Nothing pulls at your emotions and captures your attention like a good story. From nursery rhymes to true crime shows, people connect with stories, remembering them for years to come.

The marketing world has noticed. Since marketing relies on human emotion, the stories a brand tells about their origin, mission, and values are vital assets. This is especially true today as the market becomes more and more saturated with similar products (*cough* Can you say Amazon?). 

Think about brands such as Apple, Disney, and Nike. They’ve refined their stories, creating such tangible brands that you want their products and infer the products’ qualities just by the brand name. They accomplish this through unified tones, visual cues, and storytelling across their websites, products, and social media handles. 

As an Amazon seller, you can do that, too. In fact, Amazon offers a feature to brand-registered sellers for the purpose of fleshing out your brand. This feature, called a Brand Story, is designed to help customers know you, trust you, and come back to you. 

Is this feature worth spending time and energy on? The data says yes. 

• “74% of Amazon customers report their impressions of a brand indeed affect their purchasing decisions” (Data Hawk).
• “Customers who form an emotional connection with a brand have more than a 3x higher lifetime value” (Access)
• “For consumers to remember your brand, it takes 5 to 7 impressions” (Fit Small Business). A brand story is a great opportunity to reach this number!
• “[W]hen it comes to engaging with customers, there’s more than just brand awareness that matters—it’s about weaving a compelling thread. Customers are engaging with brands in new ways, but they are also developing an affinity based on a brand’s story, what it stands for, and how they identify with it” (Amazon Ads). 

Creating a brand story is an upselling opportunity. “Ecommerce studies have shown that upselling current customers increases revenue by 10-30% overall and is 68% more affordable than acquiring new customers” (Sumo).

In addition, having a Brand Story means that you can devote all of your A+ or EBC Content to your product. That way, you can:

1. Dive deep into your product’s unique features and benefits
2. Answer all questions to create a clear, easy purchasing choice

AND, if you're still not sold, uploading a Brand Story gets you once step closer to qualifying for Premium A+ Content!

Feeling excited yet? 

The benefits of having a Brand Story are huge, but what is this Amazon feature exactly? Let’s take a look.

The Ins and Outs of the Brand Story Feature

There are a couple types of brand stories available through brand registry: About the Brand and Brand Carousel (If you’d like to learn how to register your brand, take a look at this step-by-step blog). 

About the Brand and the Brand Carousel are open to all brand-registered Amazon sellers which is a recent update. Previously, the Brand Carousel was only available to Premium A+ content sellers and is a highly beneficial branding and upselling opportunity that all registered sellers should take advantage of.

Building on the flexibility and opportunities offered by Amazon's Brand Carousel, it's worth noting that brands can now weave multiple brand stories throughout their catalogs. This means that while there is the option to maintain a consistent brand story across all products, brands also have the freedom to tailor their narratives according to specific collections, product types, and more. Such customization allows for a more dynamic and engaging shopping experience, enabling sellers to highlight the unique aspects and value propositions of different segments within their range.

About the Brand

Creating this Brand Story involves filling out a template provided by Amazon with your answers, a slogan, and 2 photos—a logo and a photo of your choice. The questions are:

1. How we got our start?
2. What makes our products unique?
3. Why we love what we do?

Let’s look at a couple examples

Brand Carousel

Brand Carousels provide greater customizability for the seller and interactivity for the customer. Plus, they are beautiful when done correctly. 

This Brand Story includes 4 different modules and a background image. Much like A+ Content modules, you can mix and match the modules. Unlike A+ Content, they scroll from left to right and allow you to link to other listings in your store. The background image, however, remains in place as the customer scrolls.  

Here are some high-quality Brand Carousels along with links to visit them:

Scroll for yourself here.

Scroll for yourself here. 

Notice that in the last example, the seller chose to include a text box on the background image to encourage customers to scroll through the modules. This may be helpful, but it isn’t necessary. We just wanted to point out that this is an option.

Let’s look at the modules you can mix and match to build your interactive brand carousel, shall we?

Module 1: Brand ASIN & Store Showcase

This module acts like a comparison chart, highlighting and hyperlinking related or best-selling ASINs. It features 4 images that, when clicked upon, transport customers to the corresponding listing.

• Header: 30 characters max
• Text: None 
• Image(s): 166 x 182 pixels

Module 2: Brand Focus Image

This module is great for showcasing a single product in a visually stunning way.

• Header: 30 characters max
• Text: 135 characters max
• Image(s): 362 x 453 pixels

Module 3: Brand Logo & Description

This module is great for, you guessed it, branding. You can communicate your brand’s story along with the benefits of your products.

• Header: This module doesn’t have a separate section for a header; you can create one in the body text
• Text: 450 characters max
• Image(s): 315 x 145 pixels

Brand Q&A

This module is a deep-dive into the brand’s values, origin, product craftsmanship, etc. It’s important to note that you can create your own questions for this module; it isn’t a template like About the Brand.

• Header: This module doesn’t have a separate section for headers; you can create them in the body text
• Text: 750 characters max (this includes questions and answers)
• Image(s): None

Before we transition to how to create a powerful Brand Story, it’s important to note that your Brand Story will automatically upload across every listing under the same brand. Yay for less effort and more rewards!

How Do You Create a Brand Story?

1. Dig deep. Solidify your brand identity with questions such as:
1. What does your brand believe in?
2. What is your brand’s origin story? Would it be important to include?
3. What emotions or adjectives would you like your brand to communicate? 
4. What is your brand’s relationship to your target audience?
5. What type of colors, design, or images suit your brand?

1. After you know the answers to these questions, do the following:
1. Write succinct, informative, and on-brand copy
2. Channel your brand in your images and color scheme
3. Show off your values and best-selling products

Once you’ve put this work in, you can use the material not only in your Brand Story but also in packaging, inserts, website, etc. In fact, comprehensive storytelling across mediums can only help spur your business forward. 

Now for the fun part: uploading your Brand Story.

How to Upload a Brand Story

• Step 1: If you haven’t done so, register your brand. 
• Step 2: Log into your Seller Central.
• Step 3: Find “A+ Content Manager” under the Advertising tab

• Step 4: Confirm your previous action by clicking “Start creating A+ Content.”

• Step 5: Select “Create a Brand Story”

Become a Part of Our Story 

Ready to gain the benefits of sharing your brand story? 

At Marketing by Emma, we’ve seen firsthand the power of a clear brand identity. With every Amazon listing optimization, we dedicate ourselves to finding and executing the perfect brand tone through carefully chosen language and imagery—so your brand can shine!

Want to feel confident that your Brand Story will be a success? Have us take a look or create a compelling brand story from scratch!