Develop your process story

Share ‘how we do it’ with this four-step process

Want to write make a brand story out of your process, like St-Germain and Kelt?

Here are four ways to do it:

Develop your process story — **Attention to detail** It’s more than a process, it’s a craft. Tell your customers what makes your brand unique. *Image by ridvan_celik*

1. ‘How we make it’ can be a compelling narrative.

Study the process your organization uses to create your products and services. Go to the scene to observe, if possible. There’s nothing like being there for nailing a process narrative.

Find out how your process differs from the industry norm. Is it rare? Unique? If so, you’ll want to make that point in your story.

We can safely say that no men, bohemien or otherwise, will be wandering the hillsides of Poland this spring gathering wild potatoes for your vodka, write the good people at St-Germain.

2. Find the romance.

If your process is better expressed in a flow chart than a narrative, this technique is not for you. (Your readers don’t want to see that sausage being made.) But if your process involves human beings doing something interesting or unusual, a surprising or hard-to-find ingredient or an approach that hearkens back to your industry’s start, you might have a story there.

3. Romance the copy.

Take another look at the St-Germain and Kelt stories. Notice how everything from word choice (“umbels of starry white flowers”) to repetition and rhythm (“The rolling of the sea, the temperature variations, frequent air pressure changes and the sea air itself”) contribute to the romance of the stories. Your story might require a different voice from these, but it shouldn’t sound like the rest of your marketing copy.

Tip: You might start your story with one person (“un bohemian”), then expand it to the group (“40 or 50 men”).

4. Make the process story part of your brand.

If you have a great “how we make it” story, don’t just explain it once on your website or brochure. Put it on your box or hang tag as well.

How can you engage your readers?
As ad giant David Ogilvy famously said, “Nobody ever sold anybody anything by boring them to death.”

Most organizations seem to have missed that memo.
If so, bring Ann in to present Master the Art of Storytelling — a business-storytelling workshop — to your team.
There, they’ll leave with creative techniques for writing stories that grab attention, communicate more clearly, make your message more memorable and move readers to act.
Book in-house workshop.