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|title=Laying the Groundwork groundwork for Crafting Your Strategic Storycrafting your strategic story
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Let’s get to it. We’ve outlined key elements that are helpful in strategically crafting a story. This is not exhaustive nor a formula for success. Take these elements, think them through, rearrange, play, make them work for you and iterate to find the story(ies) that you find resonate most in getting your argument across to your audience.
'''Land on a medium.''' Decide what channel is best to convey your story to your target audience. Where do they consume information? stories? What format will most resonate with them? Are there any artifacts that you can design to help further communicate your story? If you don’t know the answer, there is a lot of existing market research that the interwebs can illuminate. (SEE HERE For additional information on some Artifact Mediums Guidance)
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|title=Creating your story
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The below points move through the whole arc. Depending on your medium (if you are writing a long-form story, for example) you can take time and space to flesh out each of these points. If you have less time (i.e. you speaking to an audience for a short amount of time) you can hit all the points on this arc in short, sweet, concise ways.
Check out the additional resources page for more information and some great examples of strategic storytelling in action!
<big>'''START: Grab Attention and Tease the Solution (Also, don’t forget to introduce yourself)'''</big>
:Drop people into the middle of a scene.
:Create mystery.
:Start with something flashy, bold — it could even be a very provocative question.
:Give people a quick taste of the solution you are proposing (people are most often engaged by positive, hopeful visions and solutions).
<big>'''Establish Shared Values'''</big>
:Your target audience wants to be connected to your story — make those connections for them by naming the points where you have shared values!
:This builds a sense that you are on the same team and that they are invited into the story.
<big>'''SET the Scene: Who are the people and what is the context?'''</big>
Think about where you want your target audience to see themselves in the story.
Spend time building out and focusing on these scenes.
If possible, make it personal and talk about how you specifically relate to the context and content of the story.
<big>'''Define The Issue'''
This might be actual person vs. person conflict; it could be a person encountering a system that doesn’t work for them; it could be friction between two institutions; it could be resistance to new ideas.
Be very clear and descriptive about the issue.
Define how the issue translates to for an individual person.
<big>'''Reveal: Solution/Opportunities/Vision'''</big>
Don’t stop at the problem - show people that there is a way forward and lead them into your vision of the future.
Be descriptive - show them the details of this vision/solution and what it would mean for individuals and communities.
As you set the scene, define the issue, and reveal solutions, when possible, try to use data:
:Prove the conflict and illustrate the power of the solution.
:Not every strategic story needs to include data. However, information, statistics, data, quotes from experts and sources can be useful in proving/backing up your point.
:Make sure your data is relevant, clear, and specific to your target audience.
:See Weaving Data and Emotional Storytelling Guide for more information.
<big>'''Story Recap and Action Points'''</big>
What is the argument your story is trying to make? That should be crystal clear by the end and reiterated in your conclusion.
Summarize the journey arc you’ve taken people on and emphasize the ultimate point you are making.
Name any action points that you want people to take.
<big>'''Get Feedback + Iterate'''</big>
Test your story on volunteers from your target audience.
Come up with a question set (we’ve found 10 questions at most work - any more and people feel overwhelmed), that will help you understand - what resonated most and least, what they would have liked to have heard more about, etc.
Take their feedback and use it to help you craft the next iteration of the story. (If you can, do this several times).
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