What’s a story strategy and why is it valuable?

By Jonathon Dutton

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations” – Orson Welles

 As much as I love to get in there and start creating – a story strategy can really keep you on point and save you time and mental energy. Importantly, a good story strategy can inform and clarify the purpose of the story you’re telling, as well as drive creativity.

For writers and producers, a story strategy asks you to think about WHY you want to tell the story you’re telling; what’s the point of it, and how do you want to affect audiences before you begin plotting what actually happens.

For communications professionals, a story strategy can help you think in terms of creating a world, characters, conflict and resolution, as opposed to just communicating a set of insights or objectives that you want your audience to understand.

For business owners and leaders, it helps you to think about how to position your organisation in the world of story. For example, who is your protagonist? What is the conflict they need to overcome? How does your organisation (and your products and services) help the protagonist overcome their obstacles? In case you’re wondering, and despite popular fiction, your organisation shouldn’t be the protagonist – your audience should be.

To develop a solid and defendable story strategy, you have to start with research. Who is your audience? Where will they engage with this story, and why? What journey do you want to take them on? What themes, ideas and issues are you exploring? Who are the stakeholders and what are the limitations you’re facing as a storyteller? What is the moral of the story you want to tell, and what are the take-aways?

A good story strategy considers all of this, while revealing a number of important factors you might not have considered until you’re well down the rabbit hole, which can be very costly in terms of time.

For writers and producers, a story strategy can act as a compass to guide you during development, particularly once you’ve considered the limitations (e.g. budgets, stakeholder interests, etc). I find a story strategy is particularly important when your story involves a complex issue that requires careful consideration and exploration in terms of the perspectives you’re exploring.

For communications professionals, a good story strategy can reveal the best way to tell your story and the medium. Bearing in mind, a good story strategy should also inform how you communicate across a number of mediums.

For business owners and leaders, a story strategy can reveal how your story could be more compelling, purposeful and authentic. This can not only inform external communications and engagement, but it can also inform how you approach internal communications and culture; it can also inform innovation and change.

Importantly, a story strategy doesn’t have to be complex or result in a large document destined to gather dust. A good story strategy should be simple, concise and act as a reference point or a compass to guide the process of telling stories, which will save you time and inspire you to problem solve creatively.