Writing the story of your business can be one of the most challenging areas for many start-ups. Why should someone choose you over another product or service and how do you tell that story? You know why your business is fantastic, but getting that passion across in a succinct, clear way that engages your customer can be where a lot of companies fail.
Finding out who your customer is and telling them the story at the heart of your company is a powerful way to create a connection and build loyalty. Zara Flynn, managing director of Guns or Knives, a creative agency and sister company of Rothco agency, works with established companies and start-ups in Ireland and internationally. She says crafting your business story starts with what makes you unique and your “why.”
“Something we always try to find out when we talk to a new business is what’s their ‘why’, why have they set up a business. Why can’t the world do without them?” she says.
“The magic is usually in the why and that’s what you want to tell in your brand story. The magic has got a motivating factor for people to want to consume or be interested in what that brand might be.”
Breda Fox, head of enterprise at Galway’s Local Enterprise Office, says start-ups such as food companies can have particularly good business stories but even if you are making circuit boards, you still have a story that can resonate.
“It’s not as romantic talking about something like circuit boards, but you can always frame a nice story around that,” she says.
“A lot of [the more technical companies] might have got an idea from a particular ‘eureka’ moment when they solved a problem, that might weave into a good story. People do business with people and it’s making that human connection.”
Digital presence
For most start-ups the cost of building websites and investing in marketing can be last on the list of priorities but it should be factored into your balance sheet. Fox advises companies to let their story breathe a little before getting caught up with expensive websites and designing logos.
“We advise companies to do it as quickly and as effectively and cheaply as you can. Don’t go spending thousands straight away because it’s only on customer engagement as time goes by that you know if you’ve got your story and branding right and that it is engaging people. When you refine your story and become comfortable with it, then spend your few quid,” she says.
Having a digital presence is key, however. If you’re not connecting with or targeting your customer effectively, there is no point, says Flynn.
“It’s great to have a digital presence but if you’re saying feck all you’re going to have an opposite effect and annoy people. Maybe you don’t need to have a website right now, maybe Instagram is perfect for now. Pick one maybe and do that really, really well; then branch into another rather than spreading yourself too thin,” she says.
One of the key mistakes a start-up can make is writing an essay they did for their Junior Cert for their website. Fox says to strip it back, take ego out of it and always focus on your customer.
“Start-ups are very passionate about what they are doing and get too lost in the detail and forget about the customer point of view. So always go back to that, simplify it and try to make it easier for them to do business,” she says.
Mischievous touches
Chef and restaurateur Stephen McAllister co-owns the Pig’s Ear restaurant in Dublin with his wife Andrea Hussey which opened in 2008. He and Hussey recently opened his new “start-up” Mr Fox restaurant on Parnell Square with chef and co-owner Anthony Smith.
“We’ve got a fine dining background but wanted to do something a little more casual when we opened the Pig’s Ear, somewhere you would be proud of bringing friends and family from abroad over as an Irish restaurant. ‘Cook the food, put it on the plate and then serve it was our ethos’ and still is and we carried that through,” he says.
McAllister and Hussey were clear on the design, look and feel of the restaurant from the beginning which was like their ethos, stripped back with mischievous touches, and just letting the food shine.
“The name pokes a bit of fun at ourselves not to make a pig’s ear of something or a mess of it. With our upstairs location on Nassau Street we have no shop front, so we painted the door pink like a pig, and you can’t miss it,” he says.
“For me, branding needs to be very straightforward, very simple and very recognisable.”
McAllister says there are similarities in new venture Mr Fox. The ethos is very much the same but the restaurant also has its own identity.
“We were apprehensive of having Mr Fox as a sister restaurant, so it has its own identity but has our ethos about food and strong, simple branding. We are still winging it every day, learning all the time. But with any business that you invest your heart in, stick with it if you really believe in it,” he says.
Past successes
Breda Fox says that as you evolve your business story, you shouldn’t be afraid to tell people that customers think you are great.
“Start using testimonials and past successes in your communications because the best proof anybody can have that they are doing a good job is having a little case study there which can be a comfort to a new customer,” she says.
The key to your business story is to never stop thinking about your customer as they will define your brand, says Flynn.
“You need to know you have an audience, so you need to know about yourself, who you are after and what’s going to translate to them, so colours and brand logos, they will come, that’s not what the big focus should be on,” she says.
“Go deep down into the roots of why you started the business and how you are going to tell that story. I think that’s probably the most powerful thing any start-up can do.”