• By michelle
• In Content Marketing, Copywriting
• Posted Aug 18, 2015

3 Ways to Discover Your Business Story

Discovering your business story is a process that requires serious finesse and deep thinking. Before I reveal 3 ways to find your business story, let me share a brief story.

We have a client who works in Veterinary Medicine. In our meetings with her, she tells us about the look of relief on her clients’ faces when a pet overcame an illness. About the thank-you notes that pile up in her inbox after successful surgeries saved a dog or cat’s life.

It brings her incredible joy to empower people to give their pets a better life.

But her marketing copy failed to mention these emotional elements. Instead, the copy was all science and facts with no mention of the joyful tears or huge sighs of relief.

[Total side note: once we created a business story for this client, not only did her conversions increase, but she was also able to build a community of brand loyalists who are emotionally engaged.]

I share this story for one reason…

Your business story provides ideal clients a reason to do business with you.

Whether you want increased conversions, higher website engagement, or to establish brand loyalty, your business story is a determining factor in your big picture success.

As our copywriters craft SEO-friendly website content, blogs that engage, and direct sales emails, the focus remains on a story…

A story that…

• Captures attention and piques curiosity.

• Provides a reason for prospects to say yes and gives insight into the results a company creates.

• Shows that a business owner understands their prospects’ unique situations.

• Leverages expertise and outshines competitors.

To help you discover the ingredients of your business story, we’ll outline three strategies to find it and use it to your advantage.

Highlight the reason you started your business.

The WHY Factor. I’ve written and spoken about this subject many times, and for good reason. The WHY Factor is the emotional reason behind a purchase, which is categorized under 1 of 4 criteria.

• Fear—your customers buy from you to avoid a struggle.
• Love—your clients want to belong.
• Increase—your customers want more.
• Obligation—your clients have a sense of responsibility that your services help them fulfill.

The WHY Factor not only applies to your clients—it also applies to your business. I’m willing to bet that you didn’t start your business only to make oodles of cash…

Or started your entrepreneurial adventure to break free from a 9-to-5 existence.

While money and freedom are part of the equation, chances are you started your business because you have an unmatched skillset or offer a product that improves the lives of the people you serve.

If you’ve designed a logistics software, you give your clients peace of mind in knowing their drivers are safe.

If you run courses in building strong relationships, you help keep families together.

If you install solar panels, you cut down on carbon emissions and create a more stable world for the future.

It’s the WHY that engages customers on an emotional level. It’s what creates the connection. Keeps you going. Keeps them coming back.

As you work to discover the recipe that makes your business story, think about your ideal customer—how you help him, how you improve her life in a transformational way.

Consider the details of HOW this happens. Even if you’re in a logic-based technological industry, there’s something emotional that happens when your customers use your software or download your app.

Let’s say you developed software for workaholics or people who feel as if they put too much time into their projects.

Your program measures productivity rates and provides weekly insight into peak performance hours. There’s a feature in this imaginary software that allows the user to set a timer for projects and asks if he or she would like to continue or pack it in for the evening.

You’re not so much helping workaholics with work/life balance.

You’re not only helping entrepreneurs increase productivity.

It’s more than that.

Your software…

• Allows businesses to become more profitable through higher productivity.

• Enables busy people to spend more time with family and friends instead of watching the hours waste away in front of a computer screen.

• Prioritizes commitments so that users don’t waste time on unnecessary components.

• Improves lives, because customers came to you to solve a problem, and you didn’t let them down.

This is the WHY factor, and it’s an essential building block to create a successful business story.

Explain the demand for your products and/or services.

It’s not enough to explain what you offer. To create a more attractive business story, it’s important to describe why your clients need what you offer.

That means your business story focuses in part on your customer’s needs, dreams, and struggles. In creating customer-centric content, shift the spotlight from your biography and reasoning to your ideal client.

Here’s an example of content our team created that shows a business story where the business owner is not the sole focus:

Most people who contribute to an IRA or 401(k) are either forced to do so by an employer, or they’ve been convinced to invest by someone who earns a BIG commission on their investment… but doesn’t really care how it performs.

The problem with this is that when your money remains in Wall Street’s hands, you’re essentially spinning a roulette wheel… and there’s a big chance you won’t get lucky. That’s because Wall Street’s returns can go up…

And then take a nosedive based on the stock market, a company’s performance, or when a foreign economy like Greece suddenly goes up in flames.  Simply put, you don’t have any control over what happens to your money on Wall Street.

But there are options to use your 401(k) or IRA to get higher, safer, and more consistent returns on investments that are OUTSIDE of Wall Street.

In the example above, you’ll notice that the company or business owner is not mentioned—the audience is the star. Even though the focus remains on prospects, you gain a keen understanding of what the company offers.

And that’s an essential piece of your business story puzzle.

Make it personal. Real personal.  

Was your business born out of struggle?

Were you sick of watching people go through something they didn’t have to?

Do you have personal experience that created your entrepreneurial life?

Put those details into your business story, and you’ll show your audience sheer honesty and empathy. That’s something they need to hear before you get a YES.

Ready to take action to create your business story? This FREE guide shares 11 more tips!