This post is part of a guide exploring four lenses of storytelling strategy: Purpose, People, Participation and Platform.
You are currently reading the final section on deciding how to platform your stories.
Out of eagerness and perhaps urgency, charity storytelling discussions often focus on how, where and when a story will come to life before the seeds of its creation have been tended to. Only once we’ve answered, as thoroughly as possible, all the questions we can ask about the purpose, people and participation in our story, will we be ready to define the right platform.
Of course, you may have already envisaged a glimpse of it. Regardless of how methodical we start out, our imaginations tend to jump ahead to how our stories could be told. So as not to restrict your creative palette, hold those ideas in your back pocket until you’ve revisited the previous Ps of making a storytelling strategy.
If you’ve thoroughly answered all the questions you can ask of the purpose, people and participation of your story, then you’re ready to define the right platform for its creation.
Forthcoming posts in this modern storytelling series will get more into medium, treatment and choice of channel. For now, here’s a few (not necessarily linear) considerations for taking your strategy into more tangible territory.
The right voice
- How do the strategic themes, objectives and standpoints translate into a distinct narrative voice?
- How does brand tone-of-voice chime in?
- What qualities and energies could be balanced to find the right cadence?
- How do you hear this voice personified?
- From the work on people, does a fitting narrator come to mind?
- Does the story call for a particular perspective, style of delivery or even specific archetype (sage, mentor, caregiver…)?
- How will the language you use to frame your message of participation afford clarity to the decisions you’re asking people to make?
- How will you relate to people’s capacity for stepping into their agency to effect change?
It can be argued that the UK government messaging during the Covid-19 pandemic failed to take some of these points into consideration when engaging with the public. It’s an example the New Citizen Project’s Jon Alexander widely talks about, in terms of identifying with people as individualistic subjects and consumers rather than the collectively minded citizens they can be.
The right format
- What format will help the purpose of the story travel fast and wide?
- How will you structure the narrative? Will you use the hero’s journey?
- Can you use storyboarding to visualise your ideas, frame by frame?
- What visual as well as verbal language could show rather than simply tell? What detail will bring the story home for audiences — persuasively, sensitively and inclusively?
- What collaborative voices add value to your idea generation?
- Could “What if” provocations help you to think divergently — away from cliches and tropes?
- Would mind-mapping help construct ideas around your core themes?
- Have you planned time to incubate your ideas to give them space to breathe and shift before evaluating them critically?
The right time and place
- Think about how, when and where the story will travel and what doors to participation it could open.
- Get familiar with the eco-systems in which all of your ‘whos’ (not just the ultimate audience), operate. Map out all possible channels and networks — online, in print and in person. What could we learn about how people interact here?
- Where are the windows of opportunity? What timings could make our stories even more resonant?
Make your own storytelling strategy
Capture your core strategy for the who, what and why of the story
- Identify objectives
- Identify scope of research, listening and analysis
- Facilitate workshops to unpack, explore and connect
Convert themes into ideas for how, where and when the story will come to life
- Capture strategic elements so far in a creative brief
- Stimulate idea generation
- Assess channels and opportunities
- Evaluate and test ideas before development
Remember to…
- Mine the layers of why (and what) to define the true purpose and possibility of your storytelling. And never stop asking why throughout the process.
- Listen to the people for whom these things matter, and identify who will feature inside and outside of the narrative and its communication.
- Co-create roles for those people fitting the response you seek. Push the boundaries of participation by showing people their power to shape the future.
- Let all points above form the creative building blocks of your story’s platform. Connect the ‘how’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ for maximum impact.
This post is part of a guide exploring the four elements of storytelling strategy: Purpose, People, Participation and Platform. This guide is included in our modern storytelling series exploring the next chapter for charity storytelling. You can find out more about this in the introduction or use the ‘next’ button to go to the next section.
Images are credited to Neo.
