Narrative writing for Business is more than just a profile crammed with geotags and keywords culminating in a call to action. A narrative should be used to promote an emotional response, to engage the reader, make them want to continue a relationship with the people who provide a product or a service.

A story, with a beginning, middle and an end. A character and a setting. A source of conflict with a climax and a resolution. The same things that make a good tale can be used to attract customers with a problem to solve, and providing the solution they want.

Easier said than done. How do you promote an emotional response for a car-wash or a cleaner? Where would you post the story to receive the most attention and be read?

The business website is a great spot for promotional narratives possibly with the hook of the first sentence out there as a Facebook ad then linked to the rest of the story to drag the reader in for the whole website.

There are internationally renowned examples used to promote big brands, Apple, Guinness, Weight Watchers and Dove among others.

Harry’s is a great corporate storytelling example. They sell shavers and shaving products and, as a relatively small company, have managed to compete with the brand giants like Gillette and Schick. Short vignettes; a man having more time to cook breakfast because he cut down on shaving time; a man spending a weekend alone at a lake house they have captured moments that make viewers connect and feel things. They keep their story simple – the picture of a simple guy with a rich life.

Here is my example of something simple – a car wash.

“Vicki’s parents were arriving from the UK in the morning, and she had prepared everything, lots of sights to see, her fiance and his parents to meet.

She walked out of work confident that her mother would have nothing to criticize about her apartment or her weight or her hair or her….car. As she approached her car she realised it was splattered with evidence of the birds that sat up in the tree. They were laughing at her now.

Vicki came to see us at Froggie’s Car Wash at Clear Island Waters, our valets took her keys and showed Vicki to our Cafe while her car was washed, waxed and vacuumed.

Come in and experience the convenience and thoroughness of a Froggie’s car wash today. Centrally located on Markari Street in Clear Island Waters. Relax with a coffee while your car is cleaned and ready to take you back on the road. Details of our services and a complete price list are available on our website.”

Or this could be a testimonial. Written from Vicki’s point of view.

Key Takeaways

So what can we learn from these awesome corporate storytelling examples? Here are some key takeaways when you’re coming up with stories for your brand:

• Develop content that has a human element
• Be sincere
• Ask yourself if you’d be genuinely interested in reading/watching it
• Know what connects your customers to you
• Stories have heroes and characters with unfulfilled desires
• Keep it simple, you should be able to describe a story in one line.

Once you find the human element of your brand, you can start to think about how your company or product can make people’s lives better and craft your story around that. If your customers connect with your story on an emotional level, they’ll want to be a part of it. And that is the whole point of content.