Recognizing Your Story

 

     Starting a business?  Forming an organization?  It all starts with . . . “Once upon a time.”  For any business to take off it really needs to be associated with a story.  Sometimes the story is true.  Other times, if you are developing a product or service, the story can be fictional.  It really doesn’t matter.  People relate to stories. It goes back to your childhood and the storybooks that drew us in.  For whatever reason, the human brain can wrap itself around a story when just plain facts and figures don’t connect.  That’s the reason a customer can be emotionally drawn to purchase or take advantage of an opportunity if they can relate that purchase or opportunity to a story.

 

 

     Most of the major brand names in business today began with a real life story and real life people.  The success and growth of many of these names was built on the stories behind the names.  You may not realize it but there actually was a Chef Boyardee.  Ettore “Hector” Boiardi was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy. He opened his first restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1926.  The story goes on from there.  By contrast, there never was a real “Betty Crocker”.  The name, which is now an American baking icon was made up by the General Mills to put a “face” on their cake mix and in turn give homemakers a “person” to relate with.  In both cases, it worked.  

 

 

     My point is this.  In order to stand out in an every increasingly crowded marketplace, you have to attract attention and separate yourself from everyone else trying to be heard.  There is no better way to attract attention and ultimately loyalty than with a story.  Your story may be one of rags to riches or an idea sparked from an inspirational encounter.  The key is to find a way to build your business or product around a story.

 

 

     Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal, says science backs up the long-held belief that story is the most powerful means of communicating a message.  Gottschall expounds upon this in an issue of Fast Company magazine. 

     

 

     As a small start-up you may say to yourself, “I don’t have big marketing budgets and ad agencies to create massive campaigns.”  That may be true.  But you do have a story.  And the good news is, that story is unique to you.

 

      So, whats your story?  

 

      Feel free to comment below.