To tell a brand story, find the true moment that explains your business, pick the person who lived it, choose a format that lets them tell it in their own words, and put it where your customers already look. Then keep telling it, in different lengths, across your site, sales conversations and social channels. Telling is a process, not a single post.
This post is the delivery side: who tells the story, in which format, in what order, and where it goes. It isn't about the words on the page, which is covered in how to write a brand story, or the shape of the story, which is in how a brand story should be structured. The first line of a story gets its own post too: how brand storytelling should begin.
What's the first step in telling a brand story?
Decide what it's for. A story told to win tenders looks different from one told to attract staff, and both look different from one told to make a cold lead warm. If you start with "we should have a brand story", you'll make something pleasant that does no job.
Write one sentence: "This story should make [who] feel or understand [what], so they [do what]." For example, "make a procurement manager understand we're a stable, careful supplier, so they invite us to tender." It sounds obvious, and hardly anyone does it. It's the same discipline I describe in why a brand film needs a business goal.
Who should tell the story?
The person who lived it, in their own words. That's the whole principle, and it's the difference between a documentary brand film and a promo. A voiceover reading a script tells people about you. A founder talking at the counter of their own shop shows them.
Some practical points from the shoots I've done:
- Choose one lead voice. Usually the founder, though not always. Add one or two others who give a different angle, such as the person who runs the daily work or a customer.
- Pick people who like talking about it. Enthusiasm for the subject matters far more than camera confidence.
- Don't use the person with the best title. Use the one with the best stories.
- Let them speak in their own register. If they swear a bit when they're excited, or go quiet before the important bit, keep it. That's what makes it theirs.
If your lead is nervous, how to prepare for being filmed will take the edge off. And it helps to know what actually happens on the day, which I cover in what a brand film shoot day in London looks like.
Which format should you tell it in?
There are four formats I'd consider, in rough order of impact.
- A documentary film. The person tells it on camera, with the work shown over their words. Best when trust is the main thing you're selling.
- A written story with photographs. Cheaper and quicker, and it works well for About pages and press. Less effective at showing character.
- Short social video. One clip, one idea. Good for reaching new people, poor at telling the whole story.
- Live or in-person. Pitches, open days and events. Powerful, but it doesn't scale unless you record it.
My own bias is clear, but it isn't only bias. A film is the one format that lets a stranger see your face, your premises and how you talk, all in about four minutes. If you do only one, it's usually the film, with the other three cut or written from it. The comparison between a brand documentary and a conventional video is in brand documentary vs corporate video, and the format itself is explained in what a brand story video is.
Pick the format that lets the right person say the right thing in their own voice.
How do you draw the story out of someone?
You don't ask them for "the story". People freeze on that question. You ask about the smaller things and the story turns up by itself.
On a shoot, I'd usually start with something easy, such as how a normal day begins. Then I move towards what they remember: the first customer, the worst week, the moment they nearly stopped. I ask for an example every time somebody says a general thing like "we care about quality". "Tell me about a time" gets a story. "What are your values?" gets a slogan.
I also leave silences. Most people fill a pause with the real answer. It's the most useful interview habit I've got and it costs nothing.
For a long founder story, such as our La Fromagerie documentary, the structure arrives in the edit. Several people, including the founder, the cheesemongers and the wholesale side, each give their account of the same business. We cut between them. None of them was told what to say. They were asked good questions and given time.
A good part of YouTube viewing has moved to the big screen at home, so the place you tell the story changes how it gets watched.
In what order should you tell it?
You'll find a fuller treatment in the structure post, but a delivery rule of thumb is to start with a person doing something, move to why it matters, show the difficulty, then show what changed. End on something the viewer can carry away rather than a call to action and a logo.
For multiple pieces, plan a hierarchy:
- The main film, three to five minutes, tells the whole thread.
- Short cuts of 30 to 90 seconds, each carrying one idea.
- Vertical clips of a single strong sentence with captions.
- Written and photographic versions for your site and press.
All of it comes from the same shoot. Deciding the cuts before you film is cheaper than asking for them afterwards, which I explain in how to turn one brand film into a year of content.
Where should you tell it?
Where your customers already are, which is almost certainly more places than one. A useful split:
- Your website. The home page, About page and key service pages. This is where people go to check you out before getting in touch.
- Your sales conversations. Send the film before a first call. It does the introduction so the call can start in a better place.
- YouTube and social. Where new people find you. The long film lives on YouTube. Short cuts go to Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
- Email and proposals. A link in a signature or a tender document puts a human in front of the reader.
The choice depends on who you're talking to. Where to use your brand film goes through each place in more detail.
Does where people watch change how you tell it?
Yes. Ofcom's Media Nations 2025 found UK viewers spent an average of 39 minutes a day on YouTube in 2024, and 16 of those minutes were on the household TV set. The same film might be watched on a phone in a queue or on the big screen at home, so one story often needs two different cuts, and it's worth knowing which audience you're talking to before you decide where to put it. The viewing habits of your audience decide where a film should live. If your customers are younger, the film belongs on YouTube and social. If they're older and higher up in a company, it belongs on your site, in your proposals and in your emails.
Screens matter as well. A film watched on a phone on a train has to work with the sound off and in a vertical crop, so captions and framing are decided at the shoot, not afterwards.
How often should you tell it?
More than you think. A story you tell once is an announcement. Told repeatedly, in different lengths and from different angles, it becomes what people know you for. You don't need to reshoot it. You need to keep re-telling it as you add new evidence: a new customer, a new product, a milestone.
Our Nimrod Road film is a good example of working with what you have. It was filmed after the renovation, with the family already back in the house, so the "before" came from the original listing photos. The couple told it as their own account. It didn't need a time machine, only a decision about how to use what was available.
What does the process look like from idea to published?
In rough order, and with timings that vary a lot by project:
- Conversation. An hour or so with the founder to find the thread and the job it needs to do. Cheap, and the most valuable hour of the process.
- Plan. Who's on camera, where, what the work looks like at its best, and which cuts you want at the end. This is where the brief gets written, and how to write a video brief will help.
- Shoot. Usually a day, sometimes two. Interviews first while people are fresh, then the work and the place.
- Edit. The story is built here, from what people said. Expect a first cut, one round of changes and a final.
- Release. Site, YouTube, social, email, proposals. Plan this before you film, so the files are the right shape.
- Review. After a few months, look at what you said you wanted. Did sales calls change? Are the enquiries better?
Most of the waiting is on the client side. Approvals, availability and finding the right day for everyone. A story told by three busy people takes longer to schedule than to film.
What mistakes should you avoid when telling it?
- Telling it once. A single launch post is gone by the weekend. Keep it in circulation.
- Reading from a script. People who recite sound like they're reciting. Use questions and a rough list of topics instead.
- Over-polishing. Take out the stumbles and you take out the person. Clean up the sound, keep the character.
- Telling too many stories at once. One thread per piece. If you have three good ones, make three pieces.
- Hiding the ending. Some brands spend three minutes talking and never get to what they do. Say what you do, plainly, before the end.
- Forgetting the viewer's next step. A soft, clear line telling people how to get in touch, and nothing pushier.
What does it cost to get wrong?
Mostly time and credibility. A story told in the wrong format, to the wrong audience or in a voice that isn't the speaker's feels off even if no one can say why. The fix is rarely a bigger budget. It's going back to the basics: one clear job, one true person, one format that suits the telling.
If you'd like all the strands in one place, the complete guide to brand storytelling links to every post in this series. And if you've got a story and you're not sure how to tell it, get in touch and we'll work out the best way.
