In today’s world, customers want high-quality products available nearly 24/7 that serve a greater good. They also want to be the heroes of those brand stories – by buying the company’s products, they help solve issues and create a better world. How can companies satisfy the growing demand for quality products and content while juggling the challenges of running a business? Storytelling is proving to be the solution.

Why storytelling?

When we hear a story we relate to, our brain releases oxytocin (the happiness hormone) and it helps to build a connection through a positive experience. It results in building trust, likeability, and affinity to either a person or a situation.

“Humans are wired to value things as better when they are holistic, wholesome, and symmetric–we’ve been like this for ages. This is why stories that have a beginning, middle, and end – a structure that is familiar to our brains – are something we just can’t resist.”

Why not use storytelling in business to create this much-needed connection between you and the customer?

What happens when brands embrace storytelling?

Storytelling can help turn a brand into a legacy and a voice of change. It creates loyal and invested customers because they begin to root for the heroes of the stories, which can be anyone – from the founders to the receptionists to the interns.

As a result, it increases sales, generates profit, and creates a great place to work, because your people will be proud to tell those stories as well. This will help spread your message as new people become interested in the stories that your company has to tell.

The 5 types of stories for any business

1. Founder’s story

Your storytelling in business starts with you as it was your idea once, now existing in reality. The origin story often start with the pain or chance you noticed in your industry.

Take ​Benoît Plisson,​ co-founder of a vegan tech startup, for instance. He struggled with the food selection at his school’s canteen: « As a vegan, I wasn’t able to choose a meal that suited my dietary needs. We founded the company in order to bring vegan options to school canteens.«

As this next example from Pa'lais shows, the founder’s story is where it all starts – and the human aspect adds to the trustworthiness to the brand. Many business owners started their ventures from a personal pain point.

You may shy away from telling yours because “it’s the same story.” But it never is! What you perceive as a mundane tale can actually resonate big time with others. Maureen Murdock, a respected author in the storytelling world, teaches the importance of challenging the focus on exceptional figures: the heroes, the villains and the whole polarized narrative. “There is something divinely ordinary about our stories, my story and yours,” Murdock writes. So if they told you that being big and bold sells, believe that it might make headlines, but relatability sells every day, long-term.

Founder stories are also interesting for the media and can help your company get mentioned without having to advertise. The media outlet gets an interesting story and your company gets media exposure – it’s a win-win.

2. The company’s story

As you grew, you took on other people. Their ideas and a shared sense of direction got you where you are today – for many, a place they couldn't even imagine. And yet, here is just the beginning. Your company story communicates the growth of your company, your values, and the future.

On your About page, you can enlist:

• milestones that were meaningful for your company.

• how you are holding yourself accountable for your values.

• employee’s stories who represent your values and your mission.

3. The industry’s story

Now let us get invested in the change you making in the lives of your customers. What's your industry about, what are the challenges it is facing and why do you care? Why should more people care?

“I kept noticing the headaches my SME peers went through to get funding. They were either giving away large portions of their companies away to investors, or putting their own lives at risk via personal guarantees. We though – how about financing their growth now and they pay us later via growth fees,” one of my clients ​Martin Bodocky​ saw when founding Threshold Capital.

Another example is the German company Bedda: the founding couple launched their vegan cheese brand because they wanted to share their love of cheese with their non-vegan friends, yet they weren’t able to find authentic and high-quality products that tasted like real cheese.

Our philosophy: Make it bedda! Vegan cheese that tastes as delicious as the original – not possible? We thought so too! That’s why we founded bedda. Because we ourselves longed for plant-based cheese alternatives that completely convinced us. So we tried, experimented, discarded and started all over again. Until we could finally say with pride: Whew, done! With bedda, we have created a range of vegan alternatives that make us – and our non-vegan friends – really happy. And that, by the way, also makes the world a little better. But we’ll tell you about it another time. Do you fancy a new taste experience? You too can discover the delicious world of bedda vegan products!

Your industry story can be also tied to impact or a higher cause. For companies producing only vegan products, this is almost always the case.

4. The product’s story

Yes, people are interested in your product – just not the way you probably think. Instead of listing features and highlights, tell them:

• Why was it created?

• How did the idea come about?

• What’s the process of making your product?

• How is it different from your competitor’s products or processes?

• Why is it important to make the product the way you do?

• What are the ingredients and what are their sources and who are the people behind them?

  
  

All of the questions above will help you to put together a story that speaks to your audience like Lapp’s did in this visual. Having transparent answers to these questions is a very important part of building trust with your customers. Your audience is likely to be very educated and hungry for more information. The more quality information you share, the more likely they will come back for more!

You can also tell the stories of your sources and the people behind them. For example, the stories of farmers who produce key ingredients of your products or the companies that create eco-friendly packaging for your products – like Happea or Hands Off My Chocolate in these cases:

Through our partnership with Cocoa Horizons, women like Amoin Hélène can become more independent and financially free by growing their own crops. They are not only dependent on the cocoa harvest, but they have an income all year round.

Sustainable Tetra Pak. Our Happea packaging consists of 87% plant-based raw materials and can be recycled. Recycling contributes to a low-carbon circular economy and ensures that the raw materials in the packaging are not wasted after use.

5. The customer’s story

People don’t want to read marketing claims; they want to hear stories of real customers in which they can see themselves. Success stories, transformational stories, and testimonials are excellent ways to showcase the impact your product has had on people’s lives in an authentic way.

The thing is – your brand already tells stories whether you realize it or not. Do it consciously.

🚀 Let's have more good people like you tell their stories.

Grab a freebie to get into your story today!

Head to our free resources where we walk you through 4 questions that lead to your story.