What does your company do? I mean, really, what do they do? It's a critical question to ask yourself as a marketing leader, business owner or sales executive -- and certainly not easy or straightforward to answer.
Getting it right can have a profound impact on company performance. According to a Harvard Business Review study, "The New Science of Customer Emotions," customers who are fully connected with a brand are 52% more valuable than those who are just highly satisfied. Brand storytelling is crucial for building this brand connection.
Your clients and prospects need to understand who you are and what you do -- and not just because it might help them decide if you have what they need to solve their business problem. They also need to understand how to think about you in context of how they work and what they value.
A good, clear company story is at the heart of how an organization is positioned in the marketplace. Are you all about pushing barriers and bleeding edge innovation in your category? Are you the tried-and-true, safe option that's been around forever and won't let people down? Are you the new disruptive supplier with a different take on the problem or solution?
B2B buyers are people. They may be part of a larger group of diverse opinions and have many technical requirements and budget constraints they need to consider, but they're still people. Often subconsciously, they connect with organizations when they easily relate to the company story. Maybe they offer the lowest cost and most value to customers, so they expect the same from their suppliers. Or maybe they want to be challenged so they can push themselves and be the best they can be, so they prefer a more disruptive supplier.
The people inside your company also need to understand and care about the corporate story. How else will they feel inspired and motivated to tell others? More importantly, they need to be consistent. Taking your message to the market and declaring, "We do this," is only effective if all your employees (both front and back office) tell and embody the same story.
A good corporate story becomes embedded throughout an organization. It appears in the marketing activities and website copy. It's in the PowerPoint presentation and the annual report. It's in the stories your employees tell and the way the receptionist greets visitors or answers the phone. It's who you are and what you do.
Related Article: The Art of Storytelling for Brands and Marketers
Now you may be thinking that it's pretty obvious who you are and what you do as a company. Your clients know. Your employees know. You're all good. For many, though, brand storytelling can be more difficult than it seems, even for those who think they've got it sorted. It's difficult for a few reasons.
First, the level at which you tell the story matters. If you're answering the question with something that sounds like, "We make this product and sell it to these customers in these countries, and we've been doing it for so many years with so many employees," you may well be that guy at the dinner party that people are shuffling chairs to avoid. If the first page in your corporate presentation deck starts with a list of facts and stats (often accompanied with a map or timeline graphic), this could be you.
Further, you don't need to look too far for companies that are "empowering enterprises by leveraging cutting edge, innovative next-gen frameworks to deliver scalable, cloud-native solutions with AI-enhanced frictionless ecosystems for unparalleled transformative outcomes that revolutionize..."
Wait, what? Those are all interesting words, but put together they don't actually say who you are or what you do. I'm pretty certain that guy doesn't even get an invite to dinner. The fine line between having something highly specific to sell and trying to fix the world with nebulous concepts can be tricky.
It is also difficult to be authentic in brand storytelling. Many companies confuse what they aspire to be with what they actually are. The disconnect between promise and reality can have disastrous effects on client lifetime value and the brand's reputation in the long run.
Related Article: Storytelling Drives the Modern Customer Experience
A great way to define your company story is to use a tried and tested framework -- a narrative story arc that takes the listener on a logical journey in a way that keeps them engaged. Ultimately, a strong brand storytelling approach fosters a deeper connection with clients and motivates employees.
Think for a second about a good story. It could be any story, but for the purposes of illustrating this concept, let's take two examples: Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" and Ian Fleming's "James Bond." For all intents and purposes, they're the same, or they at least follow the same structure.
There is a hero in the story: Mowgli or James Bond. This is someone the reader cares about. Hint: This isn't you! Your customer (or prospective customer) is the hero of your story. They care about themselves; they have a mission that they must complete (return to the human village or defeat the baddie). Often, this will be the business outcome your client wants to achieve.
In all good stories there are adversities and adversaries that make the journey more difficult. Who wants to read about a boy lost in the jungle who on his first attempt finds his village just where he thought it was? These obstacles are the realities of every business: finite resources, insufficient time, aggressive competitors, economic headwinds, changing regulations, technical complexity and the lack of skills or experience. These are factors that are stopping your hero being successful in their own story.
Enter the guide (another hint: this is your company). Mowgli had Baloo, and James Bond had Q -- someone to guide them and help them achieve their goals. They don't do all the work for them and they don't have all the answers, but they bring experience and perspective that is helpful. By working together, it becomes possible to complete their journey successfully in a way that otherwise wouldn't be possible.
Think about your corporate story in this light. If your team can consistently communicate the story of how you "help [insert hero] achieve [their goal] by guiding them with [your offering] to overcome [main adversity/adversary]," you're likely onto something relevant, interesting and enduring. Plus, people may ask you follow-up questions at dinner like "How?" or "Where?" rather than "Um, could you pass the salt?"