How to build out your brand narrative and founder story

Written by Kat Price, Founder & Director of Ruby Agency

Good PR strategy always begins with a compelling brand narrative. Often the first point of contact with media, a brand or founder story tells journalists everything they need to know about you and your brand.

The job of a profile or bio is connected with a clear call to action – get the journalist to pick up the phone and find out more, sell your brand or business to investors, inspire customers to buy, build trust with your stakeholders and more.

Executed properly, it should make the reader feel like they know you – your passions and motivations, your formative experiences, and how you think. Aside from injecting a big dose of personality to set you apart from the crowd, the piece should be relatable enough to the reader to influence them towards action.

At its core, a good profile is an opportunity to formulate and present your very best self to the world. It takes on your unique point of difference and uses purposeful storytelling to make a positive impression on key audiences. The goal should be to help target audiences understand you better, and it is a way for you to hone in on who you are and what you’re selling or promoting in a fun and interesting way.

Elements of a great founder story or brand narrative

The first order of business to a great profile is making sure it isn’t boring. It’s helpful to add a few quirky facts to give readers a sense of what makes you you. Including things like your hobbies, special interests, your values, and so on infuses the piece with much-needed character.

The profile should also clearly set out what it is you’re trying to achieve. Your mission could be to fix a common issue that affects everyone, or you want to raise awareness about something that’s close to your heart. Whatever the reason, it provides the why of what motivates you.

Special care should be given to getting the tone of the piece just right. Depending on your audience this could range from something that’s more formal or a more conversational, confessional voice.

Practical components include:

• Your career background – education, first jobs and career trajectory
• Key achievements – all your most impressive wins go here, including milestones, accolades, business growth, and previous media recognition
• Future goals – what you aim to do next and why your audience should keep their eye on you

Your bio should answer key questions about who you are, what you do, and how you help others. It’s the perfect place to insert your elevator pitch and describe yourself in a way that matches your fullest potential.

Rather than a bland list of everything you’ve done and what you’re doing now, you want this to be a story about your deepest motivations and your journey to success. For this to work it helps to frame a brand narrative as a progression from a background that sets the scene to describing a complication and finally ending with a resolution to the conflict.

For example, you can talk about how you started with the industry you’re working in. Move on to what attracted you initially then progress to what problems you encountered and why you decided to take action.

A story is worth a thousand words

In a sea of sameness, standing out from the pack almost always involves an exercise in storytelling. A frequently repeated statistic is that stories are 22 times more memorable than just facts.

Our ingrained drive to make sense of the world through narrative is a powerful thing, and it’s undisputedly the best way to effectively engage with our audience.

Whatever your PR goals, a cracker profile is its foundation. It is the shopfront to your brand where customers go to get a sense of who you are and how they relate to you. It narrows down on what makes you unique and interesting in this world.

Done well, there is no better way to get your brand positioning off to a good start.