S3 E7: Storytelling for Personal Brands: How to Craft a Narrative People Care About

0:00Welcome to Brand You, the ultimate personal branding podcast. I'm Caz Grant. And I'm Toby Lee. Together, we're here to help demystify personal branding. And to make it accessible and effective for everyone. Follow along as we guide you through creating your own personal branding journeys. So, let's get started. Let's Brand You.

0:25Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Brand You podcast. proudly sponsored by spark house here in lincoln today we're going to be diving into storytelling secrets and helping you craft a narrative that connects with your audience fucking hell back baby easy isn't it easy now what yeah now we've got to actually say something useful um thanks very much um so should i just put you on the spot and i say what is a what is a brand story story yeah so kanz like what is a brand story why do we have them why do we need to consider what our brand story is yeah so i think it's just one way nowadays that you can really create a narrative that like we said in the intro to this connects with your audience so because it's personal branding and this is all about humans and human connection and everything like that if we're sharing things in our journey through storytelling if we're taking like listeners and our audience along and on a journey with us like that's going to be so powerful it's going to break down their walls and their barriers their sales resistance is going to go down but also we're going to resonate and connect with them on deeper levels they're essentially once we've told the story of our journey as well and given them all of that kind of information that know like and trust is going to be built like rapido yeah so we're really going to get into the heart of our audience whereas if you're just creating a normal narrative and it's not really that storytelling element again that sales resistance barrier can come up people will just switch off to it it's just noise it's just noise online isn't it yeah because it's kind of becomes the differentiator doesn't it between different businesses offering same services isn't it so or products you know there are certain if you say apple you don't just think iphone or mac you think of steve jobs you think of you know evolution of tech and things like that and the sort of bigger picture of things but that is distinctly different to if i say google or Microsoft or you know Samsung and I feel like we we talk about Gymshark quite a bit on this show but mainly because it is a great example of kind of you know utilizing a personal brand within a big business um speaking of which haven't they didn't they say they're on for a billion pound year or something or half a bit something ridiculous um I saw the other day but um And you know, when you think of Gymshark, you think of the story in the background behind it and the choices they've made and what you've heard of them as they've grown, which differentiates them from, say, Nike, who also do gym wear.

3:24You know, it kind of becomes a tool to engage with your audience on a deeper level, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And OK, Gymshark, Ben's been at the forefront of that and through his personal brand, he's helped grow that. But again, when you look at Nike or Nike, like they've not used maybe a CEO or a founder, have they? But they still tell their storytelling through real people, through like the athletes that they partner with, the people that they work with, the brand ambassadors that they have on board. So there's still storytelling elements to that brand, isn't there? And there are brands out there.

3:58So when it comes to our own brand story, how do we identify what we include, what we don't include? you know what's useful to our target audience and not have you got any sort of tips on that again it goes back to the clarity side of it doesn't it and I think previous maybe in was it season one we maybe went into this a bit so maybe go back and look at that but it's it's again really getting to know yourself what you offer what your goals are for this what do you want to achieve like who are you as a person what kind of things do you want to put out in the world What background have you gone through that gives you the storytelling elements as well?

4:38Because your background dictates where you are today and where you're starting from and where you're starting your personal brand from. And then that journey of it will evolve and go along. But, you know, where are you starting from today? What have you gone through? Why have you started a personal brand? Why have you started a business if personal branding is to share your business? Yeah. Like what what has made you take all of those steps and go there? And then you're mirroring that up, aren't you, with your ideal audience as well? So, OK, so this is who I am and everything about me, me, me, me, me part of it.

