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Every brand has the same thought rattling away at the back of their brains like a loose bolt caught in the engine of dirt bike: they want people to connect with their brand, really connect with it, love it even. They want their customers to feel an irresistible connection knowing that this is where loyalty burst from, helping people to become so heavily invested in what you do they’ll be left short of breath by the end of each newsletter you send out.

The question is: how do you get people to connect with you on this level – to love you?

Well, one way to build this sort of connection is through your brand’s story. That’s why we’ve pulled together a list of actionable strategies your brand can use to create a connection, a sense of emotion, and build the kind of loyalty that will leave people falling in love your brand.

  1. Know Who Will Read Your Story

There are no two ways about it: before you can start telling your brand story, you need to know who is going to read it – who your audience really is – and the more detail you can get, the better. You want to imagine everything you can about them: what their day to day lives look like, what hobbies they do in their spare time, how they consume media, what their online habits are, what their own story looks and feels like.

  1. Positioning Is Your Everything

After completing the first step, you need to sit down with a blank whiteboard and brainstorm ways to position yourself. You need to come up with a sentence that will represent the beating heart of your brand. Start with a single word that represents your brand, dance with the different images that burst from this and keep going until you have found something that holds emotion and sentiment – he kind that will represent your brand to your customers.

  1. Give Your Story A Hero

Every story has a hero, and your brand story should be no different. It’s what will motivate people to take action. It’s that something special and unique that will encourage people to connect with you. It’s your chance to prove your product works and show your brand solves a problem. A hero will help people put themselves in your story.

  1. Let Them Share Your Story

No story is more loveable than a story that’s shared. Instead of you pushing it in front of people (which Millennials don’t like), it’s people sharing it with their peers, which is a million times more effective. It could be amazingly creative copywriting, professional looking videos, imagery that wows, anything. So long as it makes people think, smile and feel, it will connect, especially if you manage to add positive validation to your story too.

  1. Always Be Authentic. Always.

Millennials cannot stand being tricked or manipulated or lied to. It is the biggest turn-off, bar none. If you’re not authentic in your marketing and storytelling, you will never be able to sell your products. the words you are using, the images, the colour palette – everything needs to be authentic to your story.