Strategic Storytelling in the Age of AI: Why Your Real Stories Matter More Than Ever

I’ve been scrolling my feed, as I usually do, and I started noticing something.

Everything looks like a limerick and sounds the same. The same words are being used over and over. The structure is either completely missing or so obviously formulaic that you can predict what’s coming next. Then there are the faceless reels with no caption whatsoever, which feels like someone speaking into the wind and hoping their dream client can piece it together.

When I put my phone away, I couldn’t remember who had written what or why, except for the people who were already using storytelling in some way in their business. They might be missing a lesson or a doorway for their dream client to walk through, but the story is there.

These are what we remember.

If you and I were sitting down with a cup of tea and you told me about something that happened in your week, I would not be listening for a hook. I would be listening for the shift in your tone. I would notice when you leaned in slightly. I would hear the irritation, the humour, the hesitation.

That is where the story lives.

Right now, structure is easy to produce. You can ask AI for a caption and receive one in seconds. You can generate blog outlines. You can tidy up messy paragraphs. You can even use storytelling bots that promise to “extract your stories” for you.

Jo’s big truth bomb

They cannot find your stories.

They can help you shape a story once you give them something real. They can refine language. They can help you tighten a lesson. They can reorganise your thinking.

They cannot notice the moment for you.

They do not know that the lawn mower starting mid-client call revealed something about how you handle pressure. They cannot feel that the awkward silence on Zoom actually demonstrated your steadiness. They cannot sense that your irritation about a delayed payment says something about the standards you are quietly raising in your business.

If you ask them to invent something, they will happily oblige.

That is not strategic storytelling. That is fiction, and that doesn’t help you or your business.

Strategic storytelling starts with something lived. It starts with the interruption, the awkwardness, the small frustration, the tiny win that felt bigger than it looked from the outside.

When I shared the story about Scruff choosing the most inconvenient place under a frangipani tree, the story was not about the dog. It was about how I respond when conditions are not ideal. It was about adapting without waiting for perfection. The lesson already existed inside the moment. I chose it.

That is the part a bot cannot do for you.

Two people filled in my storytelling form recently. Both have ideas sitting in their phone notes app. Both said shaping the message slows them down. One mentioned time, because they are juggling work, business, and children. The other described the mental drain of constantly thinking about content and then feeling anxious after posting.

Neither person lacks material.

They lack distance. They lack a way of asking the right question.

What does this show?

When you begin there, the ordinary becomes useful. The interruption becomes a villain. Your response becomes the thread. The lesson becomes clear without being forced.

In a landscape where content is increasingly generated, the businesses that stand out are the ones that feel inhabited. They feel specific. They feel like someone is actually inside the story rather than assembling it from a template.

AI is not the enemy. Used well, it is a helpful assistant. It becomes powerful when you bring it something true. It becomes risky when you ask it to supply the truth for you.

Your lived experience is the strategic advantage.

If you have not filled in the short form yet, I would value your perspective. The responses are helping me see where people feel stuck with storytelling and what kind of support would genuinely make a difference.

You can share your thoughts here https://tally.so/r/zxY2QE

If this resonates with you, I’d love to invite you to join my email list, Stories from the Dotty Side, where I share my own silly, mundane, and occasionally outright ridiculous stories. There is always a business lesson tucked inside and a doorway for you to walk through.

You can join here https://jodraper.au/stories-from-the-dotty-side

The tools will continue to evolve.

Your real stories will remain yours.

That is where your edge sits.