We all know it’s important to have a brand story, right? All founders have a reason why they started their businesses, but unless you share this with people, they’ll never know it! That’s a huge miss because consumers today want to connect with your “why.” The brand story is what makes people connect with your product or service on an emotional level. It tells them why they should tune out the other brands and focus on yours.

We have done thousands of experiential marketing events, often focused on product tasting. Founders, sales directors, and marketing managers want consumers to taste their products. We also want them to taste your products, but if you don’t pair this with your brand story, you likely aren’t building a lifelong consumer.

Let’s take our client Perfect Snacks as an example. Their bars taste amazing. Our internal team is full of raving fans. They have no preservatives, have a low GI, and include superfoods. Maybe that’s enough to spur you to pick up a few bars on your next run to the store but listen to this abbreviated story from Perfect Snack’s website:

“Our dad Bud Keith was a pioneer in health food before most folks had ever heard of ‘health food.’ He worked to create his own line of whole food supplements, proteins and omega oils to aid in the nutrition typically lacking in daily diets.

Mom, Dad, and us kids lived and traveled by motorhome as Dad toured the country lecturing on the value of whole food nutrition. Dad always tinkered with recipes that would keep our king-size family well-fed while on the go. One day, he ground up a serving of his superfood supplements, mixed them with freshly-ground organic peanut butter, honey and his blend of whole food protein, took one bite and declared, “It’s Perfect!”—and the Perfect Bar recipe was born.

When our dad became very ill with skin cancer, our family had grown to 13 kids. With nine younger ones still at home, we knew we had to find a way to provide for the family. So the oldest siblings came together to gamble it all and turn Dad’s refrigerated protein bar recipe into a business.”

Now, that’s compelling! That’s a family and brand you’d want to support, right? Even the story helps you remember the product name, “It’s Perfect!”

If we can all agree having a compelling brand story is key to cut through the noise these days, the question remains – how do you tell your brand story at an experiential marketing event?

Try these tips:

1. Incorporate the story in your experience.

Depending on your experiential marketing activation, you may be able to incorporate your story into the experience itself. Do you make an easy to heat meal based on your grandmother’s recipe? How about a cooking class sharing other recipes? Any way you can genuinely tie in the brand story will help solidify an emotional connection between your brand and your consumer.

2. Use signage.

Use compelling signage to show your origins. If you made the product with your mom in your kitchen, share those photos. Don’t the photos of the Keith family make you feel warm and fuzzy? These children banded together and created a company that will carry on their father’s legacy.

3. Include it on your packaging.

One of our first clients shared his “why” on his product packaging. He created his brand of kombucha because he wanted his father to kick the soda habit, so he created a kind of kombucha that his dad would drink. I loved that the story was right there on the packaging. For people new to the kombucha category, this was often an instant connection.

4. Educate your brand ambassadors.

Your brand ambassadors are talking to your consumers. Make sure some of their key messaging is about your brand story. If they’re only talking about nutritional value and convenience, you may not build a deep enough connection for them to remember once the engagement is over.

Including your brand story makes your brand memorable, and in any experiential marketing campaign, that’s what you want, right? You want your product to stand out in a crowd. So, as you plan your next experiential marketing campaign, be sure you incorporate your why!

Does your brand have a compelling brand story? Tell us in the comments!