The stories brands love to tell are rarely the ones audiences want to hear.

That’s the tension at the heart of brand storytelling. Inside the walls of a company, the stories that get everyone excited usually sound like market share wins, product roadmaps, or a rags-to-riches founding tale. 

But outside those walls? Audiences are looking for stories that help them, move them, or entertain them.

And this is where so many brands trip up. They approach storytelling like a campaign: controlled, polished, and tailored to internal approval rather than external impact. The result? Content that feels like marketing masquerading as a story — and audiences can spot it a mile away.

This blog is about cutting through these kinds of brand storytelling misconceptions. We’re breaking down the biggest myths and showing how brands — big and small, B2C and B2B — can craft stories that people actually want to listen to, share, and remember.

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Myth 1: Your brand should be at the center of the story 

Here’s a hard truth marketers hate to admit: your audience doesn’t care about your brand – not in the way that you or your CEO do anyway. 

Too often, brands fall into the trap of putting themselves at the center or positioning themselves as the “hero” in the story. They craft branded podcasts, videos, and blog posts designed to showcase the company instead of connecting with people. The result? Stories that feel transactional, self-serving, and easy to ignore. 

The brands that break through ask a different question: “How can we offer something valuable, interesting, or inspiring that only we can provide?” When the focus shifts from “look at us” to “here’s something worth your time,” storytelling becomes a two-way exchange. Your audience engages not because they have to, but because they want to.

At its core, effective brand storytelling is about respect: respecting your audience’s time, attention, and curiosity. When brands consistently get this right, they don’t just grab attention — they earn long-term trust and loyalty.

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Myth 2: Your brand needs to have complete control of the narrative 

The urge to control every word, visual, and line of dialogue might feel safe — but it often produces content that feels polished in all the wrong ways: predictable, rigid, and forgettable.

Giving up some creative control doesn’t mean abandoning your objectives. It means trusting skilled writers, directors, and producers to bring your story to life. Audiences can tell when a story has been over-engineered. But when creatives get a clear, thoughtful brief and the freedom to interpret it, the work feels real, human, and interesting — and it still achieves your brand goals.

It’s worth remembering that non-interruptive, entertainment-driven storytelling isn’t new — it’s just new for brands. For professional creatives, connecting with audiences is what they do every day. So loosen the reins and embrace the opportunity to produce content people notice, share, and remember, rather than just simply check marketing boxes.

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Myth 3: Only household names can tell brand stories effectively 

You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to tell a story people remember. The truth is, brand storytelling isn’t about budget or scale — it’s about clarity, creativity, and knowing what matters to your audience.

Smaller brands have an advantage: they can be nimble, personal, and authentic in ways that big companies often can’t. Because the most effective stories aren’t measured in dollars spent; they’re measured in attention earned. 

Even on a tight budget, brands can succeed by leaning into creativity, being honest about their perspective, and finding unique ways to connect. Strategic planning and thoughtful execution will take you further than a massive budget ever could.

Ultimately, you don’t need a Hollywood-level production to make an impact. Focus on formats that work for your resources — a short video series, a podcast, a social storytelling campaign — and make sure every piece has a clear purpose, whether that’s to educate, entertain, or inspire.

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Myth 4: B2B storytelling isn’t compelling 

There’s a long-standing misconception that B2B marketing is inherently dry, tactical, or purely transactional. For decades, it leaned on direct sales, cold calls, and industry events, the classic “push” approach. But today, the landscape has changed and that’s largely due to the expectation that brands actually connect with the people they sell to. 

Think about it: when was the last time you willingly engaged with a cold call? Now compare that to the last time you read a post from a LinkedIn influencer or shared a story that inspired you professionally. B2B audiences, just like consumers, crave content that’s authentic, informative, and relevant — content that respects their time and helps them make better decisions.

Too many B2B brands forget that behind every job title is a real person with goals, challenges, and emotions. Treating your audience as “IT managers” or “heads of marketing” might be precise, but it’s also flat. 

Real impact comes when you tell stories that resonate with the humans behind those titles. When approached through that lens, B2B storytelling can be just as engaging, human, and memorable as consumer-focused content.

