Time for another look at the stories we tell, about ourselves and about our business. As one of the resident Story Folk for our local 1MC community, I give this advice on a weekly basis–though usually I don’t have this kind of space to develop my thoughts.
When thinking about your story, it’s important to distinguish between your company story and your marketing story. These seem, at first glance, like they might be the same thing, but they’re aimed at different audiences, with different purposes.
Your company story is about your values, identity, and goals–and it’s for company use. It’s how you motivate employees, leaders, and even stakeholders with literal investments in your success. What’s your mission? How do you plan to get there? What values do you want to hold through that process? This story binds you together in a common mission, and helps determine your choices and path forward.
Your marketing story is related to those principles, but constrained by time and lack of motivation. When you’re convincing potential customers to become real customers, you don’t have time for longwinded philosophical discussions of your founder and how his personal frustrations with an old job led him to treat his employees with more respect. You have to tell them a shorter story that foregrounds their needs and values enough to get them to read as far as your founding tale.
Your marketing story, focused on customers and their needs, has to be succinct. And it has to be about them, not your company.
I think the Storybrand approach really gets this right: by putting your potential customer center stage, you help get them invested in imagining how your product or service is going to help them succeed. your company principles inform this, and can even influence final purchasing decisions. But they’re not what’s going to get your customer in your door in the first place.
Something Polished 