Stories taste good!

I heard someone say this recently and I liked it so much I bought the domain name!

Why such an appeal?

Well, I am a copywriter, marketer, and business storyteller.  Case studies, social media, online video are all a great way to market your business in a way that’s very accessible to your readers/viewers.

Tell me a story….

It’s part of the human experience. I remember when I was growing up, my dad used to tell these elaborate stories about me and my siblings in all different adventures. He’d give the characters a slightly different name from ours, one that rhymed with our names, and we’d say, “Oh, Dad, that’s me.” “No, no, he’d say, this girl is “Maren,” not “Karen.”  It’s a great memory of childhood and also illustrates the great marketing principle of “what’s in it for me?” My dad had my attention because he was talking about me, to me, and telling a story about me. And I was interested, attentive, engaged.

Which is what we want in the people with whom we’re forming business relationships—customers, prospects, clients, etc.

And I want this blog to center around food, and food “stuff” and food “business” and food “people” and most of what I have to share is stories that I’m finding on these topics.  Some I’ll write and some I’ll link to – let’s see how it goes!

So here’s my first story:

My father grew up in Honolulu and his family used to host regular neighborhood potlucks where people would come to play music, visit with neighbors, and eat!  One of the favorite recipes of these potlucks were my grandfather’s teriyaki ribs and it was the sauce that made it so special. This recipe was passed down to my father, who used it to impress his future-in-laws in West Virginia as he was courting my mom. Later, I wowed friends in California with my teriyaki ribs, one brother shared with all his river rafting friends in WV, and my youngest brother even bottled the sauce and gave it away as holiday gifts. That brother heard for years from people, “Hey, if you ever decide to bottle this stuff, I’ll be your first customer.” And finally he decided to do something about it – and Truly Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce was born. My brother entered into an agreement with Fresh Market, so the sauce is co-branded with Fresh Market’s TFT private label and selling in the Fresh Market chain – hooray! (We also sell it under our own label at select retail locations.)

And the sauce is wonderful, addicting, ono loa (Hawaiian for very delicious)! But one of the elements that got this product launched is our story.  We market the sauce as “an original Hawaiian family recipe passed down for over 100 years and counting! So our marketing encompasses this story. There are photographs on the website of my father and grandfather playing music at a neighborhood gathering, and one of me as a four-year old holding onto a sparerib for dear life!

Stories are a way to connect with people and I think many businesses are missing a huge opportunity to share stories with their customers and clients. Gee, maybe I can help…