Stories are among the most memorable types of content you can produce. Stories are powerful because they provide context missing from abstract prose. They put knowledge into a framework that’s more lifelike and true to day-to-day existence. As someone reads a story, they actually simulate the situation, which means reading a story is the next best thing to doing something oneself. And perhaps most important, stories can humanize your brand and make it more compelling.
In the last few weeks, I’ve read a couple of interesting blog posts about the use of stories in marketing. These posts have lead me to think about the most effective and appropriate types of stories to tell about your business—should you tell stories that draw open the curtain on a person or business simply for the sake of transparency or stories that give your customers more insight into your business and what makes it special?
Personal Stories
In one post, “The secret of transparency”, Bob Bly talks about how in the era of social media, people want to see stories of a personal nature about a writer or a company. Basically, he’s saying people want a behind-the-scenes look at your company, just as they like to know about the antics or love lives of their favorite celebrities.
Although Bly is somewhat skeptical about the idea of putting forth these personal stories, he writes that online communication is more of a two-way conversation than print, and people have a stronger desire to connect with you and know about you. To that end, he devotes an entire post to talking about all kinds of personal facts about himself and his family life, including the fact that he’s 5’7” and weighs over 200 pounds; that he takes naps on Saturday afternoons; and that he likes horror stories and fish tanks.
Business Stories
In a second post, Susan Payton commented on John Jantsch’s book,The Commitment Engine, which details four types of business stories:
- The passion story—how you got started and why you love what you do
- The purpose story—why you do what you do in business
- The value-proposition story—how you want the market to perceive your brand
- The personality story—how people experience your brand
Payton advocates telling one or more of these business stories because they tell customers what makes your brand unique and human so you’re not just another company with no personality.
Having grown up before social media, my initial instinct for a business situation would be to state the facts: Here’s what I can do for you. Here’s how I do it. But as I observe people using social media, I realize that facts aren’t enough. Any solopreneur or company needs to project their personality. It used to be that you could connect with people on the phone where they could, at least, hear your voice and get non-verbal information that potential customers could use to determine whether they could like you and trust you. Today, it’s virtually impossible to reach people on the phone. People often decide whether they want to even talk to you based entirely on your online presence. But they still need to know about your personality to determine whether they like you and trust you. So you face a Catch 22—they won’t talk to you unless they like you, but they can’t like you unless they talk to you.
Telling stories about yourself is one way around this dilemma. But what story do you tell?
In the latest version of his classic book, “On Writing Well,” William Zinsser includes a section on autobiography. Even in an autobiography of an entirely personal nature, Zinsser encourages readers to figure out what their story is and why they’re telling it, and include only the telling details that support that story.
In other words, you need to draw a line between telling a story and conveying too much information. Stories should be relevant. And a relevant story is one that has something to do with your business and why you’re doing it. Bob Bly’s blog passes way beyond that into the realm of TMI.
On the other hand, the four types of stories Jantsch discusses give information about your personality, what it’s like to work with you, and how working with you is different than working with other people. These stories are highly relevant to business and do humanize your brand.
What types of stories do you tell about your business?
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