3 steps to tell your brand story when nobody knows your name

You’ve invested your time, energy, and resources into building your company. Now you’re met with the new challenge of building your brand, telling your story, and gaining traction within your industry and among your target customers.

Like the Cheers theme song, “You want to go where everybody knows your name.” But how do you get the attention of potential clients, partners, or the media when you’re competing against household names?

Throughout my career in public relations, I’ve had the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs who are disrupting decades-old traditions, systems, and processes through innovation and modernization of industries that have historically resisted change. In working with these clients and helping them create narratives that stick, I’ve learned the key to successful brand storytelling isn’t necessarily about relying on your company’s name from the start. It’s about creating a compelling narrative that’s authentic and that connects your audience with the value you bring and the problem you’re solving, of course by way of your product or service.

Here’s how to craft a story that not only gets attention but that leaves a lasting impression:

1. Understand your audience(s)

The first step to telling your brand story is understanding your audiences and determining their order of priority. There may be many audiences you want to reach, but try to boil it down to the most essential groups to focus your efforts. People are consuming content all the time, so to help break through the noise, you need to be sure your messaging resonates with each specific audience.

Pro tip: Evaluate who your core audiences are right now and determine their order of priority to inform the frequency of that messaging.

2. Keep it real

The most compelling brand stories often stem from the real pain that a founder felt and their decision to invest time, energy, and resources into solving that problem. This kind of truly real—not social media’s version of real—is what resonates with audiences. Lean into your founder and cofounder stories to humanize your brand narrative and explain your value proposition authentically and simply. Whenever possible, avoid insider terminology and industry jargon to make an impression and help your audiences really understand the value your company—and you—bring to the table.

Pro tip: Move away from using other companies to describe what you do. Be specific and remember that every business has at least one competitor. Even if it’s the status quo you’re up against, that’s still a competitor and should be treated as such.

3. Stay focused

Finally, focus on the channels of communication and which audiences are the most important to you at this moment in your company’s life cycle. Are you currently trying to bolster your partnership roster? Doubling down on your sales efforts? Actively seeking investors?

Whatever the case, avoid a scattershot approach and prioritize telling your story to the specific audience that’s most impactful right now.

Pro tip: Don’t try to reach everyone all the time; be intentional about the frequency, channels, and messaging of your communications. After all, if you’re trying to reach everyone, you aren’t really reaching anyone.

These three steps are a starting point for telling your brand story in a way that will get your company to a place where everybody who needs to know its name does. It’s not about everyone knowing your name—unless you’re aiming to be the next behemoth in your industry. It’s about making sure the right people know who you are. Once you’ve established your narrative and zero in on your priority audiences, lean on your community of partners and customers to help tell that story with you. Those who are true advocates of your brand can have a tremendous impact in helping to promote your business.

Grace Keith Rodriguez is CEO of Caliber Corporate Advisors