storytelling – Harbor Capital Group Inc.

Why don’t more entrepreneurs use stories to explain their business? The reason maybe they don’t understand the important benefits of storytelling in business or how compelling stories are. But, defining, and crafting a story takes time, Another misconception is that stories are what the marketing department does. True.

But your story needs to start long before there is a marketing department. If it doesn’t, you could be trying to wordsmith your sales communications later for short-term tactical gains because you don’t have a competitive advantage. Why? Most companies have competitors, and everyone is selling the same product at the same price with the same service.

Here is what Ben Horowitz, venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz says: “The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing, No. The story is the strategy. If you make your story better, you make your strategy better.”

The story is the engine that drives successful companies. And with today’s technology, you can tell your story, many times for free, to individuals anywhere in the world. That makes stories more important than ever.

Benefits Of A Storytelling Strategy

Stories will help you build and grow your company and your brand. According to Kevin Smith, the world’s most valuable, innovative, and fastest-growing companies, regardless of age, industry, or size – know the story behind the brand. (Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc.) delivers success.

Or Simon Sinek, author of “Start With Why” put it another way, “Remember, people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it, And what you do simply proves what you believe.” Simon Sinek, author.

The following are some of the benefits you will get from a well-crafted story.

Stories help you develop and sell your idea.

Stories simplify big ideas in a way that sticks in one’s mind.
Data can persuade people, but data doesn’t inspire them to act.
Stories help you attract and keep talent and then improve efficiency by keeping everyone on the same page.
Stories help you transfer your beliefs to your audience.
Stories help you keep all employees on the same page and focused on the same mission.
Stories give your company a short- and long-term advantage over competitors.
Facts are essential, but sories connect and motivate people.
People remember stories but not many facts.

Stories help you build a brand.

Stories will build a foundation of trust, but a customers’ personal experience will cement that trust into something that lasts,
Buyers often look to the story to justify the purchase.
Stories can raise the value and, therefore, the price you can charge. If you can’t get a higher price for your brand, you need a better story.

Stories help you market your brand to potential customers.

Stories, when done right, can significantly boost lead generation by many times normal.
Stories grow your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to recognize your value
Stories shorten your sales cycle and increase sale ratio
stories build your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to understand your value
Stories Improve the quality of your sales forecast because they attract better-qualified prospects

If you are looking to take your startup to the next level, stories are a great way to accomplish that.

Also, see our blog,” Five Quick, Effective Ways To Tell Your Business Story.”

Jim Zitek/ Harbor Capital Group

We empower entrepreneurs with information, insights, and the conviction they need to find, develop, and embed their stories throughout the development process to build successful companies.

Some people find it hard to come up with an excellent way to get their story started. In the business world, you usually you would frame your story using the three steps of problem, solution, and results or outcomes.

Here is another quick way to get you started. Nick Morgan author, and coach tells people to use the story formats of famous and well-known stories as your framework, adapt the story to your business. Then explain your story within that framework,

You need to tell a story if you want to get someone’s attention and hold their attention until you get to your Call To Action (or as Jerry Weissman would say, to get them from point A to Point B).

You can do that with stories because stories work the way your mind works, Memory depends on attaching emotion to facts, Too many people try to use lists (3 of these, 6 of those) which do get people’s attention. Still, people have a difficult time remembering those lists. Stories do a much better job.

But if you are having a hard time creating a story, use one of the traditional story frames that have proved themselves over the years, Here are five frames you can use.

Quest is the most fundamental frame. In this scenario, the hero goes off to achieve a positive goal, but runs into a problem(s), generally finds a mentor, and then throughout the story reaches the goal.

The Stranger in a Strange Land is a much different story, The hero finds himself in a strange place where he is unsure of what to do (e.g., maybe a research task without any defined criteria), what the rules are, or even the path forward. But he runs into a mentor and finds a solution to something he didn’t know he was looking for in the beginning.

Rags To Riches is the classic story of stating out with nothing, and through hard work and some luck, you end up with fame and fortune.

Revenge is simply about a wrong done to the hero who, through no fault of his own, loses everything/. Then he prepares a plan and sets out to get revenge for the wrong done to him.

Love stories are about both love found and love lost. For example, a new great partnership or a partnership that is being dissolved,

The main point here is that you can use the frame of a classic, well-known story to help you create your own story without having to create a new structure. Also, these are frames that people know and understand from the beginning, which makes your job and their ability to follow your story more manageable.

Do you have a situation in which one of these frames would make sense as a starting point to create your unique business story?

You might also like 15 Benefits Of Storytelling In Businesses

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Jim Zitek, Harbor Capital Group

The strategy, development, and marketing

of successful startups begin with their story

Tag: storytelling

15 Benefits Of Storytelling In Businesses

Five Quick, Effective Ways To Tell Your Business Story?