What’s your story? See why having an engaging and interesting company story can help you compete against big firms…
You might not be able to compete on price, but you can compete on personality. Small firms can use their personal story to give them an advantage over large outfits such as Amazon and Asda.
Every small business has a story to tell – something that will connect potential customers to your brand. It’s important to get your core message across, and the About Us page on your website is a good place to start.
Okay, so you might not win the Pulitzer Prize, but a good story can give a small firm a big voice in business.
Create an emotional pull
You can engage customers by connecting with them on a human level, something that big brands often struggle with.
What’s your office culture? What do you believe in? Why do you matter?
Once you know the answers to those questions you can give your brand a human voice. Company storytelling isn’t about your products directly. It’s about your customers and the value they get when interacting with you.
Adopt a conversational tone
Big conglomerates are often rather soulless and overly formal in their literature and web pages, sharing lots of facts and figures about their revenues and KPIs. That’s where you have the edge.
Being too stuffy is a big turn-off for customers. Write as if you’re talking to a new friend over coffee rather than giving a lecture on the history of quantum mechanics.
And keep it brief – longwinded copy on websites is a waste of time. Most people will have switched off after the third paragraph.
Using humour can help you stand out and show customers that you don’t take yourself too seriously. Just make sure you keep it PC!
Speak from the heart
The stories that pack the most emotional punch are the most personal ones. Talk about the struggles you’ve faced to get where you are today, or what inspired you to set up your business. These stories resonate with people.
Don’t be tempted to embellish the truth. Avoid bragging about why your product is so great, and instead focus on developing human interest.
When you tell your story, ditch the jargon. At the end of the day, no one’s really interested in your low-hanging fruit or 360-degree thinking.
Get staff to tell their stories
You don’t have to be a solitary voice within your company. It takes every voice in your organisation to tell your story.
Your employees are a huge part of your identity, so it’s a great idea to have brief biographies of some or all of them on your website, detailing their own personal stories of how they fit into the organisation.
You can also use behind-the-scenes pictures and old photos to add context and colour to your stories.
Share your story on multiple platforms
The big companies have a huge online presence, but anyone can use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media platforms to get their message across.
By doing this, you can connect with your customers wherever they are in the world.
Each medium can add depth to your story and generate a buzz about your brand.
