How Content Can Redefine Your Business
Simple storytelling ideas that can enhance your brand’s messaging…
At the end of the day, we are all just stories.’ — said my father rather philosophically.
My response — ‘And that’s why it’s important that your story is an interesting one!’
Not just we, but our businesses too are ‘just stories’… It’s up to us to make them interesting to narrate and memorable for the world to talk about.
But where does a business get its stories from? And how do these stories connect with the consumer or other stakeholders?
Let’s start with the basics of storytelling, the essential ingredients that go into creating any story, or content for your business…
- Your premise is your vision
A premise is essentially the story in one line… It’s the thread that holds the story together. And, every time you don’t know where you’re headed, you come back to the premise, reassess if you’re still telling the same story, or if you have, in fact, digressed into something else altogether.
For a company this is your vision-mission statement, i.e. your vision for the business and how your core competence will implement it. All the content or messaging that you send out should in some way reflect your vision-mission.
2. The exposition sets the tone
An exposition is the background or setting of your story. For instance, if you are a startup, you would probably say, ‘We started out in a small garage in Bangalore city. Just three young 20 somethings with no money in our pockets, but a dream in our hearts…’ etc.
An exposition helps the audience put you into context, they now begin to visualise your story… They locate you in time and space, they begin to ‘place you’, and slowly get to know you!
3. Your values take the shape of characters
You may have thought your founders, or the core team, should be the main characters in your brand’s story, but actually your core values go on to become the main heroes of your story or content… People and positions will change, but values will stand the test of time.
For example, your commitment to service, innovation, design, and social responsibility, will play out in different ways, but they are the ones who will be tested time and again, and the ones who should emerge triumphant!
4. The plot encompasses your products and services
A plot is a series of events that help the hero achieve his goal, ‘find his Holy Grail’, win over the villain, depict the classic good over evil story, and most importantly convert that one-line premise into a two-hour movie or 300-page book that you read.
For your brand, the plot comprises your various products and services… It also includes the whole range of processes that you, as a company, create and use to build an efficient and sustainable business.
5. The conflict — or the marketplace — will create the drama
Just like a thrilling tale, there will always be conflict in any brand story. These will include internal conflicts, like your weaknesses, or what you need to work on as a business…perhaps, revenue. External challenges or threats will come from the marketplace and its volatility, or perhaps from your competitors.
Hence, the conflicts are defining moments in your brand story… Because, how you overcome them, and how you uniquely position yourself in the market, is what will inspire those reading your brand story.
6. Finally, add lots of emotion, a personal touch
A story strikes a chord only when it has been told from the heart… Particularly, in this age of social media, if you are not brave enough to tell a true story, it is unlikely the audience will resonate with it… The consumer sees through what’s genuine and what’s fake.
So, tell true stories, showcase customer testimonials, and provide figures when needed… Also, talk about failures, struggles, and personal sacrifices that went into building the brand and business… People need to see the human side, not just of people, but of a business too.
These are all essential ingredients of storytelling, or what is called content nowadays. How you use them is up to you…but keep telling a story, keep the conversation alive with your customers, investors, team, and every other stakeholder.
Most importantly, make your story a memorable one…one that is told and retold… In other words, ensure it has enough brand recall!
Pink Pinjra is essentially about transformation — transformation of yourself and your work — through creative and engaging ways that give new purpose, and allow for maximum expression of your personality and business.
Content creation, or storytelling, is just one way of transforming your business, there are many more. Feel free to share with our readers stories of how you’ve creatively transformed your business on this platform…
To write for Pink Pinjra, email pinkpinjra@gmail.com
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