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“The best brands are built on great stories” – Ian Rowden, Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin Group.
When it comes to communicating your startup story, you need to make sure it appeals to your customers in a way that goes beyond your products and marketing strategy. Sometimes it’s difficult to imagine the people putting in huge amounts of effort behind the scenes of a business; this means that your company’s story needs to show customers that your brand is ‘human’ – to remind them of the dedicated people behind the products and services. Here’s how to tell the story of your startup business in a way that engages your customers and keeps them coming back for more.
People Relate to Other People
Every well-told brand story has something in common: the ability to trigger an emotional reaction. The New York Times explain that personal stories affect people the most because they can relate it to their own experiences, which triggers something very similar to empathy. People relate to people, and every story needs a set of main characters. So, who are yours?
For us, our main cast includes our Co-founders, James and Adam, who grew up as childhood friends before they began buying print at university. After uni, James and Adam founded instantprint to help customers with some of the challenges around ordering print. As well as James and Adam, we also like to shout about all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in every department, which is why you’ll always see pictures of our colleagues on our website and social media feeds.
Every Plot Needs Some Conflict
One crucial question you should ask yourself when you’re starting to tell your startup story is: what obstacles have you faced to get to where you are now? And, just like with a character in a fictional story, your audience will be rooting for you and your company to overcome conflict and succeed in your aims.
Every startup faces issues and struggles (we did!), especially in the beginning. But, you can definitely look at these in a positive way when telling your business’ story. This is where you can start to think about what made your business’ inception unique. If you did face a few struggles, and you’ve got some funny anecdotes about what you had to do to make ends meet, get them in your story! Not only do they add an entertaining tone, they also help align people to your brand because it shows that you’re genuine.
The Moral of the Story is…
Every good story needs a moral. When starting a business, you’ve got to have a clear understanding of your goals and ambitions, otherwise you’ll be met with the dreaded question, ‘So what?’. Here’s where you can tell your audience why you started your business and what problems you aim to solve.
Whilst at university, James and Adam printed Flyers for club nights around Bristol. One of the issues they found was that the printing process wasn’t very accessible – from designing to ordering, it was pretty complicated if you didn’t have the right know-how. And so, instantprint was born. We’re passionate about helping small business create fantastic print with ease to help their businesses flourish.
Happily Ever After?
Whether you’re a startup, or a more developed company, as much as you want to inspire people with how far along you’ve come, you’re really only at the beginning of your story. At this point in your startup story, you should explain to your audience how you’re going to develop and encourage them to come along for the ride! By buying your products and services, they’re helping to continue this story – and for this, you should make sure you tell your customers just how grateful you are for this support.
Now you’ve got all the ingredients for a fantastic, emotion-provoking startup story, it’s time to start broadcasting it to the world! Create a brilliant, engaging ‘About Us’ section for your website, start storytelling on your social media, or just have it running through the heart of everything you do – however and wherever you decide to tell your story, make sure to tug a few heartstrings with our helpful tips.
