Finding your story

It might be that you already have your amazing story ready.  Are you the ex-butcher who had a revelation and set up a meat-free kitchen and now campaigns for veganism?  What a story.  Did you once weigh over 18 stones but now you’re a successful vegan fitness instructor?  Amazing!  Did you buy an abandoned workshop with your life savings and convert it into a vegan real ale brewery yourself by hand?  I want to read about that!  Did you launch your vegan sweet company because you thought you could make great vegan sweets?  Oh… erm, sorry, but I’ve got a story about a guy who’s grown a huge marrow that I need to publish instead.

Do you understand what I mean?  Exposure and publicity is what will make your business live or die, and if you haven’t got a story that’s going to get people interested and excited, then you’ve not got a business.  When you are pitching a story to a journalist, more often than not you will be pitching the story of yourself (or your founder), not your brand.  What is your personal journey and what obstacles did you have to overcome?  How did you get from where you were to where you are today?  Write down bullet points from your history and the reasons you started your company.  Where is the story in all that?  And if you really haven’t got a story, then make one!  Run the 200 miles from York to Bristol to deliver your company’s first (or one hundredth) order by hand, or launch your business with a world record attempt or an overwhelming act of compassion.  Is your story about what your business is going to support or the lives it is going to change?  Spend real time on this.  Find a story that goes hand in hand with the reasons you set up the business and that people will want to read about.