What does your business do? While this question sounds simple enough, it’s actually one of the toughest for leaders to answer.
Explaining your business requires you to boil down intricate details, often to someone who doesn’t know the ins and outs of your industry or role. Not to mention, a lot rides on it. After all, your answer determines whether a prospect will become a customer – and if so, how quickly they’ll move through the funnel.
So, how can leaders of startups and global brands alike best communicate their business?
That’s exactly what we get to the bottom of on this episode, thanks to powerful insights from our friend, collaborator, and Wayfinder Chief Guide, Wes Gay.
As a certified StoryBrand guide, Wes helps brands use the power of story to create a clear and compelling narrative for employees and customers. How? Using the seven elements of storytelling to create a “filter,” not unlike your favorite filmmakers.
Stories are what turn businesses into brands, and what draws people in to learn, engage, and, hopefully, buy. Ready to leverage storytelling elements to achieve the same for your business?
Get started with Wes’ top three lessons:
It’s not just pretty copy for a website. When you have a story around your brand, your team can more easily connect and unite around that common cause. Your customers will feel more engaged with you, and they’ll be better equipped to identify with your company. On top of this, sharing a language creates consistency, which is key to being unified. It’s also a key to being memorable, which is enormously important when your business is fighting an ocean of industry noise.
Finding the right language and messaging for your brand is tricky, so it’s not surprising that many leaders are intimidated by this stage. However, Wes offers some words of inspiration: “[It’s] almost never an instance of right or wrong; it’s like better or best.” As you dive into this step, remember to think through the lens of your customer – and don’t forget to establish both empathy and authority along the way.
Once you have the language down, it’s time to communicate your organization’s individual elements through this lens. This is where you’ll define the problem or need, dive into a plan, and break out next steps. A crucial step here is determining the call to action for prospects and customers.
When you’re trying to tell your audiences what to do, like how to interact with your brand, make it as easy as possible. List out the steps, and do as much for them as you can. It’s much easier to listen to Siri tell you how to get there than opening up a book, flipping to the page that you’re looking for, and figuring out the map from there.
It’s also important to share next steps along with what the individual will get out of this, like learning about your offerings or hearing how your business solves a specific problem.
Use simple, conversational language. Use the words you and your customers would use in an everyday conversation. Tap into the emotions, the root cause, of what your customers are feeling when they reach out to you for the answers. And make it about them, not you.
Copy length – and story depth – depends on various factors, including medium and circumstance. For example, introductory web copy will likely be more general and to the point than an email marketing campaign targeting existing customers.
In Wes’ words, “People are often standing on one side of a raging river and they see how your product or your service and your company can help them. And they see that as the other side of the raging river where the problem is, all they can really see is that raging river in the middle.”
As you incorporate storytelling into your business approach, consider leveraging proven resources – like a helping hand from BELAY.
With over 2,000 Virtual Assistants, Accounting Professionals, and Marketing Assistants, BELAY is here to help you grow your business, reclaim your bandwidth, and focus on your top skills. To learn about delegating accounting, marketing, and other tasks to BELAY, schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.