How to Leverage Storytelling to Build Better Deliverables

Create Powerful Strategic Narratives That Will Drive Your Business

Everyone loves a good story—they’re engaging, interesting and memorable. Even with today’s ever-shrinking attention spans, people are still captivated by a well-crafted story. That’s why, at Seed, we draw inspiration from storytelling to help us create better, more impactful deliverables. Rather than traditional reports, we craft strategic narratives—engaging, focused outputs that leverage storytelling to make connections, drive action and move our clients’ businesses forward.

But how exactly do you craft an impactful strategic narrative?

Years of study, experimentation and optimization have revealed the following 7 principles that guide our work:

1. Keep it simple.
In our drive for clarity, we use constructs and models to break things down, making even the most complex elements elegantly simple.

2. Be concise.
We push ourselves to be hyper-selective with our content—less is more when it comes to maintaining attention and driving retention.

3. Flow logically and artfully.
Leveraging the perfect balance of strategy and creativity, our storylines, navigation and headlines all work in concert to take the audience from point A to point B.

4. Know and Engage the audience.
Understanding the audience—their agendas, perspectives and biases—helps us resonate with them on an emotional level.

5. Lead with a defined POV.
Rather than just reporting facts, we translate and apply information so it can be put to work.

6. Drive action with clear implications.
We always indicate what should be done next, even if it’s just in the form of ideas or hypotheses.

7. Connect to the broader business.
This is where the rubber meets the road—we go above and beyond to show how our work supports the greater strategic direction and the bottom line of the organization.

Interested in learning more about how Seed’s strategic narratives can help you advance your strategy and innovation efforts? Please reach out—I’d love to hear from you.

Check out this article from our colleagues at Burke for even more rich information about how to leverage storytelling in your work.

Chad Buecker is EVP, Strategic Narration at Seed Strategy where he leverages over 25 years of experience to help client teams across brands, industries, and strategic challenges create solid foundations and compelling narratives that drive their business forward.

Edited by Adam Siegel. In addition to being the Editor of The Accelerator, Adam is VP, Creative at Seed Strategy where he draws upon his diverse experience in advertising, research and innovation to craft breakthrough creative and winning concept copy.

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