How to Tell A Company’s Brand Story

As a child, I loved the book The Beast in My Bathtub. The main character, Lewis, swore there was a beast in the tub. His parents didn’t believe him, so he faced his fear alone. By the end, he made peace with it. As an adult, I see how unfair that story was, but I also see why it stuck. Stories help us face fears, find meaning, and reimagine possibilities.

That’s the same reason brand stories matter. They shape how people perceive a brand, connect with it, and decide whether to trust it. According to Harvard Business Review, stories are among the most powerful tools to influence, teach, and inspire because they forge connections between people and ideas. But here’s the catch: you don’t get a brand story by simply “writing one.” You build it out of your messaging strategy.

The Real Foundation: Messaging Strategy

A brand story isn’t just a polished paragraph pasted onto your website. It’s the synthesis of a brand's core message, attributes, benefits, values, and proof points. These pieces are defined in a messaging strategy.

• Core message: The transformation promised to the target audience.

• Attributes: The qualities that describe how a brand will show up.

• Benefits: The outcomes that an audience receives.

• Proof points: The evidence, data, or examples that make brand claims credible.

When woven together, these create an internal brand story: the narrative teams use to stay aligned. From there, an external brand story is shaped: the version an audience hears, crafted for clarity and resonance.

“Without a messaging framework, a brand's story is just another anecdote. With one, it becomes the map an brand can follow.”

Why Audience-Centered Stories Work

A common mistake is making the brand story about the brand. The strongest stories center the customer as the hero and position the brand as the guide. This mirrors the narrative structure Joseph Campbell outlined in The Hero’s Journey, and it’s why modern marketing experts stress that brand stories should resonate with the audience’s aspirations, not the company’s ego.

According to research published in the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, stories that reflect customer identity are far more likely to build loyalty and drive action. They work because people don’t just buy products. They buy alignment with how they see themselves.

How to Craft Your Brand Story

1. Start with messaging clarity. Build a messaging framework first: core message, attributes, benefits, proof points, and key messages. Without this, a brand's story has no backbone.

2. Translate internal to external. Turn the internal brand story (an alignment tool) into an external brand story (the market-facing narrative for the audience).

3. Make stakeholders the hero. Use the brand story to show audiences what their life can look like with the brand you are writing for by their side. The brand is to be the guide, not the protagonist.

4. Use channels intentionally. Don’t copy-paste a story block anywhere. Instead, weave the core message and key messages from a brand story into content tailored to each platform—social posts, emails, sales decks, press releases. Consistency doesn’t mean duplication; it means coherence.

5. Back it up with proof. Incorporate supporting messages, data, and real stories of impact. According to McKinsey & Company, “brands that connect stories to evidence outperform competitors on both trust and growth.”

Brand Clarity Improves Brand Storytelling

Clarity is the difference between a brand story that resonates and one that gets ignored. Research from Edelman’s Trust Barometer shows that nearly 70% of consumers say trust is the primary factor in choosing brands, and trust comes from consistency and clarity.

Just remember that when messaging is fragmented, that brand's story will feel untrustworthy, which will work against a brand. When it’s aligned, the story will drive content performance.

Final Word

A brand story is not a one-off content piece glorifying a brand. It’s the living expression of a messaging strategy translated into narratives that a target audience can see themselves in. Build the messaging framework first, then shape the story. Tell it consistently, with empathy and evidence, across channels for real results.

If you're struggling to articulate your brand story and key core messages online and offline, use the Messaging Oracle™ Messaging Strategy Engine™ for a messaging strategy delivered in under 15 minutes, tailored to your business and ready for immediate use. The messaging strategy that is delivered will be like no other, rooted in established messaging frameworks, brand strategy methodologies, behavioral science research, and strategic communication models.