Are you sitting comfortably?

We all love a good story.

For many of us, the old bedtime story routine is among our earliest memories. Those stories helped us feel relaxed, comfortable and secure or conjured up mystery, magic and adventure, fuelling our imagination and feeding our dreams.

As we grew up our stories turned into school essays, university dissertations and business reports. Hard facts took over from fiction, fun lost out to formal. It’s a tried and tested discipline; a communication means to an end.

Trouble is, when it then comes to writing about their business in company brochures, on websites and blogs or in other PR material, people too often adopt a stilted, formal approach that just doesn’t reflect their personality or their business’s.

Our advice is to lighten up, think of your target audience and to tell them your business stories in simple language. Tell them why they can feel secure working with you, and how you can help them achieve their business dreams and goals.

But be subtle!

Many have made good use of the business blog as a storytelling platform, but others have missed the mark. The business blog is all too often used solely by businesses to blow their own trumpet, to talk about their business and its successes.

The ones using their blogs most effectively are those that share relevant and original content that their partners, prospects and customers relate to and value: stuff they find interesting, informative and useful.

So give yourself a pat on the back if you can genuinely say yes to these questions:

Does your website give potential customers a reason to visit? And keep returning?

Are you effectively showcasing your expertise and knowledge to readers – without bashing them over the head?

Are you leveraging social media channels to tell your business stories?

We’re on a mission to  help businesses make better use of their blogs so please get in touch if you’d like to learn more.