5:14And this is that story side of it. But then my ideal audience is also the other side to that story, because I'm talking from me, but I'm talking to them. So I need to marry that up a little bit, don't I? um so if you can really get to know your ideal audience as well and sort of understand their stories and what's maybe led them to where they are today a bit better that'll just help you align those two things and again share your stories but in a way that speaks directly to them because we're all humans like there's only a limited amount of really experiences that we go through good bad and ugly isn't there like there's so many times that we'll connect with others because like I've got divorced before so that instantly connects me with other divorces and we start a business before that instantly connects us to other people starting businesses and entrepreneurs men like to hang out with other men women like to hang out with other women like there's all these different things that connect us and it's like okay so I'm this and my ideal audience is that how can I start connecting the dots yeah and start speaking to them through my superpowers I guess yeah absolutely and it's kind of like that personal touch isn't it that again as I mentioned being that differentiator but a lot of businesses you don't you don't connect directly with your customer unless they're buying whereas when we're talking personal branding being an avenue to connect with people on an emotional level to give them more reason to kind of buy into what you're offering it it's a really powerful tool isn't it it can be if it's used right um I had a really interesting conversation with a client this week that um didn't know anything about my background with like acting and things so when they came to the studio and saw some actor headshots that are on the wall and they thought oh they're a bit different you know I didn't I didn't know you did like actor photos I said oh yeah actually I went to drama school no way you didn't you know and suddenly it becomes you know um a really interesting topic but for them it's changed the context of how they then see any of my work and what I show of their photos going forward because they're going to see it in a different light um you know so that's my brand story coming after when they've already bought in and you know decided to work with me and then it works the other way that you know sometimes I can mention it or it's you know it's definitely sort of used on my on my website that's my background that's how I now take quite dramatic editorial photos sometimes things like that that can be what leads people to go you know I want to work with him over the other great photographers out there because I'm looking for that that's resonated with me for whatever reason so it's it's interesting you never know where in that sort of process or pipeline it's it's going to sit and click for someone um and it's it can be really useful yeah absolutely same with me the other day I um put a post out and I was talking about um like I just see it all the time on my LinkedIn people reposting company posts and their whole feed then just becomes reposted company posts so essentially you're not following the company's post because you don't want to see that anyway yeah you're not going to be following them or engaging with them either are you so it's like ah if we could just use it through personal branding and you again your own narrative and your own storytelling and if employees could be encouraged to do that more the business and the brand will get so much more exposure from it so I shared that post and I didn't think anything of it and then I had a meeting yesterday with somebody um and this shares like kind of ties into what we were going to go into with the messy middle part of storytelling and stuff but it was really interesting yesterday I had a meeting with this person and they had a meeting with me based off of that post so they'd seen that post something had clicked in their head again they hadn't commented on it I don't have they liked it I don't even think they'd liked it I don't know you know it was someone I didn't really realize was watching that post yeah and um had a meeting with them and it um you know that we might be working in a certain way with each other which will be great but there was another avenue I think actually their personal brand could be really really powerful yes they actually want to get me in to just help with their employees personally branding which is great but I think the real power is is really with with them yeah um but they're not at that stage yet where they're ready to put themselves out there and and what came back from that which I hadn't thought of before um with my ideal audience or my own messaging putting that across to people was they they haven't been proud of their business up to date so so they're in they've been in the messy middle yeah they're coming out of it now now like success is hitting and big things are happening and it's great and they're through that kind of hardship part yeah so I think they will start sharing more again once they've got their head around all of that but it was really interesting to me that they said about that proud part because how many people out there aren't connecting with their audience aren't sharing their stories aren't doing that side of it and taking people along on that journey because they don't feel like they've got something they're proud of yet they almost don't feel like they can share that because it's not fully formed yet it's not there but how powerful is it when you as a person watch people going from naught to starting something sharing it out there anyway being brave getting real and honest with the audience again maybe not sharing everything if you're in thousands of pounds worth of debt and that's like really you don't have to there's elements you don't have to share yeah yeah but you could still like i don't know if there's a challenge or something that you've had as you're just out of that challenge like what was the challenge what was that story part of it how can you then how did you get out of it because that's