The Important Differences Between Storytelling and Storybranding

People often think of business storytelling and storybranding as the same thing. Both sit within in the same story toolbox, but they are as different as a flat blade and a Phillips screwdriver. Both storytelling and storybranding are part of attraction marketing.

Both approaches rely on narrative to capture attention and build trust, which is why many marketers use the terms interchangeably. However, storytelling and storybranding accomplish different objectives. Storytelling focuses on communicating a message through a compelling narrative, while storybranding establishes the beliefs and values that shape how customers perceive a company over time. Knowing when to use each approach allows businesses to build stronger relationships and create more consistent marketing.

Businesses use storytelling more often than storybranding.

You may not realize it, but anytime you talk about how you or your company has solved a problem, you are telling a story. Those experiences naturally form the basis of compelling business stories. And if you’ve captivated their interest, you might hear a “Wow!,” “Really?,” “Oh No!,” or get some other emotional reaction.

How Storybranding Builds Stronger Brands

Stories clothe facts with emotion. For this reason, storytelling in business helps audiences engage with messages more memorably with greater impact that facts alone. It’s unlikely that you will ever see anyone get goose bumps looking at a line graph. Embed those same facts within a story? Still, goose bumps may be asking for too much. But the chances of gaining some emotional engagement will definitely increase.

Advertisers have long relied on storytelling because stories capture attention in ways traditional promotional messages often cannot. They make brands more relatable, more human, and more memorable. That is why more and more companies train their leaders and salespeople to use storytelling as a business tool. Effective stories build trust, simplify complex ideas, and help audiences remember the people and organizations behind the products and services they purchase.

Businesses use storybranding for a different business purpose.

Unlike business storytelling, storybranding isn’t used to help audiences identify with events the way storytelling identifies events. Rather, storybranding builds a connection between brands and strong, enduring value systems or belief systems. In brand briefs, this is sometimes mistaken for a description of the brand’s personality or how marketers should portray it, i.e. bold, unique, caring, or responsive. But directing a brand to exhibit a personality trait is like directing a stage actor to show passion or be courageous. It becomes more natural for the actor to show passion, courage, or any other personality trait by helping him get in touch with his character’s belief system.

Storybranding takes brands beyond personality traits. It defines the beliefs that motivate everything the brand does. A brand’s guiding belief may center on outperforming competitors through innovation. It may focus on proving that being friendly requires action, not just words. Or it may emphasize an unwavering commitment to quality.

In effect, storybrands internalize beliefs that naturally manifest themselves in their outward appearances. Over time, customers stop recognizing the brand simply for what it sells and begin recognizing it for what it represents.

Why Storybranding Delivers Long-Term Value

The most important purpose of storybranding is to help companies establish themselves as champions of certain ideals. And it’s a purpose that comes with a very big reward. This was demonstrated in a study conducted Jim Stengel, the former global marketing officer with Procter and Gamble. In his book Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit for the World’s Greatest Companies, Stengel documents how brands that clearly expressed their ideals, outperformed the S&P, on average, by over 400% over a 10-year period.

That finding reinforces an important lesson for marketers. Consumers increasingly choose brands that align with their own values. Products and prices certainly matter, but shared beliefs often influence long-term loyalty. Companies that consistently communicate why they exist, not just what they sell, create stronger emotional bonds that competitors find difficult to duplicate.

Bringing Storybranding to Life

To take full advantage of how the use storybranding, companies need first to do some internal processing. My friend Joey Reiman best describes the most important aspect of this process in his book, The Purpose of Story. He states that management has to first make clear the distinction between a brand’s point of difference and its point of view. The former has to do with the brand’s function. The latter has to do with the brand’s cause, or its crusade.

Once that point of view becomes clear, it should influence every aspect of the organization. A successful storybrand doesn’t exist only in advertising or on a company’s website. These principles also influence employee behavior, customer experiences, visual identity, messaging, and even product development. As a result, the brand delivers a more authentic and consistent experience.

Read more on Integrating Storybranding With Your B2B Marketing Strategy

Building a Community Around Your Brand

Competitors constantly copy or improve features and benefits. For this reason, focusing on unique functional properties may provide short-term rewards, at best. But, unless something disrupts their brand’s images, companies like Harley Davidson, Disney, Virgin and Southwest Airlines stay known for their points of view. They succeed because they satisfy a basic human need for belonging. Customers want to support companies that share their beliefs. Creating that sense of community by inviting customers to participate in a shared purpose instead of simply completing a transaction.

Satisfying this need far outweighs the long-term value of any functional benefit the brand provides today and that a competitor may surpass tomorrow. Features change. Technology evolves. Brand purpose, however, can continue attracting loyal customers for decades.

In many ways, storybrands are like authors who want to provide their audience something more than an interesting or exciting plot. These are authors who care a great deal about the theme of their stories as well as their plots. Likewise, successful brands tell stories that reflect larger ideas, giving customers something meaningful to believe in long after a particular product or advertising campaign has been forgotten.

Finally, unlike storytelling, which is a communication tool anyone in an organization can put to use. Storybranding, requires company leadership to set the direction first. Once leaders establish that direction, marketing, operations, human resources, and other departments can work together to bring the brand story to life.