How we crafted imocha's strategic narrative
Includes a framework you can use to do the same for your startup
When I joined Interview Mocha, one of the first things I needed to get right was the strategic narrative, or more simply, the story.
Our marketing would be built around that narrative, and therefore it was critical.
Both Amit Mishra and Sujit Karpe, the founders and my bosses, had articulated their idea of the story to me clearly a long time before I joined. I knew it, understood it.
Now I only had to put it down on the website.
Easy, right?
Well, no.
The best startup stories and narratives have arcs and villains and troubles and epiphanies. I have heard and read the stories of Instagram, WhatsApp, Slack, and indeed of Facebook itself.
If our story had to be comparable, we had to make it epic. Or we at least had to give it the foundation it needed to become, at some point, epic enough.
Which meant that I needed something akin to the hero’s journey, almost, but for Interview Mocha. And it had to go with the rebrand too.
So off I went to the master of the strategic narrative, Andy Raskin. I read all of his blogs again and listened to all of his podcasts. Though I distilled and used stuff from all of his public output, 80% of what I needed to do this came from two essays of his.
In both these essays on creating a great story (I’ll link to both later), he uses a five point framework that is perfect to start with:
Name a big, relevant change in the world.
Show there will be winners and losers.
Tease the promised land.
Introducing features as magic gifts.
Present evidence that you can make the story come true.
Did I know what all of these were for imocha? No. But my founders knew, my CEO knew.
Remember, as marketers, you are only keepers of the faith. The faith belongs to the founders. Which is why Andy Raskin also talks about how the narrative is always the founder’s job, never marketing’s.
So I sat down with them, brought out their narrative of the why and the how, and constructed the imocha story around this.
This is an actual screengrab from my Notes:
Please note how I have tied each point in the framework to something uniquely imocha and the domain we are playing in.
For us, the big change was that digital transformation is accelerating and the skill economy is changing. Those who adapt well can succeed, and because imocha has a clear view of hard and soft skills, our modules like English Pro, AI powered live interviews, and remote hiring will be exactly what you need. And you can trust us because companies like Altran, Fujitsu, and Hexaware have trusted us to do this for them.
Compelling value, yes?
The result of all the above work was the imocha About Us page, which I’m very proud of.
I have told the origin story of imocha, I have showcased my bosses, and I have also told the strategic narrative in a way that’s memorable. Check out the Our Vision part of the page for our very subtle telling of our strategic narrative and our purpose.
Please feel free to use the framework for yourself, it’s very clear and to-the-point.
As for us, because we have got this right, our content and social strategies are now pretty clear.
All that’s left for us is to execute.
Bonus reading
Two essays of Andy Raskin that you just have to read, and which I reference above: