Subscribe | AI Tools | Sponsor

We already know ChatGPT is great at creating content. But the real question is, can AI spin a compelling story? After all, storytelling is at the heart of how humans communicate.

Before diving in, let's address the elephant in the room. Critics grumble that ChatGPT produces formulaic, lackluster content devoid of any soul. As a published author and marketer, I tend to agree…

But let's remember, we aren't penning the next great American novel. Our goal is to create a captivating brand narrative, and for this task, ChatGPT can be incredibly helpful. AI can generate unique, coherent, and engaging text, providing a sturdy springboard that spares us the struggle of confronting a blank page or worse, writer’s block.

Okay, let’s create a brand story with ChatGPT.

🔮 Let’s set some expectations

Effective storytelling is a process.

It takes time to craft a compelling story, and it takes even more time for that story to resonate with your audience and influence their perception of your brand. The latter requires sharing your brand story through multiple channels and audience touchpoints.

That said, we’re going to provide ChatGPT with a lot of context in order to help it generate a good story, so prepare for a bit of groundwork and some lengthy prompt design before we set the AI in motion.

👉 Spoiler alert: ChatGPT did a MUCH better job at telling a brand story than I expected. I find it helpful to run real-world examples for these tests. So, I used Red Hot Zen, a now-retired business that I ran a few years ago, to run this experiment. I was impressed. I wish I had ChatGPT when I was running that business.

🗂️ Prep work

Here are some things you need to have in place to craft your brand story.

1. 🌟 Brand Overview: The basics of your brand – your name, the products or services you provide, and the market or industry you operate in. Also, include any unique selling propositions (USPs) or points of differentiation that set your brand apart from others.

2. 🧭 Mission, Vision, and Values: What is your brand's purpose (why does it exist beyond making a profit)? What is your vision for the future? What are the core values that guide your operations and decision-making processes?

3. 🕰️ Brand History: The story of how your brand came to be – this could include why you started the business, any challenges you faced along the way, key milestones, etc.

4. 📣 Target Audience: Details about who your products or services are for. What are their demographics, interests, needs, and challenges? The more you understand your audience, the more effectively you can tailor your brand story to resonate with them.

5. ✨ Customer Experience: How do customers interact with your brand? What experience do you aim to provide, and what actual experiences have customers had? Positive customer stories can be a powerful part of your brand narrative.

6. 🗝️ Key Messages: The main ideas or themes that you want to convey about your brand through your story. These should align with your mission, vision, values, and target audience.

7. 🎯 Goals for Your Brand Story: What do you hope to achieve by telling your brand story? Are you looking to increase awareness, change public perception, attract new customers, or achieve something else?

8. 🎨 Visuals and Aesthetic: If available, any existing visual elements or style guides that should be incorporated into the storytelling process. This could include your logo, color scheme, fonts, etc.

9. 👩🏻‍💻Current Communication Channels: The platforms or media you currently use to communicate with your audience (website, social media, email newsletters, etc.). This can inform where and how your brand story should be shared.

10. 📊 Additional Data: If you have data about your customer behavior, market trends, or brand performance, it can be useful for shaping and validating your brand story. This section is a catch-all for anything special or interesting that should be included in your story.

Jot down this info before starting the next step.

📝 Plan your content

With all that prep, you have plenty of context for ChatGPT to work with.

For this example, I’m going to fill in the details based on Red Hot Zen.

1. Brand Overview: Red Hot Zen is a stylized yoga legging company. We design yoga leggings for mothers of young children. This is an audience that lives in athleisure apparel but would prefer options with more personality instead of plain black.

2. Mission, Vision, Values: The mission is to make fun leggings for moms so they can express their personality despite their limited wardrobe versatility, thanks to their life stage.

3. Brand History: The brand came to be when Jessica, a new mom, was working out a lot to regain her strength after a taxing pregnancy. She fell in love with yoga, barre, and dance fitness, where fun leggings are a great way to accessorize.

4. Target Audience: The target audience is health-focused moms that love dance-based workouts.

5. Customer Experience: Customers see examples on social media and have a clean, easy digital experience in our e-commerce shop.

6. Key Messages: Red Hot Zen is all about looking and feeling "hot" thanks to fitness and health, while having the peace of mind, and “zen” that comes from self-care.

7. Goals for Brand Story: Our goal is to increase awareness and be relatable.

8. Visuals and Aesthetics: not sure. 

9. Current Communication Channels: social media

10. Additional data: none

Armed with that info, we can use ChatGPT for our first prompt:

Help me write a brand story for Red Hot Zen, a stylized leggings brand based on the following key points:

1. Brand Overview: Red Hot Zen is a stylized yoga legging company. We design yoga leggings for mothers of young children. This is an audience that lives in athleisure apparel but would prefer options with more personality instead of plain black. 

