Developing a narrative is a strategic and compelling way to tell your business story, explain your business’s background and communicate your future vision. In this blog post, we talk you through developing your business narrative and communicating it to your audience, breaking the process down step-by-step so you can get to work creating yours. Remember that stories are what sticks with an audience, so telling your story well is worth spending some time working on.

How to develop your business narrative: step-by-step

1. Brainstorm and ask yourself some key questions

To start forging a clear narrative, brainstorm and write some questions about your business such as how you started it, why, what you specifically aim to deliver for customers and who your target market is. Then (without cringing), treat this step like you’re interviewing yourself. We recommend recording your answers on your phone or using a dictaphone. Being able to replay this back will help you decide what sounds effective for inclusion, and which parts are irrelevant to your narrative. It’s also a good idea to write down any specific words that you want to be associated with your business and to have these on hand when it comes to piecing together your narrative.

2. Focus on what makes your business unique

It’s important to consider what your business offers that sets you apart from competitors. This will form a key part of your narrative and should be what will resonate most with your customers - so don’t rush this stage. Think about what your competitors do, or rather don’t do and how you differentiate your business from theirs. For example, do you offer a personal service while they appear corporate and lacking in personality, or is the product your business sells a higher quality than its rival products? If so, these are the types of things you need to shout about in your business narrative.

3. Put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)
​
The next stage is to pull your notes together and start writing (or hire a copywriter to help you nail your narrative). If you decide to go it alone, highlight all the best results of your brainstorming session, interview with yourself and notable words that you would like to use to represent your business and see what you come up with. Remember that the first draft is there to build upon and these things take time to perfect. Once you’re happy with it, run it past a few people who are familiar with your business to sound it out for a second opinion.

4. Share your story internally

Making sure that everyone who works for your business, understands your business is the next logical step. Getting your people on board with your company narrative is half the battle. Remember that word of mouth is still an inherently powerful marketing tool and if you have an interesting narrative, your employees will naturally want to share it with their network. It’s also a good idea to use visuals to help bring your narrative to life – people absorb visuals much easier than the written word.

5. Communicate your business narrative externally on your key marketing channels

Now it’s time to communicate your business narrative to your external audience and create interest in your company. Making sure your story is connected across your key marketing channels is important here, so it sticks in people’s minds. Hopefully, you’ll have already identified your main marketing channels by this point and will know exactly what type of posts encourage external engagement and resonate with your audience. Create a plan for sharing your narrative externally and make sure you follow it closely.

Remember that your business narrative is ongoing and should grow and develop as your business does. Importantly though, it’s what makes you stand out from competitors and engages your audience.

LIT Communication offers copywriting, SEO, graphic design, social media services, PR consultancy, PR and marketing services in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and beyond. So, get in touch with us to help nail your business narrative and communications.

hello@litcommunication.com / 07792734259

Public Relations (PR) campaigns are an excellent way to build new audiences, strengthen trust with your existing customers or clients and increase your brand presence – both on and offline. PR with a focus on sustainability and giving back to the environment is an even better way to get in the good books with the public and raise your profile.

In our latest blog post, we explore some creative PR campaigns that tick all the eco-friendly boxes and open up important discussions about the environment.

Lacoste: Save Our Species

The Lacoste x Save Our Species range was cleverly designed to help the IUCN Save Our Species programme’s work towards protecting endangered wildlife. The simple but effective idea saw the clothing brand replace the classic crocodile logo on its polo tops with a selection of endangered species. The number of polos made to represent each species corresponds to how many of the animals are left in the wild – from the Hawaiian monk seal to the Iberian lynx.
​
The three-year partnership sees all profits going towards IUCN’s work to conserve wildlife. What’s more? The brand has a whole page with details of the campaign and facts about each endangered species on its website.

Corona’s Plastic Wave

An advertising and PR campaign all rolled into one, Corona got people talking about their brand (and the environment) with their hard-hitting 3D ‘plastic wave sculpture’, set against the backdrop of a traditional billboard. The wave was crafted from 10,000 pieces of individual plastic waste, collected by The Marine Conservation Society.
​
To give the installation an interactive edge, members of the public were encouraged to drop off their plastic waste at the site of the advert in the run-up to World Ocean Day. The advert itself showed actor Chris Hemsworth surfing on the wave of plastic.

