How to Write Your Story On Your About Page In Shopify #14

“A brand is a story that is always being told.”

Scott Bedbury (Nike & Starbucks)

In most cases, whatever you are selling, is being sold somewhere else. So you have to think of a way to differentiate yourself from your competition.

As a small business, you have to distinguish yourself from other brands and your competition by personalizing your business.

Your customers need to feel that they know YOU!

Your story is one of the most important aspects of your store. I see so many people ignoring or creating really bad ‘About’ pages. Your ‘About’ page is a valuable asset, and often underutilized.

“People buy from people they know and trust.”

When you’re just starting your store, it may seem like there’s not a lot to say. But if you know what you do for your customers and why you do it then you have a great starting point. You can always add more as you gain new insight into new business accomplishments.

Here are some statistics for you to show you how important your story is in your store.

What is a personal brand story?

As an entrepreneur, your business, your products are an extension of yourself and a part of your life’s story.

Your personal brand story is your motivation, your roots, and your goals. Your customers will connect to you better if you have a personalized branding story.

Bottom line is, your customers will identify with you and your story and feel they know and trust you enough to buy from you.

You just need to find the parts that are worth telling and that starts with examining your life to unearth what you're really about.

Share parts of your experiences as they happened and those with any interest in your unfolding story will follow along too.

Why do you need to create a great story

Your ‘About Us’ page is part of your brand - your personal brand. Your story is part of the ‘About Us’ page of your store because it’s where users go when first trying to determine a level of trust. Since trust is such an important part of selling online, it’s a good idea to give people a fair amount of information about yourself and your shop.

People love stories…

Try to be very personal and write about your business, why you created it, and what your passions and motivations are - anything that your customers will identify with. Create a connection they can relate to your actions and lifestyle.

Here are some ideas to think about:

• Why you are doing this and what is your motivation.
• What your passions are e.g. reading, swimming, traveling - think about how your customers will identify with you.
• Personal information is important because your customers think they know you and why they will buy from you. Don't you like to buy from somebody you know? That is why selling on television is so successful especially if famous actors are involved.

Tell mini-stories!

• Who made the product?
• What inspired the creation of the product?
• How was the product tested?
• What obstacles did you overcome to develop the products?

We want to give our customers a nice warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you very well and taking part in your journey to bring your product to market.

You are going to write your story!

Some ideas for your content:

1. Mission Statement - TAGLINE
2. What Are Your Values and Goals
3. Outline Your Journey
4. What Was Your 'AHA' Moment
5. Describe Your Customer
6. What Are They Going To Get (Zappos)
7. Brag A LOT
8. Who Are You and Your Team
9. Community and Sustainability
10. CTA - Give your customer the next step without them having to leave the page. Link them to the main product (the one you started with) or the featured product that you are very proud of or the one that sells well!

Once you think about these next questions, you will have a great start to writing your story.

Why are you in business?

Why should somebody buy from you?

What makes your business different from anybody else?

What do you add extra that your competition might not?

What can YOU add that is different

Structure of your page

Step 1.

Creating a Tagline

Think USP - Unique Selling Proposition - a unique selling proposition (USP) is a statement about what makes you and your company different from other vendors.

Its primary value is to create competitive differentiation.

Create a USP!

Why do we need a slogan? Or a USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?

A single, clear, compelling message can turn an unaware visitor into an interesting prospect.

This message is going to be reflected all over your store, social media, and print. This can identify you and make you different from your competition.

This is what you need to think about when you are creating your USP.

Here are some examples:

For online retailers, a unique factor could be excellent customer service (i.e. Zappos), free or timely S&H (i.e. Amazon Prime), or product you can't find anywhere else (DODOcase). Of course, there are many more. Handmade in America, Organic, durable, etc.

Outline one possible solution for one problem

Don’t try to be everything to everybody!

What is your client’s biggest pain or frustration?

What is your solution to their problem?

Example:

‘I help [……………] achieve/do [………….….], so they can […………....] without [………….….]”

You don’t need to use the exact sample, but it is a ‘so that’ statement which is how are they going to feel for example.

Step 2.

Creating the body of your story

What problem caused you to respond to that need?

How did you find a solution (starting your business) and the struggles you had along the way.

Step 3.

Big Wins

Tell us your big wins and how your business is pursuing its mission.

You work very hard to get the pat on the back of what we have accomplished. You are allowed to brag a bit. Okay well more than a bit.

Shout it out there and add everything to your page.

If you are in or contributing to blogs, if you are mentioned in magazines, and all the other bits and pieces like accolades, associations, and groups you belong to.

Remember to add links to your associations, articles, or accomplishments.

Step 4.

Community

Add your community support. A lot of brands are doing this very successfully.

Some of your own examples may be:

• How you pass the savings on to the customer by cutting out the middleman that’s typical in your industry
• How you donate a certain percentage of profits to charity
• How your packaging is environmentally conscious
• How your business positively impacts your community

This is a great trust-building factor on your page. Consider how some other brands have been doing this.

Step 5.

What’s Next?

Add a CTA - Call To Action. What do you want your customer to do next?

Here are some ideas:

• Join our newsletter
• How to get started
• How to contribute
• How to ‘Like’ your Facebook page
• How to ‘Share’ your story
• How to buy the ‘Best Selling’ product

Make sure to add links to different areas of your store if you are discussing your products.

Visual Branding

Remember I mentioned the relating and identifying customer?

A photo or even better, a video of you would be an amazing addition to your page and is probably one of the most important things you can add to your page.

We are in the social visual age....it is all about images and videos!

Images and Video

The story is just the start. The About Us page shouldn’t just tell the story and that’s it. It should show it.

Add some great photos of you with family or friends or your team. Again, this is part of connecting visually with your customers.

If people do business with people and not brands, then what better way to show that there are real people behind your business than to put your team’s picture on your store’s About page? Even if you only highlight yourself and not your team, it’s a chance to build your own brand for making quality stores and serving your market.

Think of your environment - where you work and what it looks like?

Videos are excellent options.

Add some BTS (Behind The Scenes) images or videos.

People love to see where you create your products or for instance, where you are packaging your products to be sent out. I am sure you can come up with some great ideas.

Creating a video easily. Maybe add a bunch of photos together to make a great video. It does not have to be complicated.

What is next?

In the next article, we will improve your process - Apps in Shopify.