Human connection is at the core of personal branding and it all starts with the stories we tell. Humans want to create bonds and relate; it is a part of our psychological needs.

When we bring this into a business setting, the same principles apply. Creating an engaging narrative is one of the best ways to connect with your customers and online audience. Whether you are a business owner, freelancer, or influencer, your story is the foundation of your brand.

Storytelling encourages people to make decisions by triggering their emotions. For a story to have this effect, however, it needs to be clear and authentic.

Creating an Authentic Branding Story

Here are some tips to guide you as you build your personal branding story.

- Know your objective.​ What do you want to achieve by creating this story? It is important to establish what you want to achieve before you begin the creation process. This could be anything from wanting to increase product sales to marketing your services to a new audience.

-  Know your audience.​ Your story won’t be suited to everybody, so it is important to outline who you are speaking to. Understanding who your audience is also helps shape your story. What motivates these people? What is important to them? Creating personas will help you connect with your audience on an emotional level.

-  Know yourself. ​To tell an authentic story, you need to know yourself. Dig deep and ask yourself what you are offering, what makes you unique, and how you can best fulfill the needs of potential customers.

-  Jot Down Ideas.​ Now you can start constructing your story. However, there is no need to form full paragraphs right away. Start with sentiments, key points, ideas, and anecdotes, which you can then use to create a cohesive story.

-  Combine Your Ideas. ​Here is where you can start forming a full story about your brand. Make sure your ideas follow a theme and end with a conclusion. This doesn’t just need to be text either, you can include video, graphs, and images if need be. You know best what your audience would prefer to read and see. Be careful not to get too technical or formal – you are trying to create an emotional connection after all. You also want to avoid redundancy.

Before you start sharing your story, read through and edit it one last time. Pay attention to the language, flow, and grammar. Your audience should remain captivated throughout.

Storytelling is an art, but one that anyone can master with enough practice.