Category: Marketing

We all have a story. A journey to share that charts our path from past to present. Sharing our story is vital to crafting and selling our personal brand and building goals for the future. Well, businesses have to tell their story to elevate their company brand. Sharing your company history and future vision helps businesses connect with customers that share their ideals. How does your business craft a story that resonance with customers? It’s not unlike crafting your personal story. 

Personally and professionally, our need for storytelling is powerful and built into our history as a species. Storytelling originated with visual cave drawings before shifting into an oral method. Stories continue to be passed down orally by each generation, often in camp stories and songs. In our modern history, stories take many narrative forms, including spoken, written, printed, and typed. These stories transcend blogs, books, the internet, movies, sung, and TV.

One of the keys to storytelling is understanding your essence, the core values that define your brand. A well-known proverbial expression created by William Shakespeare is “To thine own self be true”. It was written in his masterpiece Hamlet. This expression means ‘be true to yourself”. As with your personal story, there is always an evolution to your business story. Spending time understanding your business journey and values is vital to future success. 

• Why do they exist? 
• Has your mission or vision changed? 
• What makes your business unique? 
• What makes your business stand out from its competitors? 
• How can your business better the world? 
• What philanthropy are you putting into the world that can make your brand stand out?   

So what’s the story your business wants or needs to tell? Your business story has a motivation or purpose to carry your brand, leadership, and employees forward. It is essential to stop, reflect on your path, and find a new way to tell your updated story. Journalists have a process to address the fundamental questions that define every story. The Five “W”s are the foundation of crafting any story. 

• Who?
• What?
• Why?
• Where? 
• When?

In addition to the Five “W”’s, add how. I recommend focusing on the How and Why to start your story. 

• How did you get here? 
• How will you move forward?
• How is it possible to move forward successfully?
• Why are we in business?
• Why did we start? 
• Is why we started the business resonating and essential to our messaging today?
• Why and how are we critical to our customers?

These are the most important questions to get to the core or heart of your value. You must understand your business motivations, purpose, and vision to craft an authentic story that will resonate with others. It takes time to get to your story. Keep it simple. Test your message before going public. Make sure it resonates in the way and conveys your intent. Creating or changing messaging is a journey, not a destination. 

If you need additional guidance or support in your messaging and branding, contact us at Pensivetastic. Let’s collaborate to define your path forward. We’ll help you get there.