A well-written company history can entice prospective customers, investors and employees.
Written By: Skye Schooley Senior Lead Analyst & Expert on Business Operations Verified Check Verified Check Editor VerifiedA business.com editor verified this analysis to ensure it meets our standards for accuracy, expertise and integrity.
Managing Editor & Expert on Business Ownership Table Of Contents IconThe story of your company’s evolution may seem uninspiring to you, but it can play an important role in building trust and respect, especially among younger generations of employees and customers. Gen Z deeply cares about an organization’s background and impact. Every company has been shaped by moments of inspiration, perseverance, courage or luck. Your company history should feature the most compelling highlights of your entrepreneurial journey, along with significant achievements, such as patents and major wins.
You should include your history in your business plan and employee handbook and on your website’s “about us” page. Some companies write a book about their corporate story that is presented to employees and others on special occasions. The message
Tip Bottom line Whatever your company history, honesty is key. Check out the biggest business lies ever told.Although the details of your company history are unique to your business, there are four key elements every company history should include:
The details of your company history will help others understand why you started and what challenges you've overcome and serve as a road map for future accomplishments and success.
Follow these six steps to write a compelling company history that accurately and informatively describes your business.
Get inspired by how other companies have recounted their backgrounds. For example, Microsoft tells its multifaceted success story with a few articles recounting some of the company’s most noteworthy achievements over the last decade. Seeing how other companies share their histories will give you an idea of what you want yours to look and sound like.
Did you make a mark on your industry with a breakthrough product or a new twist on an old concept? Explain your company’s achievements in the context of your industry’s history.
“Emphasize the impact your company has had on its industry, community, or even globally. This can be through innovations, social responsibility initiatives, or customer success stories,” Lindsey Dinneen, a fractional CMO at On Pointe Business Consulting, told us. “Highlight major milestones such as product launches, expansions, rebranding efforts, mergers and acquisitions.”
These events and milestones help form a picture of how your organization got to where it is today. It gives customers, employees and other key stakeholders a sense of where you’ve been and where you might be headed. It can help build your brand’s image and market your organization to the right people.
Bring history to life by including anecdotes from employees and customers who were there when your company was just starting out. Ask these folks if you can interview them about their experiences. Effective storytelling is a great way to draw your audience to your organization and make them feel connected.
“People connect with stories, not just facts,” said Dinneen. “Frame your company history as a story with a beginning, middle and end (or present), focusing on the human elements that make your company unique.”
After gathering your historical facts, record each event on a timeline. This timeline should contain all the important details of your company’s history. Company history timelines are typically organized chronologically. However, when we spoke with Marcia Layton Turner, an award-winning business ghostwriter who has written multiple company histories, she provided another alternative.
“Many company histories are prepared in conjunction with a business anniversary, which is why it frequently makes the most sense to tell the organization’s story from start to finish in chronological sequence,” said Turner. “In some cases, however, it can be more interesting to start with a conflict or problem and then flashback to the beginning to explain how the business got to that juncture and survived.”
Consider your audience and purpose when determining which organizational layout makes the most sense for your business.
If you prefer, you can hire a professional to research and write your history. However, since your company history is a critical part of your organization’s image, you will likely still want to be involved in its creation in some capacity.
Use photos to illustrate your company’s history. Include old snapshots of the founders and snap photos of today’s employees while they work. While at it, take photos of historical documents and other corporate artifacts ― they also help tell your brand’s story. Digital images like infographics and logos can be valuable as well.
“Visuals are key to making your history engaging and memorable,” said Gemma Whitaker, marketing director at Whitakers Chocolates. “If you lack archived images, social media can be a fantastic resource. I’ve found that asking the public can lead to the discovery of unexpected gems.”
Your company history can serve as a marketing tool. There are a few things to keep in mind when writing a company history.
Since a company’s history can be used in many different ways, it’s important to tailor it to the audience that will receive it.
“For example, if your primary audience is potential clients, focus on how your company’s products or services have positively impacted clients’ lives,” said Dinneen.
Your company’s story doesn’t end when you have completed your corporate history project. Maintain a file of significant events so that as your company grows, you can update its story.
Bottom Line Bottom lineDon't give too much detail when writing company history. Focus on major achievements and interesting anecdotes from employees or customers and try to incorporate a sense of company culture.
If you are struggling to write your company history, there are several well-known organizations you can look to for company history examples. Each company overview is as unique as the business it describes.
Starbucks’ company history is both informative and easy to read. It includes a brief profile of the founders, the company background and mission statement and the foremost company turning points. It does all this while using descriptive and imaginative language. The casual and friendly tone of the company history matches the atmosphere it strives to bring to coffee lovers each day.
“Our story begins in 1971 along the cobblestone streets of Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market,” the company wrote on its website. “It was here where Starbucks opened its first store, offering fresh-roasted coffee beans, tea and spices from around the world for our customers to take home.”
Starbucks goes on to detail where its name came from, where it first expanded to and how its chairman and chief executive officer, Howard Schultz, was drawn to the company. Starbucks also includes its mission statement.
“With every cup, with every conversation, with every community – we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection.”
Scrolling down the page, you are presented with vivid coffee imagery, along with details about coffee as a craft, Starbucks partners, its company culture and sustainability measures.
Adidas takes a unique approach to its company history. The forward-thinking sports brand is all about power, speed and achievement. This mission is conveyed in its company profile. Instead of relying solely on the written word, the company intersperses its history with statistics and vivid imagery highlighting its purpose, mission and attitude. By highlighting this information with images that evoke emotion, readers get an immediate feel for the sport-centric company.
As your company grows, you should tailor your company history to match current marketing conventions. For example, American Airlines has been around for almost 100 years. It tailored its company history to a brief, one-paragraph overview, with an expandable interactive timeline covering seminal events in the company’s history.
Source: American Airlines
Additional reporting by Judy Artunian.
