Story99.com is a Branding & Storytelling Consultancy for B2B, Tech & Deeptech

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A 2024 research publication in the Journal of Brand management concludes that just telling stories about your brand is no longer enough. Instead, your brand needs to be the story.

For SMEs and startups, building a strong brand is critical to competing in the market, but many founders misunderstand how to leverage storytelling effectively. The said research highlights a crucial difference between two approaches: tactical storytelling and strategic storytelling.

**Tactical Storytelling: Telling Tales About Your Brand**

When most small businesses think of marketing, they think of tactical storytelling - basically using traditional narrative techniques to share specific, individual stories about the company.

Often, this takes the form of sharing the founder's humble origins, highlighting the company's history, or taking customers behind the scenes of how a specific product is crafted. For example below is an example of tactical storytelling done by us at Story99 for one of our clients (B2B SaaS).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtWAJJwe1cI

While these stories are incredibly valuable for sparking an emotional connection and conveying authenticity, the research shows that tactical storytelling alone is just one aspect of broader brand communication.

Strategic Storytelling: Your Brand Is the Story

Strategic storytelling is a much broader, more cohesive approach where the brand itself functions as an ongoing core narrative. Rather than telling disconnected tales, strategic storytelling provides a guiding framework for everything the brand stands for and communicates.

A popular example from the research is Nike and its iconic "Just Do It" messaging.

Nike’s core narrative isn't about their manufacturing process; it is a continuous story that anyone can be an athlete and reach their full potential. In this strategic story, the customer is positioned as the hero striving to overcome obstacles, while the brand is simply the helpful ally supporting them on their journey.

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A recent work done by Story99 that focused deeply on nailing strategic storytelling was for a B2B Edtech brand - iDC - India’s largest career guidance player. A quick glance at the landing page and you can tell what the strategic story is.

Screenshot 2026-06-09 at 4.11.27 PM.png

‘Career Guidance Changes Lives’ has become a slogan that binds everything together, not just from an external communication perspective but also how different products and offerings from the brand are interconnected with each other.

The Takeaway for Startups

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The study reveals that while both forms of storytelling help build a brand, strategic storytelling correlates much more strongly with effective brand communication.

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Focusing on a core, overarching narrative is a powerful way to solidify your brand's positioning and clearly demonstrate your value compared to competitors. The research found that this holds true regardless of the age of the business - brand-new startups and established small businesses alike benefit from having a strong, strategic narrative.

To truly connect with your audience and punch above your weight, your business needs to stop just sharing random stories and start acting as a cohesive story itself.