"You MUST tell your Brand Story™!" screeched the marketing guy.
"Ohhh, but wHaT iN tHe F*K does that even MEAN??!?!?" said the business owner, calmly being calm about the whole situation.
"TELL YOUR STORY IS JUST -- IT MEANS -- TELL YOUR STORY!" said the marketing guy, eating an SD card because he was a normal person.
Have you even experienced this? If you're a business owner, you probably have gone through this exact situation. As your friendly neighborhood storyman, I'm here to guide you through how to tell your story.
Behold, the three types of stories businesses can tell:
- Company Story
- Product Story
- Customer Story
A story is a journey with a transformation.
When telling stories for your business, you need to recount the journeys you want to assist and the transformations you want to create. Here are three ways to do that.
COMPANY STORY
This is the journey of the company and the individuals within it. A founder's story is a classic example of this. People love to hear how others have overcome obstacles, changed and grown as individuals, been impacted by an organization they are part of, and had transformed lives as a result of their journey. Telling this type of story starts building a personal connection between you and your audience.
PRODUCT STORY
This is the story of how your product is made or your service performed. Remember the show How It's Made? People love watching raw materials transform into ballpoint pens, or learning how business problems are broken down and solved by a consultant. Your service is interesting if it's framed as a transformative act. Telling this type of story builds trust in the expertise of service providers, and trust in the quality of products.
CUSTOMER STORY
This is the story of the human impact your product or service makes. It chronicles the transformation from "I have a problem" to "I have a solution" and can be told both from the business' perspective or from the customer's perspective. Telling this type of story provides social proof and confirms to a prospect that they can expect their problem to be solved by working with you.
Our passion is helping businesses tell their story in a way that builds trust and drives sales. Reach out here for a conversation to help tell your story!