Corporate Storytelling is essential for all types of businesses

Corporate storytelling is (or should be) as natural for companies as storytelling is at any time in our lives. In our daily lives we tell stories similar to those found in a book or film. Telling our partner how work went today, explaining the neighborhood meeting to someone who could not attend or reporting how our wallet was stolen are all forms of storytelling.

Companies do not escape this fact, corporate storytelling is everywhere: in product and service descriptions or managing a project with a client, what we are really doing is telling a story. Doing it well becomes key to convincing those in front of us.

For our storytelling for business to be the best possible, we must not forget which disruption we want to cover and which are the active characters in the story.

 

Storytelling: the initial disruption

Every story begins with a disruption, something that makes things change (otherwise there would be nothing to tell).

For example, the disruption in the story that you tell the police is the moment when your wallet was stolen.

In corporate storytelling we have to be very clear about what the disruption will be so the story is justified.

If we offer a hotel room to someone who is tired it will not be the same as if we offer it to someone who needs a romantic getaway.

In both cases there is a disruption but deciding on one or the other will be key to the image we give of our business.

Whenever we narrate, we also establish a contract. It is very important that this has some guarantees.

To propose a break from the routine is to establish a contract. In this case the guarantee could be the people who have already experienced it. Another guarantee would be the classic —equally effective and tiring— «if you are not satisfied we will refund your money».

 

The characters in the storytelling

Another important aspect is the characters that appear in the story. Every story has at least a hero, a guide, a beneficiary and an antagonist. Obviously our company is not going to be the antagonist, and neither is the client.

The downside of all of this is usually an external factor, and it usually coincides with the cause of the disruption: in our case it could be the stress or monotony of always being in the same place.

As for us as a company, it might appear best to present ourselves as the hero. But depending on the product and how we want to reach the client, we will assume one role or another.

In some cases, we can be the assistant, giving our client the tools to be the hero («you’ll be your own boss in the room of your dreams»).

In other cases, we could even present ourselves as beneficiaries. We will show that the client helps us achieve our goal of being the best in what we do or offer.

 

The brand image and storytelling

Deciding who we will be in our corporate storytelling will then be key to your brand voice: to knowing how we present ourselves and be coherent in our discourse.

Once we choose a role in the story we are telling, we must be aware of who we are and adapt what we say to that fact. Be careful not to make the typical mistakes.

We suggest that you take a look at our website to see what is the disruption we propose and who we are in the story!

Any help with copywriting the storytelling for your company? Give us a shout!