Brand storytelling vs content marketing - the pros and the cons

When trying to develop a long-term marketing campaign, people often get confused with brand storytelling and content marketing. Some use them interchangeably believing that every brand promotion is done through content. While others believe that they are completely different aspects of marketing with little overlap. Well, to help minimize the confusion, we are going to elaborate on brand storytelling vs content marketing and to best use them in your campaign.

The difference between brand storytelling and content marketing

The simplest way to look at content marketing and brand storytelling is that the former is only a part of the latter. Every brand storytelling contains some form of content marketing. But it also includes other aspects like visual storytelling and social media management. Meanwhile, while content marketing is an essential part of brand development, you cannot really equate the two.

Content marketing

Content marketing includes creating and publishing marketing content. This can either be educational content or promotional content (or some combination of the two). The most common examples of content marketing include:

• Articles.
• Videos.
• eBooks.
• Infographics.
• Animations.

You usually use content marketing to explore subjects that your audience would find interesting. By doing so you not only help them learn, but you also promote your company. Your content can also be inspirational, and more geared towards convincing your audience to do business with you than to learn some new piece of information. Quality content marketing is an essential part of SEO management, as good articles show up in Google's search results.

Brand storytelling

Brand storytelling encompasses much more them content marketing. Essentially, every interaction that your company (or you as its representative) has with the outside world is considered brand storytelling. Your whole online presence impacts your brand image and either helps or hurts the story you would like to tell.

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Besides content marketing, brand storytelling also includes:

• Social media management.
• Email marketing.
• Customer management.
• Website and logo design.
• Sales management.
• In-person presentation.

These are all aspects that constitute brand storytelling. And, to develop a decent online presence, you need to have a good understanding of them and tackle them with due care.

The role of content in brand management

It should be obvious now that when comparing brand storytelling vs content marketing you should focus more on what role content marketing has to play in brand management and whether you can rely solely on it. Content marketing in general is the go-to marketing strategy for companies, as it has clear steps to follow. You study your SEO, both local and global. You identify who you want to target with your content. And then you create content in accordance with the keyword strategy. Fairly straightforward.

But, unfortunately, content marketing alone can't sustain your whole online presence. To ensure that you grow the reputation that you actually want to grow you need to take other aspects of brand storytelling into account. Even though they are far less straightforward and intuitive to manage.

Good content marketing does wonder for brand development. A good amount of written content is a great backbone for establishing a social media profile. Furthermore, good content will help you develop your SEO, which then helps with overall traffic. It will be much easier for your customer management team to refer the customers to a FAQ article or a How-To guide and save time they would otherwise spend explaining. The key thing is integrating your content with the rest of your brand development in a smart way.

Integrating content

Content integration is not something you should do on the fly. To tackle it efficiently, you need to make a long-term plan. That way you can simultaneously deal with different steps of brand storytelling, and have the necessary content to support you. If you are new to marketing, there is virtually no chance that you will get everything right. Especially if you don't even have a clear idea of what your brand is and how you are going to present it. So, if you feel overwhelmed, don't shy away from consulting with a professional.

Even a single session with an experienced marketing professional can clear things up for you. With their input, you can prioritize different aspects of your brand storytelling and ensure that you don't waste any time. Keep in mind that different industries have different marketing needs. Therefore, there is no one-for-all solution when it comes to brand storytelling. Your best bet is to do as much research as possible with a focus on your industry and get professional guidance.

Final thoughts on brand storytelling vs content marketing

When it comes to brand storytelling vs content marketing, it is fair to say that brand storytelling is far more expensive than content marketing. While, ideally, you would tackle bard storytelling with the depth and enthusiasm that it requires, not all companies have the time nor the resources to do so. Therefore, it stands to reason that you should stick with something simple, straightforward, and easy to develop. Namely, content marketing.

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Cost-effectiveness vs marketing impact

Content marketing in general gives you great cost-effectiveness. Compared to other aspects of brand storytelling, you can invest far fewer resources to get decent results. The trick is researching your audience and knowing what type of content to create. Besides written content, you can also create story content, animated content, and even interactive content. New platforms give you much more ease to stray away from old-school articles and present your content in an exciting way. And understanding these platforms is essential to engage your audience in a meaningful way. The last thing you want is to have a large pile of articles that nobody reads. Tackle content marketing well, and we are sure that it will yield you satisfactory results.