2. Mission, Vision, Values: The mission is to make fun leggings for moms so they can express their personality despite their limited wardrobe versatility thanks to their life stage. 

3. Brand History: The brand came to be when Jessica, a new mom, was working out a lot to regain her strength after a taxing pregnancy. She fell in love with yoga, barre, and dance fitness, where fun leggings are a great way to accessorize. 

4. Target Audience: The target audience is health-focused moms that love dance-based workouts.

5. Customer Experience: Customers see examples on social media and have a clean, easy digital experience in our e-commerce shop. 

6. Key Messages: Red Hot Zen is all about looking and feeling "hot" while having the peace of mind, and “zen” that comes from self-care. 

7. Goals for Brand Story: Our goal is to increase awareness and be relatable. 

8. Visuals and Aesthetics: not sure. 

9. Current Communication Channels: social media 

10. Additional data: none

Okay, that was a long prompt, but worth it because…

💃🏻 Results

"Red Hot Zen is not just another legging company; it's a celebration of motherhood and personal expression, born from the lived experience of our founder, Jessica Yahfoufi. In early motherhood, Jessica fell in love with yoga, barre, and dance fitness as she worked to regain her strength after a challenging pregnancy. This journey into wellness sparked an idea - why should style be compromised for comfort?

As a new mother, she understood the necessity of athleisure apparel but was tired of the bland and impersonal options that dominated the market. She wanted something that reflected her vivacious spirit and zest for life, even as she navigated the demanding journey of motherhood. She realized there must be many other mothers who felt the same way, yearning for a little more personality and sass in their workout gear.

And so, Red Hot Zen was born - a brand that believes in the power of self-expression and the importance of self-care, embodying the fiery energy and calm spirit of its namesake.

We cater to health-focused moms who, despite their limited wardrobe versatility due to their busy life stage, deserve to flaunt their individual style. We understand the importance of looking good and feeling great, so we create fun, stylized yoga leggings that let you do just that.

Through our easy-to-navigate digital storefront and vibrant social media presence, we invite you to explore a new world of athleisure where personality meets comfort. Join the Red Hot Zen community and celebrate the mom you are, and the woman you’ve always been.

Our brand is all about creating leggings that allow mothers to feel "hot" while finding the "zen" that comes from prioritizing self-care. Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't look good and feel great. So why not infuse your workout routine with a touch of flair in addition to the comfort?

Our ultimate goal is not just to sell leggings but to build a community that empowers mothers to prioritize their health and express their individuality. We strive to be more than a brand, but a lifestyle, a friend, and a partner in the challenging yet beautiful journey of motherhood.

At Red Hot Zen, we believe every mom deserves to feel stylish, comfortable, and empowered. Join us, and let's celebrate the strength and beauty of motherhood together."

The Verdict

It’s looong. It’s wordy. I would edit it to be more concise. I might ask ChatGPT for another version with a specified tone. But generally, it’s right on.

Developing Red Hot Zen content from scratch and editing it to be coherent and compelling took hours and coffee. This exercise took about 30 minutes.

Having that brand story in place, my next steps are to share it through social media and marketing materials - brochures, pitch decks, and more, using ChatGPT to speed up the process.

Looking back, I can't help but think how much easier my Red Hot Zen days would've been with a tool like ChatGPT. What a game-changer that would have been! If you’ve got a business idea - get started with all these awesome tools and make it happen.

Prompt Template:

Help me write a brand story for [Company Name], a [business/product/service description] based on the following key points:

1. Brand Overview: 
2. Mission, Vision, Values:
3. Brand History: 
4. Target Audience: 
5. Customer Experience: 
6. Key Messages:
7. Goals for Brand Story:
8. Visuals and Aesthetics: 
9. Current Communication Channels: 
10. Additional Data: 

🧏🏻‍♀️ If you give this approach a try, I would LOVE to hear your brand story. Reply to this email or hit me up on social.

🛠️ AI tools and resources

• Jasper- helps businesses create high-quality content faster

• Otter AI - accurate meeting notes and transcriptions

• Outfits AI - try on clothes and styles virtually

• Synthesia - create custom videos with AI-generated human avatars

• Paper Brain - access and understand research papers

🎁 We launched an AI Tools Directory with 400+ AI tools you can use to make your work faster and easier - check it out (absolutely free)!

⏮️ Catch up with articles from our archives:

• AI in Marketing: ChatGPT for Brochure Crafting 🚀

• AI’s Impact on SEO

• 🤖 ChatGPT Code Interpreter is a huge deal

• Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research and SEO

• Get ChatGPT to sound like you

• Visit the archives