How to Write a Company History

What Should Your Company History Include?

Although the details of your company history are unique to your business, there are four key elements every company history should include:

1. Why your company was started, including your values and company mission.
2. A brief profile of the founders.
3. Major turning points in your company’s life.
4. Amusing and inspirational events that occurred along the way.

How to Write a Company History

Follow these six steps to write a compelling company history that accurately and informatively describes your business.

1. Read other company histories.

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.

2. Dig for industry and company highlights.

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.

3. Elicit memories.

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.”

4. Create a timeline.

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.

5. Consult corporate history professionals.

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.

6. Picture it.

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.”

What are the Best Tips for Writing a Successful Company History?

Your company history can serve as a marketing tool. There are a few things to keep in mind when writing a company history.

• Focus on your significant achievements: Unless you plan to publish a book about your company, don’t let your story get bogged down with too much detail. You can still add interesting anecdotes from employees and customers to bring it to life while focusing on major milestones.
• Be honest about how your company got to where it is: Telling the truth about your company’s history can foster trust among your employees, customers and key stakeholders. When mentioning failed product launches or other less-than-flattering events, you can tie them to essential lessons you or the founders learned that contributed to later success. Dinneen, Whitaker and Turner all highlighted the importance of mentioning how you overcame significant business challenges.
  
  “[Your company history] needs to include both the smart decisions and the terrible ones, so the reader feels they’re getting the full story and not just an advertisement,” said Turner.
• Highlight your company culture: Your company history should give readers a sense of your company culture. Ask employees if they have a special fondness for certain company traditions. Look back at how you have celebrated your company’s birthdays and other special occasions.
• Tailor it to resonate with your target audience: Your company history should be a dynamic tool at your disposal, as it can be used for many different purposes. For example, Turner said company histories can be helpful backgrounders for publicity campaigns, gifts for employees or clients, lead magnets, part of proposal packages, and supplementary marketing materials. 

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.

• Post your company history on your website: Feature your company history – or at least an abridged version of it – prominently on your website. If you’re just starting out, make sure to register a domain name and build a website right away — this will be a powerful tool in building your brand and telling your company’s story.
• Keep organized records of your company history: Whether you or someone else is writing your company history, keep organized records of your history so you can update it everywhere it appears as your business grows. Document where you found each piece of information you expect to include in your history since you’ll need to refer back to these sources while writing.

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.

Examples of Company Histories

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

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.

Source: Starbucks

Adidas

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.

Source: Adidas

American Airlines

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.