BootCamp RESOURCE - Session 1 - Storytelling for Social Enterprises - Build a Brand Story

Sep 24, 2026

BootCamp RESOURCE-Session 1 focuses on storytelling for social enterprises, guiding teams to craft an engaging brand story grounded in mission, values, and impact. The session covers refining brand voice, look and feel, and developing an elevator pitch, alongside steps to explore the business model and clarify a “Why.” It also instructs participants to profile customers, research motivations, and apply findings to communication strategy, then create a content map and practice a pitch.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time1 min

AccessFree to download

Storytelling for Social Enterprises

Explore your model

Hone in on your “Why”

Profile your customers

Craft your brand voice

Create a content map

Practice your pitch

BootCamp RESOURCE-Session 1 STORYTELLING FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES How can you develop an engaging brand story around your mission, values and impact and craft ongoing storytelling around your organisation and the difference it makes? In this first session, we learn tips from Colin McMillan at Firstport and Lara Friedman at the Social Enterprise Academy on how to develop a distinct brand voice, look and feel, and an elevator pitch. Explore your model Honein on your‘Why’ Are you clear on what your social enterprise model is? Whether you’re just starting out or have run your organisation for a few years, it’s always a good idea to go back to basics and explore what your business model is as it might have changed and evolved over time. A good place to start is to ask yourself these questions: • Who are your customers? Who is likely to want your product or service and is ready to pay for it? What are key drivers of purchase for them? • Who are your social beneficiaries? Are they a recipient of a needs-based product or service, for example? How do you deliver impact for them and how do you fund this work in your balance sheet over the year? • Try to add all this information to a business model canvas. There are many versions of these available online, including ones that focus specifically on social enterprise. Download the ‘Social Business Model Canvas Tool’ from the Social Enterprise Institute. Developing a vision and mission statement can help you hone in on what your organisation is all about and what you’re trying to accomplish, as well as to communicate this clearly with your different target audiences. Here is a popular example to inspire you: • Oxfam’s organisation vision is “A world without poverty.” Your vision should be a concise impact statement that states your core ideals and purpose, what your overarching goal is. • Your mission is an actionable promise of how you will make your vision a reality. It’s the Who, the What and the Why. • Oxfam’s mission is: “Our purpose is to help create lasting solutions to the injustice of poverty. We are part of a global movement for change, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just and free from poverty.” • What about you? If you try writing a vision and mission statement for your organisation, what do they say? @Social_Enterprise_Scotland @SocEntScot @SocialEnterpriseScotland BootCamp RESOURCE-Session 1 Profile your customers Do you have a good idea of who your target audiences and customers are? Developing profiles that help you understand their motivations is key to knowing how, when and where to communicate with them. • Flesh out details about the people interested in your product or service? There might be different ‘customer segments’ you can identify. • Spend time researching and understanding them. You can brainstorm with your team or even set up focus groups by reaching out to them directly or sharing an online survey. • Find out their motivations: what are their interests and pain points, what are their behaviours, what is important to them? • Use these findings to develop a more strategic approach in the way you communicate with them. You can set up an internal document with a profile for each customer segment to keep note of what drives them and your tactics to engage with them better. Read the ‘Steps to defining a target market’ by Inspire2Enterprise Craft your brand voice Developing brand guidelines that help you express your personality in a way that communicates your values, fits your customer expectations and is compatible with your beneficiaries is key to creating content assets that work well across different channels. • If your social enterprise was a person, who would they likely be? Pick adjectives to describe your tone of voice and decide the Dos and Don’ts of how your organisation speaks and behaves. • Do you want to portray sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, rug

FAQs

How do you develop an engaging brand story for a social enterprise?

The session advises building a brand story around the organisation’s mission, values, and impact, and crafting ongoing storytelling that reflects the difference the organisation makes.

What steps help clarify a social enterprise’s model and purpose?

Participants are encouraged to review the business model, define customers and social beneficiaries, and use tools like a Social Business Model Canvas, then develop vision and mission statements to sharpen the organisation’s “Why.”

How should customer profiles and brand voice be used in communication?

The session recommends researching target audiences to understand motivations, behaviours, and pain points, then using these insights to communicate strategically. It also guides creating brand guidelines and choosing tone, vocabulary, and stories aligned with both customers and beneficiaries.

Sep 24, 2026

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