The Power of Storytelling for Companies

Shernaz Daver on Building a Brand

As Simon Sinek puts it: “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.”

Most global companies and top brands today have them, they sketch brand’s image and sculpture the consumer’s perception; these are Company Narratives. A narrative that tells people the reason why a company does what it does.

Shernaz Daver who has over 20 years of experience in transforming companies into iconic brands and creating global success stories, was with us on Building it Up with Bertelsmann Podcast. Here is what she told us about the importance of storytelling and communications:

Don’t Force It

Even though a lot of start-ups are not really paying enough attention to storytelling, there is also the trend of overdoing it, trying to forcefully create an attractive narrative from day one. At this early stage it is more important for start-ups to pay attention to the essentials like acquiring customers, getting the right product-market fit, raising funds etc.

As Shernaz puts it, at this point “you are telling a story about the company without even knowing it”. Your interactions with customers and investors are the critical elements of your brand’s narrative and should be integrated almost organically.

Don’t lose your most valuable stakeholders

When most companies talk about communications and brand building, they limit their focus to external stakeholders only, missing out on their most important stakeholders: their own employees!

When creating a narrative, you should design it first for your employees — this way you are giving your best employees a solid reason to work for your brand. Most importantly “they are your most valued stakeholder, if they walk out of the door a lot of your knowledge and abilities walk out too”, explains Shernaz. This is especially important to remember during a crisis situation, in which you should first take care of your employees and then of the public.

Communicate Effectively

For most of us communicating in a management context means mostly just “standing in front of a crowd and speaking constantly” however, this is not what effective communication is all about. It is to a big part about indirect communication, showing your stakeholders with your everyday decisions and actions that you support them, says Shernaz that “actions speak louder than words”.

To additionally signal trustworthiness it is essential to remain with your initial vision no matter how much your ideas change and “why you do it shouldn’t change”. This is basically the same when going global, the essence of the brand remains the same however, the execution might differ from country to country.

For more on brand building, global expansion strategies and the challenges of being a CEO, listen to the complete conversation with Shernaz Daver, Click here.

Enjoyed the blog or have a feedback? Share your feedback at info@bertelsmann.in