To tell your company’s story, dig deep & don’t be shy
How you can uncover your story’s key ingredients.
Successful stories contain five key ingredients: inspiration, vision, accomplishments, claims to fame and your challenges. (Don’t forget your challenges.) This list sounds simple, but I’ve found people often have trouble coming up with the goods. It’s not because the goods don’t exist; it’s because people don’t dig deep enough or question their own assumptions.
We always pose the following questions to uncover the five essential story elements. Common gut responses (in italics) are rarely revealing, so I’ve also provided some help with how to elicit answers that go deeper. You’ll get a story that turns customers into brand advocates, attracts partners you want to work with and captures the media attention you seek, among other benefits.
What was your inspiration? “Well, the opportunity just presented itself.”
Recall the initial spark, and think about the problem you were trying to solve in forming your venture. What motivated you to actually do something? Who helped you?
What is your vision? “We want to be bigger.” “We want to help as many people as we can.”
Go deeper and be more specific. What’s next for the business?
Where will you be in five years? What keeps people in your organization coming to work every day (besides a paycheck)?
Go higher and envision society or industry change. How will things be different?
What are your accomplishments and claims to fame? “We don’t want to seem like we’re bragging.”
If you don’t cite your achievements, no one will know how great you are. (And when others bestow the honors, it isn’t bragging.)
What challenges have you faced? “I don’t want to say anything about problems we’ve had.”
We’re all human. If you only present a sunny picture, you won’t be believable. And you won’t show how creative or strong you were in overcoming obstacles to building the business. Challenges conquered are successes, not failures.
A strong story is an essential aspect of your brand, because your brand is much more than your products and services. That’s particularly true for social enterprises and sustainability-focused companies — you’re selling a vision and values along with your products and services.
See how the pieces all fit together in this infographic.
