How to communicate your story when your business is changing

We often talk about the need to have a really clear message. Capture the value of what you do in simple language, and share that story consistently in the valuable content that you create. Build a brand and a reputation by getting known for the one thing you do really well. Be niche.

But what if you want to shift the focus of what you do? What if the one thing you’ve become known for is no longer lighting your fire? Maybe your priorities have changed, you’ve spotted a gap in the market, or just realised that you need a change of direction for your own peace of mind.

Life’s too short to run a business that doesn’t give you the space to do the work you really want to do.

So should you rip everything up and start again? Bolt the new offering onto your existing website and hope it looks seamless? Or talk yourself out of it altogether. Change is too difficult.

The challenge of changing your story

It’s a challenge I’m working on at the moment, helping a brilliant consultant change tack midstream. She’s got a fantastic reputation delivering one particular kind of service, but she’s spotted an opportunity to take the business in a different direction. The new direction is a heart felt mission, but she knows she can’t change overnight. She needs a way of continuing the work she does already, while attracting a new client base.

What should she do? And what should you do if you want to change your business and its narrative?

What should the sign above the door say if what you’re selling is going to change?

Live with the idea for a while

While the temptation is there to leap in and start shouting about the new thing, it’s wise to hold back for a while. Conversations behind the scene are good, sounding out potential new clients is sensible, but don’t go public until the groundwork is in place. Sometimes amazing ‘must do’ ideas burn brightly and fizzle out. Check that this one won’t go away. If the idea of not doing it is too much to bear, then you’ll find a way to make it work.

Are we in the same ballpark?

What might feel like a giant leap to you might not seem so huge to potential clients. For example a move from programme delivery to strategy could make sense in a client’s mind, especially if you find a way of continuing the service they’ve grown to rely on from you. That could mean expanding your business by taking on staff, or collaborating with others. But a switch that tries to add dog grooming to delivery, or sailing holidays to strategy won’t make sense. If the change is that drastic then you need a new shop and a new story.

What stays the same?

Look at the big picture of what you’d like to be delivering in the future. Start from the clients’ point of view. Are you going to be serving the same group of people or new ones? Are you going to be solving a different part of the same challenge? How do they feel about this issue compared to the one they already know you for?  Note down where the similarities lie. 

And look at what stays the same in your business. Will the values of the business change to incorporate this new direction? What are the threads that run through your existing offer and the new direction you’d like to take?  

Are there big linking themes that will help you make your new story feel like a natural extension of what people already know and love about you?

The nuggets you draw out of this exercise will determine the direction of your new story, and where you need to make changes. It might be that you need to rewrite your origin story as a priority- the how and why of you and your business. That would mean looking at your About Us page, and your Home Page. Or it could be that because the clients you’re serving and your values remain the same, you can tweak this story and make the bigger changes further downstream - e.g. adding a new service that sits alongside the work you do already.

Look at your audio logo

Having looked for the similarities between the old and the new business, can you create an audio logo which you’ll find easy to say? This is the formula to follow.

What do you do? I work with (this target market) …

Who (have this issue and challenge)…

I help them get (ultimate outcome)…

Stockcheck

What else needs to change? Strapline? Twitter biog? LinkedIn page? Blog categories? Newsletter strategy?

Once you’re clear on the new story you want to tell, you’ll need to methodically work through all the places that it appears and edit accordingly.

Be honest

Once you’ve got the new story clear in your head, and it has a presence on your website, start telling people. If there’s a personal back story to the change, and it’s relevant, share it with your newsletter community. If it’s going to mean you change the way you do things, explain why this is happening. Make a point of reinforcing what’s staying the same as well. Equip your network with the information they need to tell your new story.

Independent view

It’s easy to get lost if you’re trying to do this alone. An independent view is really handy when it comes to making strategic changes like this. Sometimes the change can seem bigger than it really is if you’re tackling it by yourself, and it takes an outsider to see the way this new story can fit with your existing brand, or take it an an exciting new direction. Find someone who asks good questions, who knows what you’re best at, and start to make the change happen.