7 Narrative Attributes To Highlight Your Business

As a business advisor, I always recommend that you make yourself and your business more memorable with a personal story that constituents and investors can connect with. We all hear too many sales pitches for the next exciting opportunity or breakthrough technology, and don’t remember them for long. The startup challenge is getting interest above your many competitors.

For example, when Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes, he related his pain from travel experiences to South American countries where he saw people suffering without shoes, supporting his business model of one pair donated for every pair sold. The result was early startup support, rapid business growth, and huge brand recognition with minimal cost.

In fact, a memorable story does not even have to relate to your business. Every investor will tell you that they remember and favor founders that tell a convincing story of overcoming great adversity or never giving up on their passion. In my experience with aspiring business owners, I have found that one or move of the following attributes will raise your story above the rest:

1. Highlight the problem your business is solving. Every business story needs to appeal to people with a real need rather than just highlighting a new technology or entertainment alternative. That need may be a more affordable tool, less risky solution, or the answer to a long-desired entertainment alternative. Skip the better usability and competitive angle.

2. Inspiration event or mindset transformation. Most people can relate to and will remember you for an unexpected or traumatic event that has impacted you greatly or changed your life or career focus and direction. The result will be a connection that could get you support, loyalty, or a second chance to overcome an obstacle you face.

3. Integrate a higher-level purpose or moral value. Everyone wants to make meaning and contribute to a better world, perhaps by helping the under-privileged or mitigating climate change. Your narrative needs to go beyond business and financial goals such as profit and shareholder value. Make the connection in story terms for your audience.

4. Make it come alive with location and time details. Events happen every day in every geography worldwide. Make yours more memorable and unique with actual specifics that paint a picture for everyone to understand why it had such an impact on you. Then expand the impact to relate it to a large segment of the opportunity or population.

5. Use real names rather than generic characterizations. As an investor or even as a customer, I see too many pitches that are really product descriptions or sales pitches with no real people involvement at all. These are not memorable, and don’t add the emotional appeal that might sway my decision to invest, support, or buy from the business.

6. Include quantified real examples in your stories. Your opinion or someone’s abstract testimonial doesn’t highlight the uniqueness of your business and is not memorable. Use snippets of real video and photographs of real events to show emotional as well event-specific impacts of your business. Avoid the use of non-specific marketing terms and text.

7. Close stories with lessons learned and recommended actions. This is where you personalize and name your competitive advantages over peers and existing players, and push to close the transaction, whether it be an investment in the business or purchase of a product. Every story or anecdote needs a beginning, middle, and end message.

None of these narration attributes are a substitute for business basics, including a business plan, financial projections, and basic operations. The purpose of a compelling story is to get the maximum initial attention and consideration. In these days of information overload and world-wide competition, it can make all the difference between success and failure of you and your business.