Too many companies write about what they’re good at and what they do.

Customers don’t care. They care about what you can do for them. Whenever you write anything, put yourself in your client’s shoes. What do they need to hear? What unique benefit do you offer?

For example, the two sentences below about a hotel’s reception service, say pretty much the same thing, but create a really different impression to the reader.

1) “We have excellent receptionists, providing personal service 24 hours a day”.

2) “Call us even at 2 am and we’ll be happy to fix it, no matter what”.

The first sentence is a description, a list of attributes. Creates no emotional connection.

The second is a story – you can imagine the scene, you’re in a strange hotel room at 2 am and you need something. You have an emotional connection to sentence 2, but not to 1. Do you even care about the receptionists? No. Frankly. You care if they can help you. You, the hotel guest, far away from home. Hotel staff are going to save you in sentence 2. There’s a promise…

These two short simple sentences make several points about the difference between Corporate Storytelling and boring copy.

• Talk about benefits from the clients point of view, rather than listing your attributes or experience. Clients don’t care if your arrow is made of titanium impregnated steel that can withstand 300lbs per square inch and took two years to develop. Customers care if it hits the mark.Your job is to tell them how it does.
• Write in scenes if you can. Create images your clients can imagine.
• Lead your potential client to a call to action. There isn’t one in sentence 1. There is in sentence 2. ‘Call us”.
• Every piece of communication you create to clients should have a goal. Even if it’s to educate them or make them laugh as a way of building brand loyalty – know why you are talking to your clients. And make it worth their while. Or they will switch off.
• Again. It’s about your clients. Not about you. What do they need to hear to buy into your brand, rather than what you want to brag about?.