Year by year, more companies are embracing the power of narrative to connect with customers. Even in the age of Twitter and Facebook, when the most successful digital marketers are asked what’s the secret to their success, they always return to the word storytelling. It’s always the more effective and quickest way to hook someone’s interest.
That’s why we’ve discovered that so many business blogs are telling marketers and communications professionals to stop ignoring the “About Us” page on their websites. Once the ghetto of the tired company mission statement, the page is now the space where CEOs spin yarns, and capture the imaginations of their current and future customers.
Organic yogurt company Stonyfield Farm has filled their “About Us” section with stories about their history, mission, their unique yogurt-tub lids, their suppliers—the farmers, and their “CE-Yo,” Gary Hirshberg. Why does it matter if the company’s chief is a “windmill-maker” if you’re in the market for some yogurt? Because now you know the person you’re buying yogurt from. A good story made Hirshberg into a person, not just a name or a face. Though Stonyfield’s yogurt is sold in Walmarts and supermarkets around the world, their online messaging makes the company into a convincing family business.
Hirschberg’s wife, Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, is the author of the Stonyfield’s history online. “The full story” tells of electrical storms, an old wooden boiler and the hand-milking that were the foundation for a wildly successful American business.
Perhaps it’s because Hirschberg’s wife, Meg, is a freelance writer that this company understands that if you want someone to buy yo’ yogurt, a narrative is necessary.
