What’s a Story Brand and Why Does it Matter?

 

Your story is powerful. Your story is central to who you are and what you do. But, are you sharing your story as part of your brand?

 

I was recently lucky enough to speak with Robert B. Foster of Shut Up and Grind! And he told me all about his take on Story Brands. Here’s what I want to share with you about it!

So, What Exactly is a Story Brand?

A Story Brand is all about sharing your story, highlighting how your story affects your life and your expertise, allowing you to help others. 

 

A Story Brand is not generic. It will speak directly to your ideal client. And, it will offer intense “lean-in” moments. It’s leading with a story that creates connection as opposed to leading with your resume and credentials. 

 

Here’s the secret: your Story Brand is not actually about what happened to you. It’s about one second after what happened all the way through today. 

How Do I Craft My Own Story Brand?

A compelling brand story has a few key components. It shares personal details about a powerful event in your life. It gives background before you get into those details so that you can build understanding leading up to that pivotal moment. It follows along the journey from the moment after the event until today. It provides a few “lean-in” moments where the listener’s attention is captured and held. 

 

After you craft your story, you want to present and revise multiple times until your story is crafted in a way that is authentic, compelling, and engaging. It’s important that you not discount your story. Your story is powerful to somebody. Somebody needs you to hear your story. Just one person hearing your story could save a life. 

 

That is the beauty of your Story Brand. Your ideal client needs to hear your story, before and after, and how you overcame – and they need to hear it from you. People will choose to work with you because they know that you know, first-hand, what they are going through. 

Why Does it Matter?

To be blunt, your ideal client doesn’t care about you. Now, I don’t want you to take that the wrong way. They don’t care about your certification. They don’t care about your accolades. They don’t want to read your resume.

 

What they care about is how you can help them. Your Story Brand will tell them a story where they can clearly see exactly how your life has led you to this moment where you are fully capable of helping them make their dreams a reality. They want to connect with you and your story. Only then will they take action on your product, service, or solution.  

 

There needs to be a real and authentic connection between your marketing and your story.

 

I see it as essential in the coaching industry more than any other industry because coaching is an incredibly personal industry. Someone needs to be able to connect with your story and your journey. 

 

Whether it’s fitness coaching, financial coaching, business coaching, mindset coaching, it doesn’t matter what you coach on. Your ideal client has to see that you get it and that you understand where they’re at now and can help them get to that next point. 

 

That’s how Story Brands can really help coaches connect with their ideal clients. 

If you’re ready to build your own story brand to market your business, contact me today! For more from Robert B. Foster of Shut Up and Grind!, listen to the latest episode of the Marketing Matchmaker Podcast! And, if you want to grow and scale your business to 6-7 figures, take the Profitable Scaling Quiz today to make a difference in your tomorrow!