There’s a curious paradox when it comes to think tanks – they exist to shape thinking, yet often struggle to articulate their own.
You don’t have to look hard to spot the signs. A muddled message. A monotonous mission. A narrative that raises more questions than answers.
In short, the wrong story is being told.
Why your story matters
There’s a saying in business: “A confused mind never buys”. It’s a maxim that think tank leaders would do well to remember. Because when the story is unclear – and those big questions go answered – the audience quietly walks away.
Donors find someone else to back.
Leaders find another programme to attend.
Corporates find a different partner to work with.
The policy and advocacy space is more crowded than ever. Leaders have more choice than ever. The organisations cutting through aren't necessarily doing better work.
They’re telling a better story.
The 5 story traps
From our experience, there are five traps that think tanks, research institutes and advocacy groups fall into when trying to tell their story. Which ones have you been caught out by?
1. You haven’t defined the space you want to own
Every story needs a strategy behind it. The technical term is positioning – the intentional act of defining how you want your audience to perceive you, vis-à-vis the alternatives. The biggest challenge of messaging isn’t knowing what to say – it’s knowing where the message is pointing. Without that direction, your story will be always be the victim of the latest opinion.
2. You’re telling a story for no one in particular
Your audience wants to see themselves in your story. They want to be acknowledged; spoken to. And yet most think tanks (and charities more broadly) struggle with specificity. In their desperation to leave no one out, they end up speaking to no one at all. They tell a story that leaves the audience wondering: “Is this even for me?”
3. You’re ignoring the problem your audience has
The knock-on effect of ignoring the audience? You don’t speak to their frustrations – to what they are looking for. Instead, the story focuses on your problem (your cause; your mission) without ever acknowledging their problem (their challenges; where they want to get to). It can leave your audience wondering if you really are what they’ve been looking for.
4. You’ve made yourself the hero of the story
This might come as a surprise, but you’re not the hero of the story (or at least, you shouldn’t be). The story might be yours to tell – but the hero should always be either your 'buying' audience (donors; partners; policymakers) or your beneficiary audience. Your role in the story? Be the trusted guide to the hero – it’s as simple as that.
5. Your story sounds like all the rest
From cut-and-paste mission statements, to overused ‘industry speak’, to messaging that colours inside the lines – your story can easily end up sounding like all the rest. The problem is, your audience will have heard that same story – or avariation of it – countless times. They will default to skim reading, assumption making, and quickly forgetting what the story was about.
Telling a winning story
When it comes to rewriting their story, most organisations reach for the wrong starting point. They either focus on tweaking what’s already there, or getting in a room to dream up something new.
It’s understandable – but it’s also why so many brand stories fall flat.
The organisations that get this right tend to take a different path – one that might feel counterintuitive at first:
Insights > thinking > messaging
Crafting a winning story starts with uncovering insights (“what do we know?”), before clarifying thinking (“what space can we own?”), and finally crafting messaging (“what story do we tell?”). Skip a stage, and you fall straight back into the traps above. Do it in reverse, and you end up in an exhausting loop of rewrites that never quite land.
Three stories in one
The story itself, when you get there, is rarely one thing. It's three distinct but overlapping layers – each one doing different work:
o The Story is focused outward on the world. The problem that exists. The change that needs to happen. The cause you are committed to.
o Our Story is focused on your organisation – who you are, what you do, how you do it, and – crucially – why it matters.
o Their Story is focused entirely on your audience – who they are, where they’re stuck, and where they’re trying to get to.
The part most organisations get wrong? They lead with Our Story, when the most compelling place to start is almost always The Story or Their Story. Begin with the world you are changing, or the audience you are helping. Remember, you're the guide – not the hero.
Reading the label from inside the jar
As in-house leaders, we often lack clarity more than tools or know-how. We are prone to overthink and overcomplicate. We struggle to read the label from inside the jar.
That’s not a failure of intelligence or ambition – it’s failure of perspective. And perspective is always something you can fix.
If your messaging isn’t working as hard as your organisation is, it might be time to get fresh take on the story you're telling the world.
N.B. To request our Brand Story Egg template, click here.
