SplendidStories-Templates

Making The Connection:

Connect with your consumers and clients by telling them about your company — why you’re good at what you do, and why they should care.

Storytelling is the lifeblood of the human experience, and people have always craved tales that touch their spirits, warm their hearts, engage their minds and inspire their actions.

In the world of commerce, it’s the folks who get their stories out there — sharing their messages and telling their tales in a way that’s savvy and smart and well-said — who achieve the greatest success.  Our SplendidStories program is designed to help you create personal connections with your consumers & constituents and help your organization master the “3Ws” and wooing audiences, wowing crowds and winning “friends.”

Here are some “conversation starters” that we use to help  clients decide which types of story templates will work best for their communication needs.

** AT THE HEART OF IT  —  One unique lesson, interest or event that inspired a company founder to begin the specific field of study that led to this career or the founding of the company.

** GETTING IT  —  The angle puts a positive spin on a “pet peeve” company owners or managers might have about common mistakes their customers make. Rather than chiding your client base about the foolish moves that wind up putting money in your pocket (when you’re called in for repair work,  set yourself up as an expert in your industry and offer “free advice” that helps  guide your customers in the right direction. (Sharing some crucial wisdoms with your customer base builds trust and assures people that you’re the company to do business with when they’re upgrading, enhancing, adding on or otherwise buying more professional services in your field.
(View some published GettingIt examples HERE.)

**  SIX SECRETS  ––   Let readers tap into your expertise by sharing six simple  suggestions for success and no-no’s to avoid in your field (examples: landscape lighting, remodeling, indoor plant care, catering an event). This is a particularly effective feature-writing tool for establishing your reputation as a wise advisor in your industry whom they should turn to and trust for information and high-quality services.

** WARM & FUZZIES  —  A storytelling angle that celebrates an individual’s dedication or an organization’s mission with the presentation/documentation of the “warm & fuzzy moments” that make all the hard word  worthwhile. This type of story might offer specific vignettes of success or feature quotes from happy customers who credit your company with the coaching, services and care that produced a memorable and pleasing I’d-never-work-with-anyone-else outcome.

** GIVING BACK  —  Offering an insightful profile of the charitable giving and “pet programs” that exist in many corporate settings, a GIVING BACK story digs deeper to reveal the motivations and generosity of  company founders, managers and employees, and outline how, when and why specific philanthropic efforts have grown and flourished. This is particularly effective “human interest” offering that develops loyalty and emphasizes the “human quality” of an organization. It combats the “nameless, faceless” factor that often steals business away from larger competitors, and is a comfortable way for companies with established  corporate giving programs to blow their own horns.”

** FAMILY DYNAMICS  —  Fun for family-run businesses or even firms with long-standing junior partners who have moved up in the ranks, this type of feature explores the nuances of the character traits and compatible relationships that explain why certain companies run like a well-oiled machine. It might be a personal look at how a company owner’s gregarious son and detail-minded niece became, respectively, director of sales and chief financial officer; some essential lessons about food service and managing people that a restaurant owner learned when he started as a busboy in his grandfather’s diner; or the way a long-standing mentoring relationship between a CEO and his heir apparent affected the corporate culture overall.

**  TEAMWORK TELLS ALL  —  Similar to the Giving Back concept, this concept takes a magnifying glass to the sometimes playful and sometimes serious internal competitions that go on between departments  when companies urge their employees to participate in philanthropic cause like the MS Walk, United Way Fund.  Other events like annual derby races or employee pie-eating contests at company picnics — commonly relegated to bullet-pint announcements in company newsletters — also give a heartwarming glimpse at the inner workings of an organization and are terrific topics for sharing with your public on a corporate website.

** BRAGGING RIGHTS  —  Sometimes boasting about awards or honors received by employees or companies makes for dull reading unless the reporter explains why the tribute is noteworthy and peels the onion to reveal some of those essential layers that were part of the impressive effort, or highlights earlier, unheralded accomplishments that made the final pompous-sounding title possible.  A Bragging Rights feature helps showcase the hard work and proud endeavors behind a company’s titles and awards sans the appearance of arrogance or bluster that often comes with simply announcements.

** YOUR TURN  —  Product innovations, employee profiles, skill trainings and company news presented in internal publications and press releases often have the makings of more extensive  features, if only someone were to apply a reporter’s eye to the material and develop the core information as an online human interest feature.  In addition, almost all companies have a range of success stories and tales of achievement in their lore that no one has ever put to paper.  SpendidlySaid can help record these essential “nuggets of history” in a user-friendly format to be shared with your customers and prospects “in the comfort of home” on your web pages.

For more about our SplendidStories program, click HERE.
To view our editor’s choice for the  SplendidStory of the season, click HERE.

And, to check out some SplendidStories examples, click HERE.