If your story is on point, it effectively is also your strategy.

That’s because clarity of both story and strategy is mutually reinforcing, and essentially the same thing.

Australian Irishwoman Bernadette Jiwa runs a highly successful business and blog called ‘The Story of Telling’ (don’t I wish I’d thought of such a clever reversing of the telling of story).

She’s insightful, often amusing and very in-demand by Aussie and other companies.

Here I repeat her 10 benefits of strategic storytelling: A good story well told helps you to:

• Communicate with clarity and confidence
• Achieve emotional resonance with your audience
• Be more persuasive and influential
• Consistently act in alignment with your mission
• Attract the right people, whether they be customers, employees, volunteers or donors
• Inspire people to buy into your mission or get behind your cause
• Execute plans as you work towards your vision for the future
• Add value to your products, services and company
• Spread your idea
• Change the culture and create the future you want to see

Any one of the above benefits, on its own, is a compelling reason to ensure a business gets its first, most important story resonating and right.

Having 10 benefits almost seems like overkill – but you decide which ones shouldn’t be there!