When you do business, you are essentially dealing with people. One easy way to enhance your relationship with customers who are the base of your business is to connect with them on a personal level. They need to have a human-to-human connection with you that will contribute to a good customer experience, which would have a positive effect on your business. One tested and trusted way of building relationships is by storytelling. Your business needs a story, especially for marketing purposes. In the midst of advertising from your competition, storytelling helps you stand out.
Telling Your Business Story
A business story goes beyond a narrative or about filling content. It goes beyond what is on your website or brochure, to pitch your goods and services to investors and customers. Telling your business story involves creating a relatable and authentic narrative that goes beyond merely advertising your goods and services. Achieving this involves a strategy where a story is told of your brand, your products and services, your customer and employee experience as well as your business culture and core values, all in one.
Fundamentally, a brand story should focus on the customer. It should include elements such as why your company came into being, your daily motivation that keeps you in business, and how your product came to be. A common denominator in all these, should be your customers and the value they derive from engaging with your product or service. This story is strategic because it serves to keep your business on track, and remember its core values.
Various Stories in One
Going beyond the brand story or the core purpose story, your business needs a larger story telling strategy. Your greatest social proof in this regard, are stories from your customers. These stories tell of the successes they have experienced with your products, for other customers and potential clients to see. It also makes the customers heroes. The stories of your employees, as part of your business, should also be heard.
A product story which has to do with how your product or services have made lives better, also adds a genuine touch and some level of authenticity to your business story. This can be told by customers who have experienced your product. In addition, for your story to be believable, a complete story telling strategy needs to contain how you failed in the past and learnt from it, how you have succeeded over time, and how you are constantly evolving and striving to create even more solutions to satisfy the customers’ needs.
Why You Need A Story To Tell
A story differentiates you and your brand from other commodities on the market. Building a brand is about dictating your value on the market that customers will be moved to buy into, of the other options available to them. Your story is therefore what your brand is built upon, and a strategy for the future of your business. You need a story to elevate your brand, and make an emotional connection with your clients and customers, so that they repeatedly buy into your products and services.