It surprises us how few companies have an authoritative history published online. Even companies that are 10 years old have a history, albeit a short one.

There is one main reason why you want to publish a history of your company online. It’s because consumers want companies with experience. Period. There is a difference between IBM and a guy who starts up a computer consulting company. The guy who starts the company might have worked at IBM, but he does not have the history of IBM. If price is not a factor, nine times out of 10 the consumer will go with the company with the history, not the upstart.

History is particularly important when you are selling a destination. Travelers want to visit a place with some history. At right, an image from the Virginia Tourism Commission’s famous “Virginia Is For Lovers” ad campaign. Every ten years, they celebrate again the birth of the campaign, and talk about how it came to be. It’s an example of a brand using history to sell itself, and then the history of the history becomes history, and news yet again.

And if you have any history about your company, there are two ways to write it. You can allow others to write it, or you can write it yourself. We advocate the latter.

Writing your company history is the best way to:

1. Help solidify claims to your brands as well as differentiate your trademarks and intellectual property.
2. Create a public record of company ownership and creative authorship.
3. Dominate the discussion of your brand in social media, crowding out other ideas from Google’s top six search posts.
4. Promote your brand and company to anyone around the world.
5. Use assets like archival photographs for promotions and trade shows.
6. Clarify facts about your history and company. If you have problems in your company’s past, they are most likely on the internet. You want to give these events YOUR spin.
7. Raise the morale of current and retired employees. Employees are proud to work for companies that have a legacy.
8. Attract new employees by showing the continuity of the brand.
9. Give customers a sense of pride in your company.
10. Help current employees understand the past so they can better deal with the future.
11. Get your company files into a museum or archive for posterity.
12. Position your company by rebuilding the best and most workable parts of your company’s past.

A history document isn’t just a page on the internet with key facts about our company. It’s photos, archives and oral history. It’s documents. It can even be a micro-site companion to your main website. Start by keeping a file of clippings, photos and ideas. And then start writing.

Contact Editor Garland Pollard for ideas on getting your company history online. Or call him at 703-745-8602.