In practice, this means: lead with stories that educate or inspire, highlight real people and outcomes, and don’t shy away from authenticity. Even technical or niche topics can be made compelling if you show the human impact. 

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Myth 5: Brand storytelling isn’t built for multiple channels 

Many brands assume that stories only work on certain platforms — that a campaign will succeed on social media but fall flat in email, or that video content can’t translate to a podcast. The truth? Strong brand storytelling fuels an omnichannel strategy, because it’s not the platform that matters — it’s how the story makes people feel.

Different channels offer different opportunities: a short social clip can spark curiosity, a podcast can dive deeper into a narrative, and a blog or newsletter can give context and insight. When the story leads, the platform follows, creating a consistent, emotionally resonant experience across touchpoints.

Here are some ways brands can tell stories across different channels:

• Branded podcasts: Share deeper narratives or expert insights to educate, entertain, or inspire listeners.
• Social media: Create short, engaging clips or behind-the-scenes content. Focus on human moments, challenges, and victories that reflect your brand’s values.
• Website & blogs: Longer-form stories that explain your mission, highlight customer journeys, or showcase case studies.
• Video: Showcase your team, customers, or impact. Longer narratives work well here for emotional resonance.
• Events & experiences: In-person or virtual, these are opportunities to immerse audiences in your brand story in memorable ways.

Done thoughtfully, brand storytelling becomes the glue that connects an omnichannel strategy. Each touchpoint, from TikTok to podcasts, reinforces the same core values and mission. When brands get this right, they aren’t spreading themselves thin; they’re building a cohesive experience that moves audiences wherever they encounter it.

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Myth 6: You can’t measure the success of brand storytelling

It’s true that brand storytelling doesn’t always fit neatly into a spreadsheet. Unlike a click-through ad or a direct sales campaign, the most valuable outcomes — emotional engagement, brand lift, and customer loyalty — aren’t always immediately quantifiable. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be measured.

The industry is evolving fast, giving marketers more tools to demonstrate storytelling’s impact to C-suite. Of course, your measurement tactics will vary based on the medium, but here are some key data points to explore for common brand storytelling mediums:

Branded podcasts 

• Consumption rates: The average amount of your episode that audiences listen to, in a percentage format. If your average consumption is 75%+, you’re retaining listeners for the majority of your episode. Lower than that? You might need to trim or rethink content or audience segments.
• Audience insights: Use demographic, psychographic, and firmographic insights – like location, income, social media habits, and job title – to validate you’re reaching and resonating with your target audience. 
• Audience surveys: Surveys uncover why listeners engage (or don’t) by capturing perceptions of brand trust, relatability, and value, complementing analytics with qualitative insights that reveal how stories shape audience loyalty, awareness, and brand lift.

Social media 

• Reach & impressions: Measure how many people see your content across platforms.
• Engagement metrics: Likes, shares, saves, and click-through rates indicate interaction and interest.
• Audience feedback: Monitor comments and mentions for qualitative insights.

Newsletters

• Open rates: A basic signal of interest and relevance.
• Click-through rates (CTR): Show how compelling your story is in prompting action.
• Forwarding & shares: Indicates whether your story is valued enough to pass along.

Videos

• Average watch time/completion rate: Measures how much of your video viewers actually watch, showing engagement and content relevance.
• Shares & social engagement: Tracks likes, comments, and shares to gauge emotional impact and audience resonance.
• Click-throughs/conversions: Measures whether viewers take the next step, such as visiting a website, signing up, or making a purchase.

Ultimately, while storytelling may be less direct than a traditional campaign, it is far from unmeasurable. By tailoring metrics to the medium and the objectives, brands can track both quantitative and qualitative outcomes, from audience growth to emotional resonance.

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Are you ready to share your brand’s story?

The biggest misconceptions about brand storytelling are that it’s complicated, out of reach, or reserved for the big players. But as we’ve seen, great stories don’t require massive budgets or household names — they require clarity, purpose, and the willingness to put the audience first.

And when stories resonate, they ripple outward across channels, across audiences, and yes, even across the spreadsheets the C-suite is watching.

Want to keep sharpening your storytelling strategy? Subscribe to The Branded Podcaster, our bi-weekly newsletter, for practical insights and real-world examples of how brands are using podcasts and stories to connect with their audiences.