Why you need a story to sell your brand

I spent 10 years working as a Buyer for Tesco & Sainsbury's so have seen a lot of sales pitches.   In that time consistently the most compelling pitches I saw were the ones based on Stories.  Insight-driven stories which made me listen, and offered a new perspective of how my category could be grown. 

This article explains why, and how to start writing one... 

Growing the Category

As many UK supermarkets continue to simplify their ranges & reduce sku count, its becoming ever harder to get the listing you need.  As a small or scaling business, getting the meeting you need can be a skill in itself, but once you are there, what is it that will set you apart from all the other products the Buyer sees?
 
Put yourself in the Buyer’s shoes and you will soon see that they are pretty agnostic about brands, and what any individual SKU will sell – its all about the category.  Will your brand drive INCREMENTAL sales, rather than stealing from the competition, or attract some NEW Shoppers, and what proof do you have when you pitch?
 
Any Buyer listing a new brand is taking a leap of faith, and the thing that is going to set you apart from the many other hopefuls is not your brand, its not some whizz-bang technology and its not a load of charts and data.  Its your story.

Stories are more persuasive
Stories are consistently found to be more persuasive than more data-led approaches (Martin & Power 1982*) because they engage the listener in a different way.   
 
More memorable
Stories can be up to 7 times** more memorable than facts alone because they act as mnemonic devices for facts.  Mnemonics make something more memorable by organizing a group of different words or phrases into a meaningful structure – just think back to primary school and the rhymes you were taught to remember points on a compass or the colours of the rainbow to see how this works!

“Data are just summaries of thousands of stories – tell a few of those stories to help make the data meaningful.”
Chip & Dan Heath, from book Made to Stick

​Engaging Our Emotions
When listening to, for example, a list of statements, the audience evaluates each individual message, actively analysing each point they are hearing.  When our emotions are engaged, however, and we feel personally connected in some way to a compelling storyline, we often absorb it entirely, without pausing to challenge what we’re hearing.  Even though there may be no facts or data, we can still be deeply moved – and when we do have the facts, the story becomes even stronger.

What makes a good story

Structure
All stories need a start, a middle, and an end.   By setting the scene, showing you understand market conditions and consumer trends you are making your product relevant to the retailer and showing it addresses a shared opportunity.  Only then should you go onto the main part of the story and the solution you may be presenting.
 
Hooks
Start with the most interesting bit of the story.  For a retailer this is normally the size of prize, as every Buyer wants to know ‘whats in it for me?’ so make sure you make this as clear and credible as you can.

As well as this, though, think about using additional hooks which grab the attention - for example something which challenges the Buyer's existing viewpoint, or goes against a received wisdom or category norm.  This is where the real insight you are sharing starts to become the competitive advantage the Buyer is really looking for. 
 
Themes
5 themes which can work really well to engage the audience are …

1. Aspirations and Vision. More than any other topic, aspirations and vision are helpful because they enable the audience to connect emotionally to something much bigger than any individual product.  Innocent Drinks are ‘here to make it easy for people to do themselves some good’, whilst Dyson are ‘all about invention and improvement’.   A story built around these aspirations is much more interesting than the nutritional value of fruit juice or the science behind a vacuum cleaner.  Guy Kawasaki explains more in this video
2. Values and Mission.  Related to aspirations, a value can communicate provenance, character and a way of doing things that sets you apart from the pack.  They position your brand in clear territory of your own choosing which can be difficult for others to compete with.
3. Revelation.  Often personal, so for example when you realized something about yourself, or the category that you never noticed before.  It might start with an anecdote - but if you can then put some data around it to prove that, for example, other people feel the same pain, and you are confident that the Buyer has never seen it before then you could be really onto something.
4. An Avalanche is coming.  Here is the proof that things are starting to take-off.  For a smaller business this also helps to project scale – talk about the 6 million people with the problem your product fixes, not the 273 units you’ve sold to date.  It also builds on the point above - really new ideas are rare, but if you are the one who can exploit the opportunity the best, then more often than not you will win (and so the Buyer should back you).
5. David vs. Goliath.  We all like to root for the underdog and having a story about how a small business is taking on one of the big boys to better serve the consumer or disrupt the industry always appeals. 

Golden rules
Make it a real story - If your story does not include some sort of change or learning between the beginning and the end, it’s not a story.
 
Say something new - If your story does not share something new, different or unexpected about your brand, it’s going to be boring.
 
Keep it simple - “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Albert Einstein, Physicist
 
End on a high – finish on your best point.  The last thing in your story is what people will remember most!

Finally, deliver it with passion
If you want people to be excited, you need to excite them!  Present with passion, belief & humour and you will in turn inspire passion and action in your listener.  Make them believe in you and remember you are not just selling the product.  You are selling you, your vision, and a commitment to grow their category.​ 

---

About Optima Retail
We are category management experts who provide expert support to help you better understand the consumer and category in which you trade.  We have a proven track record of driving commercial performance by speaking the Retailer's language, and help you to identify new or unmet consumer & shopper needs, providing solutions which drive brand AND total category performance.

For a free informal chat about how we may be able to help you grow your business please contact us here.

Sources
* Martin J. & Power M.E. (1982). “Organizational stories: More vivid and persuasive than quantitative data.”
** Bower, G. H. and M. C. Clark (1969). “Narrative stories as mediators for serial learning.”
Made to Stick (2007) , by Chip & Dan Heath
​