Establishing a creative strategy

How often do you jump to the creative stage of a project, skipping strategy, planning, and even research? We all can be honest and say that we did it at least once. Undoubtedly, creative processes allow us to be free in our thinking, explore new dimensions and design something new. At the same time, we need a direction for this process if we have an objective for what we intend to build.

If you ever worked with graphic design, not necessarily as a professional, you’ll recognise yourself in this example. Working with colours, typography, layers, and shapes is a process that allows us to see the product of our work immediately. However, if we don’t establish a strategy before that, our beautiful product won’t result in measurable outcomes. In effect, its message will remain unclear, and the target audience will be ignored.

The same applies to storytelling. Establishing a creative strategy for your story ensures that you hit your objectives with your audience and business. Hence, a solid foundation for your creative product could be more important than having a fully developed character or storyworld.

To help you get off the ground, consider the following questions for your creative strategy before designing your story.

• What is the PURPOSE of your storytelling?
• What VALUE will your storytelling generate and for whom?
• Who are the PEOPLE that you want to engage with?
• What is the MESSAGE in your story?
• Which CHARACTER will the story reflect?
• What type of CONNECTION do you want to create?

After you carefully write down the answers, keep them close by for your creative process. Therefore, you can always return to them and evaluate how the results of your work align with your strategy. When you add a new character, storyline or audience role, these decisions will go in the direction of fulfilling your purpose. You will attract the right audience, the message will resonate with them, they will be more open to engaging with the story, and the experiences will become more memorable.