really inspirational to other people and it shows that the thing that I like about it and that connects with me as another business owner person growing a business I'm in the messy middle I'm in the pit I'm scrambling I'm doing all this stuff but internally you feel like oh my god is this ever gonna click I called it the click they were in the click part they're now in the click part of their business everything's clicking and they're they're flourishing which is amazing but i'm not at the fully click part yet i'm still building still figuring things out still going through that messy middle struggle part and you're thinking when you're in that it's so nice to hear from others that are just a little bit further along than you or have had similar struggles that are still pushing still striving because you'll never get successful unless you go through that part and how many people quit fail give up in that part because they didn't have anybody that was telling them this is just how it is yeah yeah power building it is you push through that part and then you get to the part where everything's juicy so sharing that messy middle I think is hugely important isn't it and that is a juicy chunky part of your storytelling I think if you're brave enough to share it but you've like you've shared everything up until date really haven't you like you've shared the the conceptions of building your business pretty much in public so there's been ups and downs and highs and lows of that but you've not stopped yourself because you thought I'm not I've not created a fully fledged business yet why can I no no and listening to you sort of share that example I can sort of see where the fear of like sharing too much comes from but um particularly if if you've already got obviously current clients and that you know they're invested and they've bought in but then you start sharing with actually behind the scenes you're spinning plates you're doing you don't want to do anything that's going to make them feel uncomfortable with the service they're getting or anything like that um but but then there is also the power to tell what you want to tell yeah you know um certainly don't butter things up and make them seem extremely better than they are yeah but you can choose what information you do share and what you don't choose to just keep behind closed doors yeah yeah um yeah and i think i think that's that's something i find quite useful of going you know making that decision of going what impact does it have on my audience if i do share this part with them what are the pros and cons does it you know is it authentic is it transparent to share this is that going to um inspire some connections or help or support in that way or is it something that actually that could potentially detract from the image I'm building of my brand you know so yeah it's constant decision making isn't it but there's definitely huge value in in doing so I guess the other pro as well of what I do is anything I share from a kind of um building a business point of view usually aligns with what my clients are going through um or potential clients that are going to look for photos for their business you know they're they're at stages of growth and um which i guess every business is on some sort of journey isn't so it kind of kind of works from that sense and i guess the same for you you know the reason somebody would need your services is they need support with building that that brand so um it makes sense if you're in a b2b business kind of world then maybe that storytelling and getting a bit more real with it is useful because they're also building and business is business isn't it like like and humans are humans humans will go through certain particular struggles over their life so you're not the only one that is ever going to go through that struggle there are loads of other people that are going to go through that struggle and businesses are the same aren't they like yeah you can have different businesses but essentially building a business is pretty similar to building another business like once you've done it once you can do it again different industries slightly different challenges maybe and different stuff but the storytelling elements that you could share that isn't going to damage your reputation or be bad for client views yeah um would inspire other businesses would help them get through stuff so again it's yeah it's picking yeah in your narratives isn't it and what you want to share but not holding back sharing as much as you possibly can and are comfortable with yeah despite not having it fully formed despite not being elon musk yet yes because if elon musk or ben even ben francis from gymshark if he hadn't shared because he hadn't built gymshark to this billion dollar level yes yeah yeah it wouldn't be at the billion dollar level in the first place it wouldn't have got there because people wouldn't have bought into him they wouldn't have bought into his mission they wouldn't have wanted to support with him collaborate and fund invest in his business it just wouldn't have happened would it without his personal brand and i think it's acknowledging when something feels uncomfortable about sharing because you genuinely don't think it's good for business to share it or trying to analyze is it just the way i feel in that messy middle yeah and i don't think you ever as a business owner you're always going to care so much about what you're doing you're always going to be looking for like next step and stage you know I'm sure Elon Musk is constantly looking for what to do next you know so um I don't think you ever necessarily get out of that messy middle to an extent you know you're always uh in there and even if you do get out of a certain section of messy middle I think the whole like thing of being an entrepreneur and a business builder like you you almost crave that messy middle bit so even once you're out of that messy middle maybe you want to expand maybe you want to do something else maybe you want to create another monetary um platform to your your business or whatever so even then you're like oh let me dive into another messy middle yes yeah that one out