The Art of Brand Storytelling /
Narratives unite. Every person has a story, and so does every brand. The trick is telling a good story that makes your would-be audience want to snuggle in and come back again and again.
This is the storytelling equivalent to "read it again"!
We'll show you how to build a brand online and create a loyalty-worthy equestrian branding story, no filler and relatable.
Your Brand Story
Brands are like people. One thing they want is to be liked, valued, and have close connections with dependable people. People want to be heard, for their stories to matter, and to be about them.
How to build a brand online is through the stories we tell. Stories full of emotion, empathy, and anecdotal evidence that connect with the core beliefs of the listeners are the start of long-term and loyalty-driven relationships.
The story your brand tells should be clear, organized, trust-worthy, hit customer pain points, and develop your brand's credibility. How you build your brand online story should be immersive and utilize essential techniques that remove the sales comments and blatant– "I'm trying to sell you something" pitch.
Outlining an iconic, compelling and climatic equestrian branding story takes technique, flexibility, and a little heart.
Know Your “Why?”
Your personal "why" evolves how you'll tell your brand story. To tell the story, you have to know it. This way, everything else is built around it. Why do you do it and what problem are you solving?
Your why doesn't have to be complicated, but it does have to be authentic. For instance, a horse trainer's "why" could be, "To help you bond with your equine companion." Their back story, which could be used in future brand storytelling videos in ads or on social media, is how they realized they had a gift for connecting with fearful horses. A brand story they can tell is discovering how often horse owners struggle with training their horses with positive reinforcement.
The trainer could target that owners may be embarrassed about their horse's behaviour and not know who is skilled and sensitive enough to teach their horse, but also teach them how to care for and connect with their companion.
Include Your Product in Your Story
If you're selling horse training packs for temperamental horses, use the horse you've trained. Before and after footage works well here. Show the timid horse, and then show the horse comfortable and positively bonding with you, including getting BTS (behind the scenes) footage for future ads and social media reels and shorts.
Allowing customers to see what happens when they aren't in the room develops a level of trust and inclusivity. When you let them in the room, you show them you care about their opinion and want them to connect with your brand on a deeper and more personal level.
Tell Your Own Story Where Possible
If you're a solo trainer, you should also be the one telling the story. Using your likeness in your videos is essential to telling an unforgettable story. Customers aren't just buying your training package. They are buying you.
Skip the Fluff
Less is more in brand storytelling. When you're clear on your story, you can tell it in an elevator pitch. It should be consistent, short, and avoid confusion. Write your "why" out in one to two short sentences. If your first draft is more like a paragraph, that's okay. Keep cutting down your story until you can say it in fewer words. Minimalism keeps your customer's attention on you and your focus on your customer.
Don't feel the need to say everything all at once. When you know your story, you avoid overcompensating with the lesser facts or things your customers don't care about.
Effortless Equestrian Branding and Storytelling in Action
Suppose you're telling your brand story through a video ad. Use every second to show and tell your story. Don't worry so much about what you'll say, but think about what you can convey through the details.
Let's take the horse trainer brand, for example. If that trainer only wanted to say, "At Equestrian Bond, we restore your connection to your companion," and the rest of the ad was imagery, that would be enough. Powerful imagery would display a healthy horse bonding with its rider, obeying commands, and seamlessly going from afraid to confident. If this kind of equine bond was your desire, that's all you would need. Let the video and or imagery say what words won't convey.
Invite Your Customers to the Stables
The horse trainer, who isn't worried about selling, invites the customer into the story. This can happen by offering your customer valuable information at no cost or taking the hands-on approach. A hands-on approach can invite your customer to the training stables and teach them helpful training techniques they can practice with their horse that same day.
This would establish a connection between the horse trainer and that new customer, build credibility, and build trust. And because training horses isn't for the faint of heart, it wouldn't take much for the customer to desire to have the trainer work with their horses. Hands-on experiences are another way to keep your customers at the center of your brand's story. An equine marketing agency can help you include your customer in your branding.
Cult Classic Brand Storytelling Examples
Apple has brand storytelling down to a science. Apple is known for its state-of-the-art technological prowess, with high-quality luxury phones and laptops that last and help users remain productive and secure. Apple reported that it had 1 billion iPhone users in 2022. They're telling some memorable brand stories to make this happen.
The 2022 MacBook Air release tells the brand story with its customer at the helm. Customers want to feel that the impossible becomes possible with a MacBook. They want super-fast speeds and safety. The story told in the release video includes a MacBook user defying gravity and taking on his life as a designer empowered and against the odds, all while using Apple products that get the job done with speed and put them ahead of their peers.
Apple users want to feel different from non-Apple users, in some senses, better. Apple managed to achieve this superior quality and feel with every new release. They target customer emotions and get to the gut of what their customer wants, feature-rich products that help them tell their own stories. Apple's storytelling is so good that customers forget they're selling them a new product when their old MacBook Air is still in excellent condition. If Apple can tell immersive customer-focused stories, so can you.
EQuerry / Co is ready to reinvigorate your equestrian branding story (or start fresh) to create a solid and loyal inner circle of your own.
