The Story Discovery Lab
- Ryan Tungseth
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
A Half-Day Storytelling Workshop
for Businesses That Struggle to Explain What They Actually Do
The Story Discovery Lab is a half-day, hands-on workshop designed to help organizations clarify the story behind their work — and turn that story into a clear marketing and communication strategy.
In just a few hours, participants move from:
“We know what we do… but it’s hard to explain.”
to
“This is the problem we fight, this is the transformation we create, and this is how we communicate it.”
Every participant leaves with a Narrative Map — a practical framework that shows:
• the frustration your work solves
• the transformation you create
• where your stories belong across marketing and sales
• how to turn those ideas into content without starting from scratch every week
Because once the story is clear, marketing stops feeling random.
Why This Workshop Exists
Most businesses don’t struggle because they lack marketing tools.
They struggle because the story underneath the marketing is unclear.
The symptoms usually look like this:
• Posts that feel random
• Videos that look good but don’t lead anywhere
• Messaging that explains services but not why they matter
• Teams who know their work is meaningful but struggle to communicate it
So the natural reaction is to try more tactics.
More posts.
More video.
More platforms.
But if the story underneath isn’t clear, all that activity simply produces more noise.
At Growth Forge Studio, we believe something simple:
Story isn’t something you add to marketing.
Story is the strategy that makes marketing work.
The Story Discovery Lab is designed to help organizations uncover that foundation.
What Happens in the Workshop
This is not a lecture about storytelling.
It’s a working session where we extract the real story inside your business and organize it into a structure that can guide marketing, content, and communication moving forward.
The workshop unfolds in four parts.
Part 1
Extracting the Real Story
Most businesses describe themselves using services:
“We provide…”“We specialize in…”“We help with…”
But services aren’t a story.
To uncover the real narrative inside a business, we focus on three internal truths:
The Villain
What frustrates your customers more than anything else?
Often it’s not price.
It’s confusion, wasted time, bad communication, or feeling ignored.
The Transformation
What does someone’s life look like shortly after they work with you?
What becomes easier, clearer, or better?
The Stakes
What happens if they never solve the problem?
What keeps the frustration alive?
Once these three pieces become clear, something usually shifts in the room.
Businesses realize their work isn’t boring.
It’s just been explained poorly.
Part 2
Understanding Where Stories Belong
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is assuming every story belongs on social media.
It doesn’t.
During the workshop we run stories through what we call the Distribution Filter.
The Private Room
High-trust conversations like sales meetings and one-on-one relationships.
The Stage
Advertising and messaging where clarity matters most.
The Garden
Organic content that provides proof through real stories and examples.
This framework helps organizations understand where different stories belong — and removes the pressure to post everything everywhere.
Part 3
Turning Story Into Strategy
Once the core story is clear, we organize it into a Narrative Portfolio.
Instead of asking:
“What should we post this week?”
We start asking:
“What story helps people understand the problem or trust the solution?”
Stories begin to serve specific strategic jobs, such as:
• helping people recognize the problem
• building trust in your process
• showing real transformations
This turns marketing from a guessing game into a story system.
Part 4
Reducing the Cognitive Load with AI
Once the story structure is clear, creating content becomes much easier.
But it still takes time.
In the final part of the workshop we demonstrate a simple co-creative workflow where AI helps:
• document your brand voice
• generate ideas based on real stories
• translate one story into multiple content formats
The key insight is simple:
AI works best when the story is already clear.
Without that foundation, it just produces generic marketing noise.
What Participants Leave With
By the end of the Story Discovery Lab, participants walk away with a Narrative Map that clarifies:
• the core frustration your business fights
• the transformation you provide
• the stakes of ignoring the problem
• where different stories belong across marketing and sales
• a repeatable workflow for turning stories into content
It’s not a content calendar.
It’s a story strategy that makes future marketing decisions easier.
Who This Workshop Is For
The Story Discovery Lab works best for organizations whose work matters to real communities and relationships.
Including:
• service businesses
• municipalities and local institutions
• nonprofits and mission-driven organizations
• healthcare and community organizations
Especially teams who feel like:
“Our work matters… we just struggle to explain it clearly.”
Workshop Format
Half-Day Interactive Workshop
Available as:
• public workshops
• private team workshops
• hosted community sessions
The workshop is discussion-driven and collaborative. Participants should come ready to think about their business in a new way.
Interested in Attending or Hosting a Workshop?
If you’d like more information about upcoming workshops or bringing the Story Discovery Lab to your organization, you can start the conversation here.
Testimonials from our workshops:
Every session blends practical teaching with guided build time.
Attendees don’t just learn what to do — they start doing it in the room.
Thanks for the training today! I am leaving with new tools in my back pocket. I have been using ai but now I know how to use it better. I’m excited to use it to generate strategies, create social media campaigns, research social media trends and more. - Jerilyn
I attended the Using AI for Marketing workshop and was genuinely impressed by the value packed into just one morning. From the moment networking began, the environment was collaborative and energizing. The marketing strategy overview clearly explained how modern marketing works today and how AI can be used in practical, realistic ways - not just theory. What really set this workshop apart was the hands-on approach. Ryan guided us on creating a real marketing plan using AI tools and we actively created marketing collateral for our respective business needs, such as social posts and marketing plans. The one-on-one support during the build time was incredibly helpful and made the learning process feel approachable, regardless of skill level.Ryan’s real-world background as a business owner and marketer brought credibility, humor, and insight that made the content easy to understand and immediately actionable. I walked away with ready-to-use content and a much clearer understanding of how to integrate AI into my marketing efforts. Highly recommend this workshop to any business owner or marketer looking to level up efficiently and confidently! Katherine Roth, PhD Executive Director Jamestown Regional Entrepreneur Center