yeah but you don't stop right there do you like okay bigger bolder different expand so yeah you're always going to be in it in some form or another aren't you as a business owner yeah and as a human again going through life like you don't just get to like i don't know 40 30 50 60 and it's like figured it out now nothing bad is going to happen everything's just going to flatline and life's going to be perfect just going to toodle along getting good things waking up happy every day easy no there's always going to be the line gets longer it and you never you never get to that yeah yeah and it's it's the I guess a good thing that people could and I don't quite um I can't remember who has come up with this concept or who has um created the book that this is in but it's the heroes the hero's journey or the hero's story right yeah have you heard of that I've heard of it yeah yeah I've got a basic concept of it but it's like you know every film everything that's been created even the founder stories that we're loving at the moment that everyone's like oh my gosh yeah I'm invested in this business because of this person it's the hero's journey isn't it none of us again flatline throughout our whole life and just have everything perfect we want to follow like someone who gets brave and starts something and then there's a bit of trouble in between and maybe we need to fight the villain and we need to do this that and the other we need to slay the dragons and then suddenly oh everything's great and they live happily ever for five minutes and then they go on another the hero's journey so it's that hero's journey of life as well isn't it I want to root for someone what's your yeah what's your hero's journey of your personal brand like how can you position yourself as that sort of hero and not egotistically like I'm the best hero but like you're the main character of your life of your personal brand how can you showcase that to the world through your storytelling how can you take people along on that journey and by all means go and google the hero's journey uh to get a bit more information on that one but i think that's a good way of people looking at it as well we don't really no one gets behind the pen oh well done oh you've smashed it again yeah brilliant oh you're at a million how many times do you see on linkedin people slating people who are doing those stood in front of my ferrari i make seven figures a day uh you can too blah blah blah blah right we don't like those people those people are smug get out of our way like that's not reality like we like the people that are struggling a bit we want the underdog we want to cheer for them we want to like help them we want to we want to see them succeed so yeah maybe maybe channel a bit more underdog and share that yeah so i've so the brand story is our why isn't it it's like the why we do what we do or what we're offering and it can be a really useful tool for sales as well can't it so if we're talking about networking or making introductions to people if I was to sit here now having just met you and rather than tell you about my headshot photography work I just share with you my brand story and this is why I do what I do that's almost just as powerful isn't it than me boring you to death going well actually I have this package in the studio at this price and this includes that you know if I were to tell you my story and the conversation were there to end because we get cut off or whatever and you know you're going away now knowing exactly what I'm about why I do what I do and it doesn't really matter how I do it whenever you need headshots hopefully you're going to go I'll give Toby a quick message and find out the how then yeah so it can be really interesting if you're sharing your brand story on a consistent basis through your content through everyone you meet have it really uh succinct in a way that you can you can tell it in a way that's interesting and the story is the biggest part of that isn't it because because also nobody likes sitting down next to someone and they start reeling off what they do i feel like they're being sold to we know that we know people hate being sold to um but there is something about you know I I love I love some great storytellers that I've met previously at like networking things when you sort of say so what is it you do and they go oh yeah well you know you know when you're in such and such a scenario and they sort of take you on this little like analogy and a little journey somewhere and they go yeah that's that's what I do that's why I do that and you're sort of taking on this little arc in 30 seconds um and you think wow what a great roundabout way I've been made to feel something there were times when I didn't know where this was going to go and there was a bit of unexpected but also I'm going to remember it I'm going to remember that person and the story I'm probably going to tell other people's story you know um because emotions yeah connect more than facts and you remember the emotion more you can remember the emotions more and that's why like you know the news tries to sell us all the bad stuff all the time yeah like oh yeah like you feel that on a deep level like you're intrigued you're like yeah it sucks you in and we're constantly saying oh did you see that on the news the other day did you see yeah yeah gets you talking doesn't it yeah so if you've made someone feel something oh yeah powerful powerful to not only if they've had an emotional feeling towards it like like you say remembering it remembering it's great because you'll get a lot of things through referrals from other people because then when someone else says something as well you remember that feeling you impart that feeling on someone else they're going to go to you but also like also getting them to do something again that sales resistance i don't want to factor i don't want to be sold to it i don't want a price i don't want to like like why i don't know what's going to make me move what's going to make me want to move and it is that feeling that feeling that like you're gonna solve something for me like you are the one that's gonna finally help me do this