Telling the unique story behind your business can be vital to success, Thomas Mahon blogs, as “good stories spread like wild-fire.”
For centuries, even before verbal and written language, stories were passed from generation to generation. Our species has been tuned to listen, store, enhance and deliver stories with passion and emotion. We all know a good story teller! In turn, audiences that hear a compelling story will share it with their own friends. And so, as they say, stories spread like wild-fire.
I bet your wife can tell you where she got almost every piece of jewellery she wears…? And I bet you’ve got a good story about how bought your favourite watch or car or whatever it is you’re passionate about? In fact, I’ll bet $10 that if you’ve had any really fun, exciting or rewarding shopping experiences recently you’ve told a few people about it. I’ll put another $50 on the fact that if you’ve had any terrible shopping experiences recently you’ve told a handful of people about that too… And this goes for both personal (B2C) and professional (B2B) shopping experiences.
Stories make the world go around. They give us interesting context for a bunch of otherwise dull facts. And by nature, we LOVE to tell them, hear them and receive them. One of the tips we often give small businesses who need help with marketing is to tell their stories… Because almost every small business has an interesting story to tell!
Shopping online at Christmas (as we all did) I came across an eBay seller that sold genuine artefacts from Argentina and Mexico. After a snoop on the businesses website and a big around the facebook page, I discovered that the owner of this little business travels a few times a year, finds amazing artworks, furniture, decorations, candles, mirrors and tin-pressed wall hangings, and fills a container of the stuff to bring home. Along the way she takes a thousand photographs of the beautiful places she travels and the incredible people she meets.
Amor Y Locura is doing what few small businesses do well… They are relaying the stories behind their brand and their products through many of their customer touch points. On the website, on the facebook page and in the store the bigger ‘brand’ picture comes together to form a real shopping ‘experience’. So much so, that I needed to know more of the story. So much so, that I closed my laptop and got in the car to drive across town to see this store for myself and meet the owner.
When I was buying Christmas presents at Amor Y Locura I wasn’t just buying skull shaped candles and hand woven jewellery, I was buying the story of where it came from, who made it, and how difficult it was to transport home in one piece. I was now buying a skull shaped candle that was cast from a real skull by an Italian designer (creepy I know!) and hand woven jewellery crafted by the colourful characters of Mexico. Needless to say I bought a lot more than I originally intended.
If you’ve got a story (or stories) to tell, be sure to tell them when and where you can! We know that good stories spread like wild-fire and who doesn’t want their story told over and again to potential customers?
