Corporate Storytelling That Builds Trust Relies on These Three Element
By Stanley Meytin
What’s the story behind your business?
This question is more important today than it has ever been before. Customers are looking for corporate storytelling that connects with their experience on a personal level. If you don’t make that connection, your business has no chance of surviving in the millennial-driven 21st Century.
It doesn’t matter if your company creates websites, sells lipstick, or fixes toilets, getting your company story right will set you apart from your competition.
The question is, how do you create a corporate storytelling strategy that connects with your customers?
Traditional marketing strategies and digital storytelling are great ways to connect with your customers, but if you want to connect with them on a personal level, you have to make sure your brand story includes these three elements.
Corporate Storytelling Includes Authenticity
One study found 91-percent of customers valued honesty in the companies they buy from. That value far exceeds the importance of product utility, brand appeal, or popularity.
That’s huge. It means people would rather buy from companies that are honest than companies that offer the best products on the market. Your company can gain a lot by being authentic with your customers.
Creating an authentic persona sounds a lot harder than it actually is. Start by envisioning your brand as a person. Ask questions like:
- What does your brand look like?
- How does it act?
- What words would you use to describe your brand?
- Is your brand funny or serious?
There is no right answer to any of these questions. The exercise is meant to help you create a corporate storytelling strategy that is unique to the personality of your brand. Once you’ve clarified these details, it will be easier to project the authenticity of your brand.
Show Your Softer Side
The second element trustworthy corporate storytelling has in common is vulnerability. It’s important because customers connect more deeply with people and brands that know they aren’t perfect.
It’s all about relatability. We have all experienced setbacks, loss, and disappointment. Acting like we haven’t is akin to lying, and because customers want brands to be authentic, it means brands also need to be vulnerable.
It’s surprisingly easy to do, especially if you use digital storytelling to show the less glamorous aspects of your company. Create a video where the founder shares all the failures they have experienced on their road to success, or highlight how the company faced a disaster, like a flood. Show customers and clients that you can be vulnerable and they will be more likely to trust you.
Your Corporate Story Should Focus on the Why
Why does your business exist? Is it to make money? Obviously, that’s part of it, but customers don’t want to buy from businesses that exist solely to make money. That’s because it isn’t just the stuff you sell that’s important to customers. Today, 89-percent of companies compete on the basis of customer experience, not products.
Instead, they want a more personal relationship with the brands they shop with. That means creating corporate storytelling methods that highlight why you’re in business.
What makes your business different from your competitors? What do you fight for and care about? What does your business really want?
Your why might include a backstory about why the CEO decided to take the plunge and start his or her own business. It might include how much money you donate to local and national causes that your company cares about. It might be about providing a flexible working environment that makes family life easier, or you may promote work-life balance by providing unlimited days off to your employees.
Your corporate story is surprisingly easy to share. Create blog articles, post to social media, and create digital storytelling videos on your website that tell the world the ‘why’ of your business.
The one great thing every compelling company story has is common
There is one common thread that weaves through each of these corporate storytelling elements—they all focus on the people who make your company what it is.
At the end of the day, people want to buy stuff from real people.
Small businesses are more popular than ever, while big box stores are going the way of the dinosaur. That’s because small businesses are made up of real people who connect with their customers in real, authentic, and personal ways, while big box stores rely solely on apathetic brand names and logos to sell merchandise.
Corporate storytelling can greatly increase the success of your business, but it has to be done correctly. As a digital storytelling agency, True Film Productions can help you flesh out your strategy and provide you with a professional, authentic video you can use to market your business. Contact us today to learn how we can bring your corporate story to life.
By Stanley Meytin
What’s the story behind your business?
This question is more important today than it has ever been before. Customers are looking for corporate storytelling that connects with their experience on a personal level. If you don’t make that connection, your business has no chance of surviving in the millennial-driven 21st Century.
It doesn’t matter if your company creates websites, sells lipstick, or fixes toilets, getting your company story right will set you apart from your competition.
The question is, how do you create a corporate storytelling strategy that connects with your customers?
Traditional marketing strategies and digital storytelling are great ways to connect with your customers, but if you want to connect with them on a personal level, you have to make sure your brand story includes these three elements.
Corporate Storytelling Includes Authenticity
One study found 91-percent of customers valued honesty in the companies they buy from. That value far exceeds the importance of product utility, brand appeal, or popularity.
That’s huge. It means people would rather buy from companies that are honest than companies that offer the best products on the market. Your company can gain a lot by being authentic with your customers.
Creating an authentic persona sounds a lot harder than it actually is. Start by envisioning your brand as a person. Ask questions like:
- What does your brand look like?
- How does it act?
- What words would you use to describe your brand?
- Is your brand funny or serious?
There is no right answer to any of these questions. The exercise is meant to help you create a corporate storytelling strategy that is unique to the personality of your brand. Once you’ve clarified these details, it will be easier to project the authenticity of your brand.
Show Your Softer Side
The second element trustworthy corporate storytelling has in common is vulnerability. It’s important because customers connect more deeply with people and brands that know they aren’t perfect.
It’s all about relatability. We have all experienced setbacks, loss, and disappointment. Acting like we haven’t is akin to lying, and because customers want brands to be authentic, it means brands also need to be vulnerable.
It’s surprisingly easy to do, especially if you use digital storytelling to show the less glamorous aspects of your company. Create a video where the founder shares all the failures they have experienced on their road to success, or highlight how the company faced a disaster, like a flood. Show customers and clients that you can be vulnerable and they will be more likely to trust you.
Your Corporate Story Should Focus on the Why
Why does your business exist? Is it to make money? Obviously, that’s part of it, but customers don’t want to buy from businesses that exist solely to make money. That’s because it isn’t just the stuff you sell that’s important to customers. Today, 89-percent of companies compete on the basis of customer experience, not products.
Instead, they want a more personal relationship with the brands they shop with. That means creating corporate storytelling methods that highlight why you’re in business.
What makes your business different from your competitors? What do you fight for and care about? What does your business really want?
Your why might include a backstory about why the CEO decided to take the plunge and start his or her own business. It might include how much money you donate to local and national causes that your company cares about. It might be about providing a flexible working environment that makes family life easier, or you may promote work-life balance by providing unlimited days off to your employees.
Your corporate story is surprisingly easy to share. Create blog articles, post to social media, and create digital storytelling videos on your website that tell the world the ‘why’ of your business.
The one great thing every compelling company story has is common
There is one common thread that weaves through each of these corporate storytelling elements—they all focus on the people who make your company what it is.
At the end of the day, people want to buy stuff from real people.
Small businesses are more popular than ever, while big box stores are going the way of the dinosaur. That’s because small businesses are made up of real people who connect with their customers in real, authentic, and personal ways, while big box stores rely solely on apathetic brand names and logos to sell merchandise.
Corporate storytelling can greatly increase the success of your business, but it has to be done correctly. As a digital storytelling agency, True Film Productions can help you flesh out your strategy and provide you with a professional, authentic video you can use to market your business. Contact us today to learn how we can bring your corporate story to life.
What story would you like to share?
Whether you want to launch an idea, spark a movement or simply get people talking about what you do, you have one shot
at delivering your message in a way that matters. Let’s make sure you do it right.
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