Why your Startup needs to tell a story
Have you ever seen a western movie? You probably have. Then you can also imagine the scene of men sitting around a bonfire, sharing a drink and telling each other stories.
Or maybe you can remember, when you went to bed, your mother would tell you a story for better sleep? Every child enjoys a good story. In fact we all do.
Since the beginning of time (well, almost at least), marketers are aware of this factor and are using it cleverly, in all sorts of ads. Storytelling itself can be defined as: “Explaining a series of events through narrative.”
Great! Let’s have a look at a real life example.
This is a image of the Slack website. Doesn’t it look and sound exciting?Don’t you want to take action immediately and enter your email address to see what this messaging app is all about?
Well, good stories tend to draw one in right away. So how is it possible, to explain that much with so little?
Let’s dissect the page and discover the elements that make a great story.
The first most prominent part of the page you’ll see is the tagline. “A messaging app for teams who see through the earth”. Oh really? That sounds actually awesome. So who is this team?
When we read on we can see that the team, that uses Slack is part of The IceCube Collaboration. Wow so those are the guys that see through the earth. Sounds simple.
If you take a closer look at what The IceCube Collaboration is actually doing, it gets a bit more complicated. Some deeper research shows, that IceCube is a particle detector at the South Pole that records the interactions of a nearly massless subatomic particle called the neutrino.
If Slack would have put that on their homepage, what do you think, how many people would still be willing to sign up?
Lesson Number 1: Keep it simple.
Moving on we can read: “make working lives simpler, more pleasant and more productive”. This sentence could have also been written like: make work simple, pleasant and productive.
But that doesn’t sound that great, does it?
Phrasing the sentence, using the comparative increases our emotions towards the text and builds up a certain excitement from simpler to productive.
Lesson Number 2: Make it emotional.
Would you rather stand in line, waiting for a seat in a restaurant or go into the empty one across the street?
Yes, you got me; social proof. While we would rather dine in a place, that appears to be frequented by many other people, we also seem to need a social backing when trusting someone’s story.
With this sentence, Slack made it pretty clear, that The IceCube Collaboration is not the only but rather one of tens of thousands of teams trusting Slack. Oh, so the story gotta be right.
Lesson Number 3: Be trustworthy.
Don’t you love it, when a movie starts with: “Based on real events”?
I do. It makes watching the movie, much more fun and afterwards you can’t wait to start researching the real story.
A similar concept is used here. The combination of the background image, which shows the the research facility itself and stating name and location proofs the reality of the story. No one would question its existence, even if they never heard of the IceCube.
Lesson Number 4: Be real.
Storytelling is an art that allows you to explain, even complex things more easily. A good story is able to quickly get the attention of the listener (or visitor in our case) and excite him or her about your product.
Stories tend to immediately form bonds between teller and listener. Have a look at the following example of Buffer.
This is how one part of the Buffer blog looks like. When the visitor enters the site he is immediately taken in by the story that unfolds in front of him.
The slogan below the blog name “Our journey to greater productivity, more transparency and a happier work culture”, does not only explain the visitor what he/she can expect from this section of the blog, but also what can be learned.
The next section that catches the eye of the visitor is the newest blog post on the very top. It confirms the statement made in the slogan and the visitor is reaffirmed that he/she is in the right place.
When the visitor starts to scroll down a little bit, a window slides up to encourage the visitor to join more than 10,000 thinker and revolutionaries. As in our previous example of Slack, the power of social proof makes the story that is being told here, much more believable and trustworthy.
Even if you have never heard of Buffer before, but as soon as you visit this page, you are intrigued by the story of transparency and a happier work culture. And of course you want to be one of the many other forward thinking revolutionaries of work culture.
Good stories always have a hero. The hero is the symbol of success, victory and trust. Have a look at the following example of how Moz manages to to tell an inspiring story by introducing their own hero figure.
Most companies do have some core values on which they try to base every internal and external decision as well as the style of communication on. But only a few manage to actually tell a story based on that.
Not only should the core values of a company be reflected throughout everything the company does, but so should a good story. The personification, which Moz did, is a very powerful form of storytelling.
Not only does TAGFEE serve as a cute mascot but it is also being regularly picked up by media and journalists. The landing page tells its origin, purpose and idea beautifully. The smiling robot is just something you gotta love.
In today’s world which is connected faster than ever before, storytelling can no longer be seen as an exclusive event, used for a single ad. But instead storytelling needs to be incorporated throughout all marketing campaigns.
And that’s how you can do it:
#1 Your value proposition is the core
When you start a business, one of the very first things you should have in place is your value proposition. It tells you what your entire business is about. When you start creating a story around your brand, you need to keep a close eye on your proposition. It is the core of all principles that drive your business and people love authenticity.
#2 Your story needs to be everywhere
It is crucial, that you don’t just fall back to storytelling when you want to launch your new video or ad campaign. Instead try to display and tell the core message everywhere you can. It should be on your homepage, in you ad copy and your press articles.
#3 Engage your audience
There is little point in telling a story and creating content that no one wants to read, or the wrong people are interested in. When you think of ways to tell a company wide story, do keep your audience in mind. Ask yourself if what you have to say is relevant for the people you would like to address.
#4 Keep it simple
The greatest stories of mankind have been transmitted vocally. Don’t get discouraged if you do not have the budget or the talent to create amazing videos or pictures. Instead start out with something simple and authentic. Adopt the copy of your website or start a podcast. Just do it.
Conclusion
Every successful brand uses storytelling in everything they do. Stories connect people and make your company more human.
If you are just getting started make sure you incorporate storytelling in everything you do. People and companies will perish but great stories last forever.
Would you like to learn about more strategies to grow your startup? Then read on.
