The strength of a great story
As a small business, at Roddis Communications, we know how easy it can be to get caught up in the day-to-day workings of your company and lose sight of that big picture “WHY”. Whether it’s why your customers keep coming back to you, or why you come into work every day – it usually comes back to three main questions: how you got started, why you started and what you’ve done for your customers, employees and community.
We spend a lot of time with clients talking about the messages they are trying to send their clients or markets. Since we were re-telling and refining our own story internally, we thought it would be a great example to show our clients about how some basic questions can help define your business in the eyes of your clients, and hopefully help them understand just why they like to deal with you. While our story isn’t particularly amazing, some of the reasons we come to work, and the very reasons the company started are some of the key reasons clients have told us they like to work with us.
Where We Started
Our story starts out like many probably do, an entrepreneurial opportunity that came from a series of unplanned events. After working in large multi-national corporations for a number of years, our founder David Roddis took the entrepreneurial leap that many of you have taken and went out on his own. This move was a result of a buyout of the company he was working with at the time and a realization that this opportunity could allow him to do two very important things:
- stay in Nova Scotia with friends, family and the communities he loved
- to work with a wide variety of clients on an individual basis rather than for a single corporation or multi-national entity.
What started out as short-term contracts, and individual projects for local companies paved the way for what is now Roddis Communications Inc. And while we’ve grown from those early days some things have never changed: we still love meeting new people, we still get excited about new projects and solving new challenges, and you’ll always get our best and most honest advice, regardless of the impact on our business.
Why we love coming to work every morning
The short version is: We love what we do.
The longer version is:
Over the last eight years we’ve truly enjoyed the personal connections we’ve made with our clients. The work we’ve been able to create and businesses we’ve been able to help – day in, day out – that’s what motivates us.
And while marketing and strategy is our bread and butter, over time, we’ve developed the ability to look at client companies and organizations with a holistic perspective. From sales and marketing to structure and operations, we love asking questions that get to the root of the issue and help clients overcome any business challenge.
So why are stories important?
At the end of the day, people don’t just buy products or services from you, they buy your story, they buy the way dealing with your company makes them feel, or buy the experience you provide when they deal with you. At least some of their purchase behavior is driven by what your brand or company stands for, your values and how they manifest themselves in your interactions. There’s almost always someone out there that provides the same, or a similar, service or product. The story you tell through your brand and each interaction with customers is what separates you from the pack. How can you summarize your story in a way that will help clients understand who you are, what you do and why you do it?
Our story is summed up in a few quick sections: where and how Roddis Communications got started, our relationship with our clients, the service we provide and the values we use to dictate our decisions. We believe a combination of these things have shaped the way we work, and are factors for the clients who choose to work with us, many of them for years and years.
If you’re looking to map out your company’s story, take the time to think about where you started and ask yourself these questions:
- “How and why do we create a good and mutually beneficial environment for our employees?”
- “How are we helping people succeed?”
- “What impact are we having in our region?”
- “What are we known, and loved for?”
Going through this process can help you refocus, remind you about where you started and act as a guide for the company as you move forward in your quest to communicate your unique message and values.
If you need a partner to help flesh out your story, or you are having a business challenge, we’d love to chat to see if we can help – the coffee is always on at Roddis Communications.