligation

First you get the work, then you fulfill it. That’s it.

Brand story falls into acquisition. It helps you acquire customers.

How much does a brand story help you acquire customers as opposed to not having a brand story?

I’d say a few percentage points....especially in the short term.

How much are you failing on the acquisition side because you didn’t set up an affiliate plan with an influencer to pay them when they sell your product to their audience?

How much are you missing out on when you don’t market your business creatively and you overpay for ads when a strategic piece of content could’ve gone viral and changed your business overnight?

Brand story is pennies.

You are tripping over dollars thinking of picking up pennies or not.

Opportunity costs are usually in the billions of dollars, for everyone, including you.

Where is this brand story going? On your website that 23 people visited today? Do it but don’t expect anything from it. What matters is getting people’s attention, satisfying either a need or desire with that attention you have (either paid or free), and then efficiently delivering whatever they paid for to them. That’s business. Where’s your problem? My guess is that nobody knows about you so nobody wants your product. Why do you think famous people all have “merch”? It’s basically how Kylie Jenner became a billionaire. She just threw up a Shopify store and her mom found some distributors.

You need attention. You need people to give a shit. And they won’t if you’re just selling. How are you solving that problem? Not the problem of whether or not you should have a “story” page on your website.
 
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