thing nobody else has been able to do because they've just fired facts and figures at me and I'm like they're going away with you yeah it's interesting isn't it and I think this will be very difficult maybe for people and it's probably something you're gonna have to again practice home and this is why i kind of share share share the messy middle parts of this because it's hard to do this storytelling element as well so you're gonna have to get a bit messy with it and just test and trial and because you're not gonna know what's gonna make people feel maybe at the start you're not gonna know what creates emotion in people unless you do it and you get that feedback back and it's like ah that resonated that caught something with them that made them have a feeling brilliant yeah like content even content like with that person I spoke to yesterday I didn't realize that that piece of content would hit that person in that way and would resonate with them yeah but it did I now know for next time what kind of message to share kind of how to share it what sort of things that I could potentially do and expand further into based off of that yeah um posts that have done really well recently as well as like I just wanted to boost my engagement a little bit I'm a normal human I want to resonate with people again the weather huge in the UK isn't it like you're too hot you're too cold everyone's having weather debates at the moment heating debates in the office and then also like Christmas songs oh yeah so three things that I've kind of just popped into my narrative on you know boosting engagement things because it's getting people commenting it's getting people engaging I am showing people the inside of the office I'm showing people where I live showing people like my sense of humor a bit with it like who they're going to work with within that quirk normally um and I'm resonating like I'm starting those conversations so it can be even like silly storytelling things like that along the way but again just connects with people and gets them to know that you're an actual human and it's not scary if they contact you and get in touch with you and all the rest of it because your normal.

25:44So yeah. If you're starting a business or just want a space that helps you focus and grow then you will want to check out Spark House at the University of Lincoln. It's right in the heart of the city with creative energy and practical support. They've got flexible office spaces, specialist business mentoring with physical tenancies and they even have virtual office options if you're not quite ready for a full-time desk. Having supported over a thousand business since opening, Sparkhouse has a track record for helping startups succeed. If you need an office space in Lincoln, email sparkhouse at lincoln.ac.uk and check out the show notes for that email address to get in touch.

26:28So I guess we could, because we've spoken a lot about sort of business people and entrepreneurs maybe that are sharing their narrative and their storytelling. And I think founders, business people, they've probably got a story or something that they've thought of throughout this podcast episode. But let's flip it to the kind of our audience that are maybe more employees. They're employed. And I know we use we pick on these a lot, don't we? But I think it's just really easy to kind of a thing for people to kind of resonate with as well. like when we think of like maybe accountants yeah or you know your traditional jobs that are maybe wanting to put themselves out there and personally brand and they're thinking well what's my story you know like I'm employed so it's really a job and what could I share and there's there was a few things we were talking about before about that wasn't there and I think that might be quite interesting for our audience yeah well there's a kind of like category of jobs and businesses or services that when you ask what do you do they sort of say oh well it's it's really boring but i i do such and such you know it's like it's like the biggest turnoff for networking there possibly is isn't there it's like the biggest red flag like why is anyone going to go oh i'll remember you then when i need um so this is where brand story can be really interesting to take people on a bit of a journey delve it for yourself delve into why it is you do what you do and find those reasons isn't it yeah um why it is what you do and also like how you help people because because sometimes there might be a really powerful story of what you do and why you do it so if we're taking like the accountant generally speaking possibly when they were growing up their dad family member whoever had a business and maybe because the accounts went wrong or something they saw their dad lose that business all of a sudden they maybe then grew up and thought oh my gosh I want to help people in that situation yeah therefore they became accountants and blah blah so they might have a powerful story like that yeah other people are possibly accountants because they need the money and they want a job and they thought accountancy money job we'll get all of that sorted so some of them might not have that powerful backstory to it for those people I think their story could be how they now help people like there will be bits that they do within their role that they love doing because they see the results that their clients get that the people get that even if it's a product-based business like are they helping people get healthier are they helping people change their skin or I don't know whatever it is like those storytelling bits that you can share so instead of I went through this yeah I helped a client the other week who had this issue oh my god it was so interesting because they went from failing business to flourishing business because we changed their tax blah blah blah I don't know yeah not an accountant but that kind of narrative for things and and using their clients and their experience within the organization to maybe share more yeah it kind of like links back to the hero story mentions isn't it you know you you're giving that solution um that's how you you won that that segment of life