Lush and Humane Society International’s animal testing on humans

Back in 2012, Lush and Humane Society International elevated awareness of animal cruelty and testing with a shocking live campaign in the window of their London Regent Street store. A young artist was subjected to the same treatment as animals when they go through cosmetic product testing – restrained for ten hours, force-fed, given injections, parts of her head shaven and covered in different lotions.
​
The aim was for members of the public to sign a petition against animal testing. Not surprisingly, it worked and helped to raise awareness of both companies and their values simultaneously.

Surfrider Foundation – what goes in the ocean goes in you

To help promote their ‘rise above plastics’ campaign, the Surfrider Foundation created a powerful visual advert to let us all know that “what goes in the ocean, goes in you”. According to studies, fish off the West Coast ingest over 12,000 tons of plastic each year. The photograph of sushi littered with plastic serves as a stark reminder to help reduce our plastic use and protect the world’s oceans.
​
The ad encourages eco-conscious audiences to head to their Rise Above Plastics program web page and read up on how individuals can help eliminate the impact of plastics in the marine environment.

Adidas and their ocean plastic trainers

Adidas tuned into their sustainable side with this campaign, with the sports clothing and footwear manufacturer upcycling plastic rubbish from coastal communities and remote beaches into fashionable trainers. The kicks are made from 75% upcycled plastic and produced using a low-energy, low-water printing process. It’s reported that between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to figures published in the Journal of Science in 2015, so what better way to utilise some of the waste than reuse it?
​
This campaign is certainly a hit with Adidas fans around the world, who purchased more than one million of the trainers in 2017 alone.

​Get in touch with West Yorkshire PR agency LIT Communication using our contact page to discuss how we can help your brand think more consciously as part of your next PR, social media, content or SEO campaign.

We have a penchant (and a wealth of experience) for automotive PR and communications, so it’s only right that we take a look at some standout motoring PR campaigns – both recent and historic - in our latest LIT Communication blog post.

Renault

Renault masterminded the creation of pollution-activated car billboards that dropped the price of their electric vehicles (EV) to coincide with rising smog levels. The DisCO2unt billboard was placed in Bucharest – the capital of Romania and one of the most polluted capitals in Europe.
​
What better incentive to switch to EV than seeing hard-hitting live pollution levels in the city you choose to call your home? The clever PR campaign also confronted the affordability aspect of EV’s, with many Romanians claiming that the eco-friendly vehicles were simply too expensive.

La Caja
​
Stepping outside of the UK for this smart publicity example, Argentinian insurance company La Caja decided to take road safety into their own hands with a clever campaign to light up the city’s most dangerous roads. The forward-thinking company used strategically positioned lighting and advertising billboards to illuminate Argentina’s most accident-prone roads (instead of the billboards themselves), with help from the National Road Safety Organisation.

Jaguar Land Rover

Automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover went all political on us recently to mark International Women in Engineering Day (only 11% of the world’s engineers are female). The brand released a public relations campaign to directly address the lack of female engineers and gender bias in the motoring industry.
​
The video content was designed to demonstrate the effect of exposing young children to inspirational female engineers, resulting in a moving video that addresses the root of the problem, highlighting why engineering isn’t just a ‘job for boys’. 

Lamborghini

An old but gold PR example comes from Lamborghini, who donated two of their coveted  Huracan LP 610-4 supercars to the Italian state police some years ago now (not neglecting to train the feds on how to drive it). The specially-designed vehicles were custom painted blue with the words “Polizia”, white stripes and lettering – ensuring they fit right in with the existing fleet and Italian police uniforms.
​
The gesture of goodwill from Lamborghini’s CEO generated global PR coverage, achieved coverage in multiple national news websites such as CNBC and a wealth of automotive news websites, including Daily Auto News and Motor1.

​In 2017, Bugatti replicated the stunt with the French police force – designing them a sleek and equally impressive new Bugatti Chiron Gendarmerie Nationale to serve as a rapid intervention vehicle.

If you’re looking for a PR agency in Huddersfield, get in touch today to see how we can help shape the perception of your brand and make sure your business is at the forefront of your audience minds.
​
Contact our Founder Sophie at hello@litcommunication.com or give us a call on 07792734259 to see how our Yorkshire PR services can help you and your brand.