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Storytelling without the schmaltz
Every brand is told to tell a story, and most produce a founder legend nobody believes. A usable story needs a problem, not a mission.
Key points
- A story without conflict is an announcement.
- The customer is the protagonist; the company is at best the helper.
- Specific detail is what makes a story credible, not emotion.
Brand storytelling has produced a genre: soft focus, a founder in a workshop, a phrase about passion. Nobody believes it, and it is not a story.
What makes a story
Three components, all required.
- Someone who wants something. A person with a specific goal.
- Something in the way. A genuine obstacle with a real chance of failure.
- A change. The situation at the end differs from the start.
Remove the obstacle and you have an advertisement. Most corporate stories fail at point two, because admitting difficulty feels risky.
A story in which nothing could have gone wrong is not a story. It is a press release with adjectives.
The customer is the protagonist
The most common structural error is casting the company as the hero. The customer then has no role except audience.
Reverse it. The customer wants to convert a loft. The obstacle is a supporting wall nobody expected. The company is the one who found the alternative. The customer stays the hero; the company becomes the reason they succeeded.
Detail is what makes it credible
Compare two versions.
- "We always find a solution for our customers, however difficult the challenge."
- "The beam turned out to be 40 millimetres too short. We reinforced it from underneath on the Saturday so the plasterers could start on the Monday."
The second is believed because it contains a number, a day and an inconvenience. Specificity is credibility.
Four story types that work commercially
| Type | Content | Use |
|---|---|---|
| The rescue | something went wrong, you fixed it | trades, services |
| The decision | why you do it this way and not the usual way | positioning |
| The origin | a real problem that started the business | brand, careers |
| The customer's change | before and after, in their words | sales |
The last is the strongest and the least used, because it requires asking a customer for twenty minutes of their time.
What to avoid
Words that signal schmaltz before the reader has read a sentence: journey, passion, dream, heart and soul, with love. They appear in every second brand film and carry no information.
Also avoid the story that ends in a moral. Let the reader draw the conclusion; stating it insults them.
Where stories belong
Not everywhere. A story works on the about page, in a customer case, in a recruitment advert, in a founder interview, and in longer video.
It does not work in a search advertisement, on a price list or in a technical specification. Those need facts, and a story there reads as evasion.
Frequently asked questions
What if the company has no interesting history?
Then tell a customer's. The best corporate stories are almost always about somebody else.
How long should it be?
Ninety seconds spoken, or 300 words written. Longer needs a reason.
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