How to Tell Your Business Story: Best Storytelling Tips

Storytelling has become such a buzzword that the simplicity of it has disappeared. But we all know how to tell stories. We do it all the time. Every day. When you are having dinner with your love, you are telling stories about your day. When you put your kids to bed, you tell them good night stories.

But, how do you actually tell a great business story? If you work with marketing or sales, you know that you have to turn your products or services into great stories. The old 'our product is the best' marketing does not work anymore. You need to catch people's emotions.

Storytelling in Business Presentations

How do you turn your products and services into good stories? Start thinking about what your real purpose in this world is. How does your business affect peoples' lives? What do people feel when they use your products or services?

Example from practice:

LuggageHero, for example, went through this exercise when developing its marketing strategy. At first glance the company might say it is in the luggage storage industry. That's just the surface.

It is really in the 'make the most out of your travel experience and enjoy every second of it' industry.

Its stories are about the feeling of being free from luggage when travelling. The feeling of exploring a city like a local and not like a tourist.

Storytelling in a Sales Pitch

What do we usually do in sales pitches? We talk about our company, products and services in the most beautiful possible way. Does this make us memorable? Probably not.

The most important thing in a sales pitch is to show the prospective client what value they will gain. Demonstrate it with a client success story.

Tell them about a client from the same industry, the situation they were in before they met you and how they are doing today. Tell them a real case story if you want their attention.

Storytelling in an Investor Pitch

You stand in front of investors to pitch your new idea that solves an existing problem. The best way to get their attention? Tell them how you came up with the idea.

Most startups come up with their ideas from real life situations. For example, the idea for Uber came up on a snowy Paris evening in 2008 when the founders had trouble hailing a cab.

If you have a good idea, people will relate to the moment you came up with it, which makes it a great story.

Storytelling in Internal Communications

How many new employees have been to meetings where a senior manager tells their personal story in an awkward way to motivate you?

How can you motivate new employees with a story? Tell them a story that gives their work purpose, so they feel they are doing something valuable.

Example from practice:

A previous employer was very honest about their history. They told us they almost went bankrupt two years before I joined. Now we were 100+ people and the economy was flourishing. This honest story made the company human and inspired me.

Conclusion

There you have it! A couple of examples to get you started on finding your business story. Keep it real, stay true to your mission and start storytelling!

Final advice? Use visuals to tell your stories. This definitely gets the brain running.