like yeah you know like that that little story you know that's how that concludes um the solution it puts you in a great position from where from where the story started yeah um so what would be the sort of main tips for people of how they go about doing this i guess understanding that start point as to what was the catalyst for you to decide to do what you're doing yeah or or what do you love about doing it now yeah if there was no catalyst yes uh what do you love about doing it now who do you help that kind of thing again thinking about the stories within your organization that you can tell um if you're starting out and you've maybe not had your own story yet of people that you've helped yeah the business will be helping people how how does the business help people is there a team member that you can tell the story of or shine a light on or you know but that's great as well isn't it for bonding within your organization like you're shining a light on somebody else within the organization saying they're brilliant like that's cool clients will like it your team will like it your boss will like it like everyone's happy with that um so yeah it's just getting the clarity and it's it's getting the clarity and expanding your mind and thinking about these things we're not going on social media as a personal brand to post buy my stuff do my thing this is you know this is what I have to offer this is this buy buy buy buy buy we're going on to engage people to connect people to solve people's problems to give value there are ways that we can all do that and there are ways that we can do that through storytelling it's it's finding those stories for you and do you know what maybe use chat gpt to elicit the stories from you i love a good ramble at the moment into chat gpt turn your your voice recorder on and just say look i'm thinking about doing this with my personal brand i don't know how to do it like there was this guy the other day at work that had this issue when i helped him do that blah blah blah offload it all into there it will help you formalize it in probably a better way or again spark more ideas for you to do that yeah and even ask you some questions you know to clarify on things or yeah yeah send you in directions that you hadn't quite considered yeah yeah yeah it's a hugely powerful tool at the moment to get that out of your your brain yeah because we all have it but we don't realize how powerful we are we don't realize we've all got stories we always think that we're boring that no one would find us interesting that we haven't got any powerful stories all the rest of it that our brains tell us but it's not true we all have in some way and I guess the next best step is to start testing your brand story because every time you communicate it whether it's verbally to someone in conversation or through your content you're going to tweak it slightly aren't you I know my story's evolved as to analyzing which bits I've thought have landed really well in the past or which bits got more of a response you know mentioning that I went to drama school usually gets a bit of a oh really you know so I you know I drop that in um and you sort of work out which bits you you don't need that's just fluff that I can take that bit out so it becomes really concise really engaging for people um and just start start testing the waters with it because again there's a confidence level personally in doing that as well because we're asking people to do something that will feel personal or feel quite um if you're if it might make you feel a little bit um

33:22you know so so yeah you know you might feel like you're you're sticking your neck out a little bit to do this but start gauging the reaction start seeing what changes about the way people talk if people start asking you questions about more about what you do or why you do it then you know you've engage someone and how how valuable is that that's fantastic yeah even if people even if you've gone from content that gets no views and no conversation to content that suddenly starts getting views and conversation even if it's not about your business yeah because the business posts will do the work alongside that people will see them they might not engage with them but the ones that they're engaging with they're the ones that really get those people connecting with you and then when they see that business post they'll message you about the business thing but they'll only message you about the business thing if you've warmed them up talking about you and life and personal stuff a little bit or not even personal personal stuff but you know the connection elements to that you've got to warm them up warm them up to get the business chats going so today's action step we would like you to gain a bit more clarity have a little think about some of your brand story and then use chat GPT if you need to to just kind of hone it maybe try and get a concise clear brand story under a minute utilizing AI because I know I will definitely chat for over a minute if it's just me on my own get that and then see put it out to the world maybe see if it resonates with yourself maybe some friends or family that you trust that you know and then maybe put it out to the world and see the reaction that you get from that as well as we mentioned earlier it's not always going to be right first time it's going to evolve it's just a case of trying and seeing how it how it goes what you put in there so make sure you follow along with a brand new podcast on spotify or apple podcast or even on youtube so you continue to learn about personal branding and get up-to-date episodes as they drop we've also got the brand new podcast instagram channel so if you'd like to keep on top of the episodes and what we've got coming up on there as well please give us a follow along and also if you've got any personal branding questions that you want to ask us please send them through on that channel dm us and we will aim to answer them in future episodes a huge thank you again to spark house for supporting the podcast if you're looking for any office space or desk space get in touch with them and see what's going on here's to branding you