Why Storytelling Could Make Your Business

Last night, my boyfriend and I went to a beer farm. There was a live band, a good crowd, and El Pollo Submarine, a food truck owned and operated by some of our close friends.

We came with every intent of supporting our friends' business by unmercifully stuffing our faces. In order to accomplish this, we obviously had to order one of everything on the menu. Sorry that I'm not sorry.

We figured it'd take a bit longer to cook our food since we ordered so much, so we went inside for a beer while we waited.

We were sitting at the bar when our bartender came over and asked if we needed anything, and how we had heard about the beer farm.

We explained to him that our friends owned the food truck that was outside, and we wanted to support their new business as well as try out the new brewery.

"They're newlyweds and they both have wanted to get into the food industry for a while. We always joke that this food truck is their 'honeymoon.'"

This really caught the bartender's attention. He started asking us more in-depth questions. The interesting thing is that his questions were not about the food they offered, but about them. He was asking things like 'do they work well together?' and 'how do they spend every second of the day together and not want to kill each other?!' (I had no answer for this last question).

After about 3 minutes of telling him our friends' story, this guy was sold. He took a 10-minute break to go order a cheesy pupusa from the truck.

That's when it dawned on me: this guy had not even seen the food before he was sold on the idea of supporting their business. He hadn't even seen the menu! Yet he knew he wanted to eat there.

He was sold by their story. He loved the fact that they were recently married and committed to owning and operating a business together. He wanted to support a local family business.

This sparked a thought in my marketing-wired brain: people love personal stories. With so much clutter in the advertising world today, people yearn to connect to vendors on a personal level. Once they feel that connection, they are much more inclined to buy. (Not to mention El Pollo Submarine has the best Salvadorian food I've ever had, so that also helps their marketability, but is beside the point!)

Humans are emotionally wired. No matter how amazing your product is, if they don't like you, they probably won't support your business.

Figure out what makes your local business unique by putting a personal touch on it. Tell a story through your brand. People remember stories, and are more likely to re-tell them. Just like I am right now. (I bet you want a pupusa).

Also, check out this workshop in Glendale to help enhance your storytelling skills.

Until next time,

Hannah