How to Tell if Your Company’s Story is Good (or Bad).
Before we get to the dos and don’ts of corporate storytelling, let’s take a second to ask why it’s important for your business to have a strong story in the first place.
Your story isn’t just marketing fluff. It’s a fundamental driver of enterprise value.
Research shows companies that have strong, clear stories tend to attract more customers, have more engaged employees, and they generate better returns and achieve higher stock prices than their peers.
Also, in today’s modern economy, where generative AI is flooding channels with generic content, a powerful narrative has become perhaps the most important differentiator for companies of all sizes and types.
So, how do you know if you’ve got a powerful story that’s working, or one that’s weak and forgettable?
The first thing you need to understand is that you’re Yoda, not Luke. You’re Dumbledore, not Harry Potter.
The most common mistake I see companies make is positioning themselves as the hero of their story.
A good story is rooted entirely in the customer's world. It focuses on their aspirations, hopes and fears. The obstacles they’re trying to overcome. The problems they’re trying to solve. Right now.
Your story needs to connect to that.
It should also follow a simple structure.
Your story should:
Recognize the situation your customers are in.
Illustrate how that situation is untenable or fraught with challenges – because without tension, you don’t have a story.
And then provide a path forward; introduce the change you bring that will help them get to where they want to go or overcome the hurdles in their way.
Next bit of advice.
Your company story is not (usually) your biography.
I’ll explain the usually part in a second. But the point I want to make is that as fascinating as you think your origin story is – how your company started, why, where you’ve been, how you’ve grown into the company you are today. People aren’t likely going to be into it as much as you are. Unless your origin story and biography speaks directly to a customer’s current situation and concerns. Again, going back to point one – you’re not the hero of your story. If you’re going to draw on your past, you’d better do it in a way that matters in the present and into the future.
Sort of related to the previous advice, but still distinct.
Your story shouldn’t be linear.
Whenever I conduct message training sessions with corporate executives, and I ask them to tell me about the company, they generally start at some beginning point and arrive at some ending point. Their stories are almost always chronological. And a lot of stories are told in that fashion. But in a world that has the attention span of a goldfish, that simply won’t cut it. I would not recommend taking someone on a journey with your story. They may not have enough patience to endure the ride.
What I suggest instead is something I learned when I was a journalist.
To grab people’s attention. To get them to focus on the most important thing. Start with a bold headline. Then provide just a few key support points. Then get to the details.
There’s a reason every news story is structured this way. It works. It makes it easier for people to quickly get what you’re talking about and not have to wait around for you to lead them through a bunch of details before making your point. It’s better to make your point at the start. Don’t bury the lead. Then, when you fill in with the details, they’ll be more easily understood – because they’ll be within the context of the big idea you’ve already articulated.
Here’s another huge mistake I see companies make all the time. Their stories aren’t reflective of the experience people have with them.
The story itself might hit all the marks. It’s short. It’s persuasive. It’s rooted in the customer’s world. It’s evocative and interesting. But it’s not accurate to the experience people have with the company. You say you’re X, but when I deal with you, you’re more like Y.
I’d argue having a well told story that doesn’t match reality is worse than having a poorly told story – or no story at all. Because it sets up an expectation that you fail to meet. And no one likes that. Think about all the times in your life you’re told something is going to be a certain way, and then it turns out not to be that way? You get angry, right? So, before you wax philosophic about your story, make sure you can back it up.
Another critical mistake I see companies make is overcomplicating their stories.
Please, do yourself a favor. No – do you customers and anyone who you want to pay attention to your story a favor. Keep it simple. The best way to express big ideas is with simple, common words. Short sentences. No industry jargon. No superlatives. If your story has a bunch of adjectives – that’s a sign you’re headed in the wrong direction. If you’re beating your chest and it sounds like you’re bragging about yourself, stop. The most powerful stories in the world are simply elegant.
Okay, I’m going to contradict myself – not all the way, but a little.
Remember when I said your story should be rooted entirely in your customer’s world? That’s still true. But there’s a pitfall associated with that advice. A way you could misinterpret and misapply it.
If all you do is copy or try to glom onto some hot or popular cultural trend to try to make yourself relevant – or worse – in an attempt to go viral, you’re doomed.
You’ll come across as disingenuous. A fake. A poser. And that’s no way to earn trust. Could you attract a lot of eyeballs and attention? Sure. But if it’s not the right kind of attention, it does you no good. You can’t craft your story entirely by holding up a mirror to society.
Lastly, I’ll say this.
As important as it is to tell an effective story, what you say is not as important as what you do.
If you do great things day in and day out. If you create wonderful experiences every time someone encounters you. If you genuinely help people with the challenges they face, or accomplish something faster, or better, or less expensively, or with fewer headaches than they could have on their own. That story gets repeated among friends. Over and over. And there’s no better way to have your story told than if other people are telling it for you.
