How to Craft a Compelling Brand Origin Story
“Tell the story of the mountain you climbed. Your words could become a page in someone else’s survival guide.” — Morgan Harper Nichols
Crafting your brand story
Storytelling can be one of the most powerful tools in building connection with your ideal clients. Stories tap into our emotions and curiosity as humans, which is why they’re so much more effective at hooking and engaging people than any other kind of content. When done well, stories can help build the “like, know and trust” factor with your audience.
One of the most compelling stories you can tell as a business owner? Your origin story.
You might’ve heard this referred to as your “founder’s story” or “brand story,” but for simplicity's sake, they’re all generally the same thing: The story of how and why your business got started.
Spending time identifying the unique and compelling aspects of your origin story can put you at a significant advantage when marketing your business to potential clients. Why? Because so much of our purchasing decisions are based on emotions. And there is no better way to spark an emotion than through story.
And think about this… how many investments have you made in the last 6-12 months where there was an actual human behind the product or service that influenced your decision to pull the trigger?
What about that individual swayed your decision? Would you have invested in something without knowing who the individual was that would deliver the service (i.e. design your website, be your coach, write your copy)? Did you consider their philosophy or approach? Their values? How closely their experience and story mirrored your own?
I’ll bet most of the things that swayed you one way or another are things that can be highlighted in a well crafted origin story. In other words, a powerful origin story = a powerful way to attract right-fit clients (and minimize time wasted on those who aren’t).
Side note: If up until this point you assumed your origin story (and About page) was a chronological retelling of your early days in business, don’t worry! By the end of this post, you’ll have all the essential ingredients you need to craft a compelling origin story that’ll connection with ideal clients.
In this post, I’ll cover:
The elements of a compelling origin story
Ways to tell your origin story with content
Journaling prompts to get started
Elements of a compelling origin story
An origin story usually takes shape as these 4 parts:
Set the stage
Moment of conflict
Aha moment
Resolution
Part 1: Set the stage.
To tell a good origin story, we need to go back to the start, before the idea for your business even existed in your mind. Take us back to what you and life was like before your personal transformation, lightbulb moment or whatever it was that eventually sparked the idea for your business. This is where your origin story begins.
If your ideal client is a former version of yourself, this is your opportunity to help people see themselves in you.
If that’s not the case for you, this is going to start teeing up the “why” behind your business. You’re sharing something about yourself or your circumstances that would eventually present you with a problem that needed a solution.
Setting the stage might sound like this:
“I used to believe…”
“There was a time when I…”
“I used to really struggle with…”
Part 2: The moment of conflict
Can you pinpoint the moment of impact for you…when things began to shift and you began to care about the thing you’re now focused on in your business?
It could be a single moment or a collection of moments, and the intensity of the conflict could be significant or subtle. Either way, it’s something that builds up some friction that needs a resolution.
It might sound like this:
“But then this happened…”
“I struggled to…”
“I tried everything and couldn’t figure out…”
Part 3: Your aha moment.
This is when things began to shift and lead you down the path you’re now on.
The aha moment might sound like:
“I finally realized…”
“I decided [at that moment / that day] I could no longer…”
Part 4: Resolution
What have you learned, created or started to alleviate that conflict? How do things look compared to the stage you set in Part 1?
The resolution is where you draw the connection between your story and what you specifically offer in your business. It can also tease out your point-of-view or beliefs about the work you do.
This might sound like:
“Today, I know that…”
“I know the only way to [achieve XYZ result] is by…”
5 Ways to Use Your Origin Story in Content
Your origin story is one you can tell, in different ways, over and over again in your business.
For example:
On your website’s About page – Have you ever heard of someone refer to the website’s About page as the secret sales page? It’s literally the most visited page on most websites, behind the homepage. So spending time to convey your origin story in a way that connects deeply with your ideal client, showcases your personality and highlights your unique differentiators, is well worth the extra time and effort.
When you pitch yourself – Whether you’re pitching yourself as a guest expert for a podcast, to contribute to your favorite online magazine or as an expert speaker, you’ll need a compelling bio which (you guessed it) might include some of the high points of your origin story.
As part of the introduction in your own podcast – Pay attention to your favorite podcast introductions with this in mind. How often is the host referencing their own transformation or journey? (I bet it’s a lot!) Your origin story will help you do this too.
On social media – In both your bio and your content, your origin story can (and should) play a role in helping your ideal clients identify you as someone who can help them. Consider ways you might sprinkle bite-sized pieces of your story (your moment of conflict, your aha moment, etc.) into your content. Don’t feel like you need to tell your whole story in a single post (although you can definitely do that as an introduction or reintroduction to your community). Instead, how might you drop in little sections of the story - memories, thoughts, ideas – bit by bit?
Journaling Prompts to Get Started
There’s something about free-flow writing that can unlock the golden details we might’ve otherwise overlooked when trying to “think” our way to a good story.
Here are a handful of questions I encourage you to spend time journaling on. These are specifically designed to help excavate the memories, emotions and details that will help you tell your origin story in the most powerful way possible.
What makes you the perfect person to do what you do? What have you been able to overcome? Or if your ideal client isn’t a former version of yourself, what experiences or observations have led you to the approach you now take in serving your clients?
What sparked your journey or transformation? How did it happen? Where were you? What were you doing? Was there a singular moment or experience you had? Or was it a gradual realization over time? A collection of experiences that finally bubbled over? Describe it.
Looking back now, what did that experience teach you? How did it change you? What do you believe, feel or know that perhaps you didn’t before? And how has that evolved into the mission and passion behind your business today?
What’s your bigger vision for yourself, your clients and the world? Why does this really matter to you so much? What's the bigger shift or change you want to see? What do we need more of or less of, and how will the world be better?
