Here’s a hard truth: Your customers don’t care about your company story.
They don’t care when you were founded, what your mission statement says. What they do care about are the stories already playing in their heads when they encounter your brand.
When we talk about storytelling, we’re not just talking about blog posts or campaign scripts that sound like a story. We mean the internal narrative that the customer already holds, the one they bring with them when they engage with your product, service, or brand.
Sometimes that story is emotional. Sometimes it’s dry and fact-based. But either way, it’s a narrative, and it’s powerful.
But here’s the issue: most companies are telling the wrong stories.
Not wrong as in factually inaccurate, wrong in the sense that they’re irrelevant, uninteresting, or disconnected from what the customer actually cares about. That’s because many businesses misunderstand the types of stories they can tell, and more importantly, should be telling.
What’s more interesting is that across all marketing, big or small, there are only a handful of business storytelling types that actually move the needle. Let’s break them down.
1. The Story of a Fundamental Shift
“The world is changing, and we’re leading the charge”
This is the story of transformation, how everything is about to be different, and your company is the catalyst.
When it works: You’re building something that could genuinely reshapes how millions of people live or work.
Think SpaceX, not just building rockets, but revolutionizing space travel. Or Tesla, not just selling electric cars, but driving the future of sustainable energy.
These stories are big. They work when your business is trying to reshape the future on a massive scale, billions of users, global adoption, seismic change. If your vision is bold and your innovation is paradigm-shifting, this is the story to tell.
But most businesses aren’t in that category. And trying to tell this kind of story when your product is incremental or your market is niche? It just won’t land. You’ll sound inflated at best, delusional at worst.
Examples that nail it:
- SpaceX: Not just “we build rockets” but “we’re making life multiplanetary.”
- Tesla: Not just “electric cars” but “accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
- Stripe: Not just “payment processing” but “increasing the GDP of the internet”
These aren’t just product launches, they’re declarations of a new era.
2. The Story of the Category Revolution
“Everyone else is doing this wrong, here’s how it should be done”
This story isn’t about changing the world; This is the story of what should be happening in your industry, and how existing players have gotten it wrong.
Remember when Apple took on Microsoft? Their story wasn’t just about Apple. It was about what computing should feel like; elegant, human, empowering, and how everyone else had missed the mark. Another example is how Land Rover contrasts itself against “normal” cars, claiming the rugged, adventurous category space.
Telling a category story is about reshaping the expectations of a product or service. It says, “Here’s the new standard.” It’s especially powerful for startups going after incumbents, or when launching a truly differentiated product.
This kind of story is ideal when you’re playing for dominance in a sector, aiming for scale, and trying to reframe the market conversation.
Examples that nail it:
- Mac vs. PC: “Computing should be elegant, human, and empowering”,not about Apple being better, but about what computing should feel like
- Land Rover: Not “we make good cars” but “adventure requires vehicles built differently than everyone else’s”
- Slack: Not “we’re better than email” but “workplace communication deserves better than what we’ve settled for.”
Notice the pattern? They’re redefining the standards of an entire category, not just promoting their features.
Best for: Startups disrupting incumbents or established companies launching truly differentiated products.
3. The Story of the Customer
“This is the story of them, not you”
The most underutilized story type,and often the most powerful. Instead of talking about your product, you talk about your people.
It’s not about your product or your features,it’s about the people you serve. Shopify does this masterfully. Instead of telling their own story, they tell the stories of small business owners who use their platform to bring dreams to life. Volvo, similarly, builds around the values and needs of their safety-conscious customers.
These stories work best when your brand is seeking emotional resonance with a well-defined group. If you serve a niche, or you’re looking to build community and loyalty, telling customer stories is where the magic is.
This approach doesn’t scale to billions. But it doesn’t need to. If you’re aiming for thousands or hundreds of thousands of deeply engaged customers, this is your go-to narrative.
Examples that nail it:
- Shopify: Their marketing rarely mentions platform features. Instead, it showcases entrepreneurs who’ve built empires using their tools
- Volvo: Every ad centers on families who choose safety, the cars are just the means to that end.
- Patagonia: Stories about adventurers and environmental activists, with gear as the supporting character.
These brands become part of their customers’ identity stories.
Best for: Niche markets, community-driven brands, and businesses prioritizing loyalty over scale.
The Secret Fourth Story: How We Work
“Here’s exactly what happens when you choose us”
While the three above are core, there’s a fourth type that often gets overlooked,especially by smaller service-based businesses: the story of how you deliver your value.
This isn’t lofty. It’s not about changing the world. It’s concrete. It’s: “Here’s what it looks like when you hire us. Here’s what happens next. Here’s how we’re different in the way we operate.”
Whether you’re a cleaning service, a creative agency, or a boutique law firm,this kind of story builds trust. It makes the invisible visible. And for businesses with longer sales cycles or where customer trust is paramount, this type of story isn’t just useful, it’s essential.
When it works: Service businesses, consultancies, or any company with a complex buying process.
Examples:
- A marketing agency explaining their 90-day client onboarding process
- A law firm walking through how they handle each case type
- A cleaning service detailing their room-by-room checklist
Why it works: It makes the invisible visible. People can picture working with you, which is half the battle in service sales.
Why Most Get It Wrong
Here’s the part that stings a little: most companies default to telling their own brand story.
They write about how they were founded, their mission statement, their quirky office dog named Pixel. But guess what? No one cares, unless the origin story is uniquely compelling or mythical (think Jameson’s storytelling ads).
People care about themselves. About the world around them. About change, aspiration, identity.
So unless you’ve got a brand story that could win an Oscar, steer clear of making your company the hero. Instead, choose the right narrative based on your audience size, your goals, and your delivery.
Because when you tell the right story, people don’t just listen,they believe, act, and advocate.
Choosing Your Story: A Framework
Here’s how to pick the right narrative for your business:
Ask yourself:
- Scale ambition: Are you aiming for millions of customers or thousands of deeply engaged ones?
- Market position: Are you the disruptor or the incumbent?
- Differentiation level: Is your advantage incremental or transformational?
If you’re aiming for global scale with transformational innovation → Fundamental Shift
If you’re disrupting an established category → Category Revolution
If you’re building community and loyalty → Customer Journey
If you’re a service business building trust → How We Work
The Bottom Line
The most successful companies aren’t better storytellers, they’re better listeners. They hear the stories their customers are already telling themselves and become part of those narratives.
Stop trying to make your company the hero. Start telling the right story, and watch what happens to your conversion rates.
Which story type fits your business? The answer might surprise you,and it definitely matters more than you think.
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