ZURBlog
ZURBplayground
ZURBword
ZURBnews
ZURBexpo
What's Your Story?
We've written before about the importance of having a mission statement. It's a dreadful, mistake-filled process that leads to a jumbled mess of corporate speak. So, instead of thinking about your mission, start thinking about your story. What's yours?
Think of a recent conversation you remember well. Why was it so great? Chances are, it's because it struck you on an emotional level. There's a lesson here for companies. Like people, companies need to appeal to emotion, not just from a "big brand" perspective, but from their day-to-day service to customers. Stop and think: what resonates with your customer? Why do they love what you do for them?
Answering this kind of question isn't about "positioning" yourself in a marketplace, it's about connecting with people on a personal level. It's about being memorable in your everyday actions and words. Companies that speak from the heart will connect with the right people. Do this and you'll give them a story to remember.
4 comments
Jonathan (ZURB) says
I think a recent incident was with Apple when a member of their board passed away. I remember for the entire day they overrode their homepage with a message about him and a full page image. I remember thinking "what other Fortune 100, tech industry leader would take over their entire homepage for a tribute? They probably lost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for it."
While I'm not quite zealot enough to think Apple does no wrong, in that moment they had a really compelling, emotional story to tell.
Matt (ZURB) says
The story only has value if you follow through. Nothing impresses me more then a company where everyone can clearly articulate what the company does, and uses this to drive decisions.
If your website says "Organize your life into a cardboard box" but in fact your app is just an overly complex tag cloud I'm not going to be that excited.
Find your story and stick to it. Regardless how much money you dump into marketing and branding your not going to fool anybody for long.
Cielo says
Sometimes the personality of a website is subtle yet effective, with a "story" that doesn't need to be stated. Take an example like http://www.steves-digicams.com . Anyone researching cameras has surely seen his review pictures of a certain waving M&M man, and perfectly blue days in a pleasant and small American town. These subtle images sit alongside hundreds of carefully documented reviews, and despite the plain compendiums of camera specs, enough "story" comes across that we can imagine a little about "Steve," his hometown, and maybe even his family. Is he dedicated and knowledgeable about cameras? Certainly. Do we trust his opinion? Definitely.
It is this personification that can both help or hinder websites and their underlying goals. So story, yes, in some shape or form. Content and "life" that shines through the medium? Most definitely.
Dmitry (ZURB) says
Dropping the formality and speaking to customers like you would to your wife or a buddy builds unbelievable loyalty to the brand. The personal connection goes such a long way that it's hard to put it in words. Delight one customer and gain 100 more customers. We went from 200K to 5M users in a few years at Crossloop, a large part of this growth was due to personal connection with every customer.
Most of customer service out there is not memorable and irritating to most users. When was the last time you had a good customer service experience? It's so rare to email support@x.com and get a down to earth helpful response back right away. It's usually nothing or a canned response that you get back. Companies simply suck at this. Personal connection is a crucial part of turning your customers into evangelists of your product.
ZURB Photostream
The ZURBlog is where we discuss product design, business and strategy. We use design thinking to challenge businesses and designers to improve the products and services they create.
ZURB is a close-knit team of product designers who help companies design better web sites, services, and online products. We've worked with more than 150 start-ups since 1998.
Hmm, not a big talker? Email us to getstarted@zurb.com.
Get our monthly newsletter, ZURBnews.
Check out the latest news and buzz »