Refining Your Brand: Storytelling as a Franchisee

by Michele Rempel

As a franchise owner, you may feel that your business’s brand story is already written for you — and you would be correct, to a point. After all, one of the advantages of owning a franchise is that the brand has already been established and may even be well-known to your community.

However, you are still able to develop strong and effective “brand storytelling” for your own franchise to increase your customer base and loyalty. Not sure about the difference between “brand story” and “brand storytelling”? Let’s define these terms.

Brand storytelling is everything your company does to communicate with your community, prospects and customers.

In a nutshell, your brand story is an emotional-based narrative of how your service or product(s) improve the lives of your customers in some way. It is a collection of words — such as those on your website and marketing materials. But it is also a collection of emotions and feelings that form your customers’ perceptions. A brand story could be your guiding principle and impact every part of your organization. Your brand story is important in generating new customers and can ensure that they keep coming back.

Brand storytelling is everything your company does to communicate with your community, prospects and customers.

Great brand storytelling...

• Communicates your brand’s values

• Uses evidence and facts that are told in engaging ways to really bring your brand to life

• Is a combination of testimonials, true stories and engaging content from leadership, employees and your customers

• Makes an emotional connection

A brand story that often comes up as a shining example is TOMS, the shoemaker. In their own words, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie pioneered the One for One® model in 2006 — giving away one pair of shoes for every pair sold, supporting larger health, education and community development programs through strategic partnerships. This is their brand story. Were it not for their intention to communicate their story and its effects on those it benefits (https://www.toms.com/us/ impact.html) in a consistent and intentional way, they probably would not have built up such a loyal fan base.

The key to effective brand storytelling is a plan of action combined with consistency and frequency. Here are some tips to help you improve your content strategy and increase engagement.

Gather up those testimonials and share them! Encourage customers to send feedback and post reviews about how your business improved their lives in some way. Your franchise may already have an effective plan for review collection, but are you sharing this feedback on social media? You might even consider asking a few customers or clients for video testimonials.

Find a local cause that you believe in and include them in your brand story. Your franchisor may have a cause already chosen, but that cause may have a more local arm that you can support through giving, sharing and highlighting in your own marketing. For example, Molly Maid created the Miss Molly Foundation to give back to those who have been victims of domestic violence. It is up to the individual franchise owners to create a relationship with a local shelter or organization that helps these people in need and determine their level of support. Those franchisees who take the time to collect money and items that the organizations need, as well as highlight the good that is being done, see their marketing efforts go further.

Share your “why”. Why does your company exist? Hopefully, it’s bigger than selling food or cleaning houses or repairing vehicles. When you determine YOUR “why”, make a point of telling that story through your marketing. Your franchise may have a good brand story that talks about the “why”, but as a franchisee, you should also be able to communicate the reason you and your staff are involved in this business.

About Michele Rempel

Michele Rempel is the founder and managing partner of Westvyne, a marketing and website design firm based in California and Illinois. For almost a decade, she and her team have been guiding their clients in what to say, how to say it, where to say it, and who to say it to in order to attract and retain customers. For more information about Westvyne, visit www.westvyne.com