Story Workshops
Brainstorm and transform
the way you share your stories.
Strategic storytelling is the starting point for changing the way your company communicates. We believe that you need to connect with people on an emotional level before you can effectively communicate with them. If you think of your people and your company as being storytellers then you’re less likely to rely on status quo communications that your audience may not necessarily care about. Our story workshops are about identifying what makes you unique and focuses on what your audience is interested in.
Story workshops and the story building process
Our story workshop is part of a larger process that creates a holistic storytelling action plan. It’s about planning content in all areas of your company’s communications both internally and externally. Your audiences are more sophisticated than ever so you need to stand out, you need to be interesting and always relevant.
1 | Discover
This structured workshop is a 2 hour session facilitated so that your team generates literally hundreds story ideas of potential interest to customers, employees and other target audiences.
2 | Categorize
The list of story ideas generated by the workshop are just that, ideas. They are not fully fleshed out and need to be categorized. Ideas are filtered into various categories always with a focus on who the stories are intended for.
3 | Prioritize
Once all of the ideas are categorized we start the process of prioritizing and shortlisting which story ideas have the great chance of meaningfully connecting with the audience and what their interests and needs are.
4 | Report
An initial report from the workshop will be provided to you outlining all of the ideas in the various categories and our suggestions. Based on identified audiences we provide suggested delivery channels for your story ideas.
5 | Strategy
The next step is the development of a Content Strategy. This is an in depth outline of your various audiences profiles, storylines, delivery channels, content calendar, creative direction and impact measurement.
6 | Target
Storytelling cannot be successful unless you know and understand your audience needs and preferences around the stories that you will tell. Profiling your various audience groups is a critical process that will impact the success of your storytelling. Customers, employees, suppliers and investors all have different interests.
7 | Write
This is where the rubber hits the road with actual story development. This is where writing is initiated, research conducted, scripts and storylines developed to maximize impact you’re your intended audiences.
8 | Schedule
All stories should be scheduled for posting within the channels that will most likely be engaged by audiences. The content calendar helps to organize the flow and rhythm of stories overall. It’s meant to keep your audience engaged with your communications. It’s your road map for content distribution.
9 | Creative
Once stories are written and scheduled we bring them to life by augmenting them or telling them through image, motion, video and sound. Each story has the potential to take several content forms from video to print and audio to interactive all aligning and reinforcing with viewer preferences and habits.
10 | Share
This is that stage in which we share your stories with your targeted audience(s) and capture their attention. They may be waiting for the content or your story may be a pleasant surprise to them. Either way they will appreciate your interest and thoughtfulness.
11 | Measure
As stories are posted we work with you to understand the performance of each story. There are a number of ways to do this depending on the media type and channels that are used. This may include audience surveys, social media analytics, key performance indicators.
12 | Develop
Story idea creation is not a one time event. You should look at your communications as an active newsroom that is constantly on the hunt for new and relevant stories that you can share with your audiences. The process of categorization and prioritization is a long term commitment that will pay dividends in helping you connect and communicate now and into the future.