How can I use storytelling to bring my company to life?

If we look around, everything we are exposed to is telling us a story. Take a closer look and you will notice how every brand you’re consuming has crafted a narrative around their values and solutions. Your favourite clothing and skincare brand, your mobile phone and even your bank is communicating a story to connect to you and their target audience.

Storytelling is not only crucial to your marketing strategy but is also the foundation for your content and every interaction between you and your customers.

These interactions permeate every aspect of your business including any client transactions, customer service, new client relationship, your website, social media, and the list goes on.

But how do we shift our attention to our story and where do we even begin?

Here are some key starters to put you right on track to allow your customers and employees to believe in what you do and the services you offer.

1. Identify your brand story

A brand story is a narrative that portrays a wide range of facts and feelings created by your company’s mission. It aims to build an emotional connection between your target audience and your business. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that customers are 71% more likely to recommend brands with whom they have an emotional connection. When considering your brand story, it’s important to start by listing your goals. This will help you identify the action you want your customer to take in each of your communications such as registering on your website, following your Facebook page or trying your new product. Then take a deeper dive into the background of your company and write down why it was created, what was the inspiration behind it, interesting facts about the founder, what is the vision and what challenges were faced. This builds a base and adds a necessary human element to your business, allowing customers to feel close and connected to it. Keep it authentic, realistic, and empathetic as you map out your customer’s journey that you wish for them to experience. For more in-depth support on how to build a great brand story specifically tailored to your company, be sure to schedule a business booster call with Tania to understand the steps and gain insight into this powerful methodology and where to apply it.

2. Know your customer and know them well

Part of your business and effective marketing strategy requires the identification of key personas that you are targeting. Regardless of the size and demographic you are targeting, conducting a persona mapping is an effective method that will indefinitely grant you insight into different customers, thus enabling you to adjust your storytelling and messaging accordingly. A good start to this practice is to look at one of your current customers and map out their background, interests, priorities, challenges, fears, how they spend their time, which medium do they predominantly consume, where do they get their news etc. Knowing your audience will inevitably translate into every part of your brand and HOW you market and sell your services. For example, when you understand the challenges your audiences face, you ensure that you are accurately messaging to meet their needs and provide the solutions they seek.

3. Get everyone on board

You don’t need to be leading a large corporation to communicate your story and values to your stakeholders. Whether you are the founder of a newly established law firm or running a business from your home, ensuring that everyone on your team understands the company’s vision and believes in it can certainly go a long way. Clearly stating your values through the stories you tell is as important to be communicated internally among your team as it is externally to your audiences. When your story and values resonate with your employees or investors, this will be reflected in their interactions regarding your business. Your vision and values can be simply portrayed and reiterated through your newsletters, team meetings and any other communication you have internally and externally.

Studies have shown that when employees understand the strategic direction of a company and their role in attaining the vision, they are able to help the business achieve its mission. This comes from creating a sense of ownership and emotional connection with your business and the story you tell.

4. Share successes every chance you get

Everyone loves a good success story, especially one that your stakeholders (internal or external) feel like they contributed to. Keep in mind that this does not necessarily need to be a lengthy piece of writing. Communicating your wins, big or small, will engage your customers and raise their interest in continuing to invest in your services. As for your employees, communicating successes will strengthen their motivation as they feel recognized and part of your company’s vision. Data-driven communication and storytelling is most effective, so make sure to announce figures and new targets reached. Giving your data a human element and a face, is also another helpful tactic, which can be done by collecting simple testimonies and documenting a successful customer experience.

Storytelling can be used across your organization and integrated in various strategies of your business to drive sales, investors, recruitments and retain existing customers. Spend some time studying some of your favourite brands and understand what story they are telling and what methods they are using to do so.

Schedule your business booster call now, to evaluate your progress and initial strategy and discuss any current challenges to address and take your business to the next level.