“Your Brand Doesn’t Need a Storyteller. Here’s Why”

Have you ever been to a networking session and found yourself trapped listening to some guy who introduces himself as a “storyteller” before telling you, with a condescending smile, that actually, we’re all storytellers, really?

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece about how companies are “desperately seeking storytellers”. Apparently, one of the oldest job titles in the world is now the hottest new title in corporate America. And I am just not a fan.

Look, if your job title is “storyteller”, please don’t take this the wrong way. But every time I hear it, I just think it feels pompous and, dare I say it, kinda wanky.

Until we’re sitting in a post-apocalyptic wasteland recounting tales by the campfire, maybe we can cool it with the label. The designer Stefan Sagmeister put it best: “People who truly tell stories, novelists and film directors, do not call themselves storytellers. Those who are not, do.”

Other than just finding it a bit cringe, one of my main issues is when the title is this vague, teams misunderstand what it entails. That’s where scope creep happens. That’s how you get burnt-out professionals.

While the term is loose, it has exploded in use; LinkedIn job postings mentioning “storyteller” have doubled in the past year, with over 50,000 marketing positions and more than 20,000 communications roles now using the term. So why not storytellers? Well, for one, we can see the high turnover in these storyteller roles.

Here’s one of the ways it plays out. A company hires a “Head Storyteller” at £80,000 to “own the narrative”. Six months in, they’re writing LinkedIn posts, producing case studies, ghostwriting exec thought leadership, managing the podcast, rewriting website copy, and somehow responsible for “narrative alignment” across three departments – and burning out in the process. The role was sold as strategic. The reality is they’re a content factory. Twelve months in, they leave. The company lists the role again, this time at £95,000 because “it’s clearly more senior than we thought”. Try, try again.

The other issue is that the title undervalues specialist work. When “storyteller” becomes the umbrella term, design gets chucked in under generic “content creation”. A branded investor deck that should cost roughly £15,000 – split across strategy, copy, and design – gets bundled as a £7,000 “storytelling deliverable”. Suddenly, design teams are fighting to prove their work isn’t just basically “making it pretty”, when in reality, their visual decisions are narrative decisions.

A designer choosing typography or establishing content hierarchy on a layout are all strategic choices that influence how you digest that piece of communication. But when everyone reports to a “Head of Storytelling”, design is often treated as execution rather than a key part of strategy and thinking.

What your brand actually needs: An editor

So if not the storyteller, then what? I propose the editor. Your brand doesn’t need someone to invent stories. It needs someone to find them, shape them and decide what not to say. That’s an editor.

An editor makes stories clearer. Here’s what an editor actually does that a “storyteller” doesn’t:

Editors curate. They understand that not every customer testimonial, product feature, or company milestone deserves airtime. They kill your darlings. They know when to say no. An editor will understand narrative arc and pacing, and they shape how information flows across touchpoints.

Editors understand context and audience. They know the difference between an investor deck, a customer case study, or an internal rallying cry.

Editors respect specialists. They know when to bring in experts and when the copy needs a designer. They don’t ask designers to “just make this deck look nice” – they brief them on what needs to be communicated and why. They recognise that design thinking shapes what gets said and how.

Editors pull stories out; they don’t make them up. Your ops team knows where things break. Your sales team knows what customers actually say. Your founder knows what nearly killed the company. The most effective storytellers inside companies are product leaders, engineers, and commercial heads who understand how the system operates and take responsibility for explaining it clearly.

An editor’s job is to give those people a platform and a structure. Crucially, the editor model preserves these distinctions. Design isn’t a subset of storytelling.

Before you hire a “storyteller”, ask this:

Where is your brand communication actually breaking down?

Do you have stories but can’t articulate them clearly? You need a copywriter.

Do you have material but struggle to see which stories matter most? You need a strategist.

Are your visual assets inconsistent or failing to communicate clearly? You need a designer.

Do you have all the pieces of the puzzle but lack structure or consistency? You need an editor.

Brand stories are usually just buried. The work is uncovering them and communicating them clearly. That takes editors, strategists, writers, and designers, not one person with a vague title and an impossible remit.

Eve Macdonald is creative growth strategist at KISS branding

Source: Designweek UK