Ragan survey: Brand storytelling increases in importance

Brand storytelling has dramatically increased in both importance and volume over the last three months, likely driven by the communications urgency of the pandemic and associated crises of 2020.

More than 62% or respondents in a new Ragan survey indicated that storytelling has increased in importance for them, while fewer than 30% said it hasn’t changed and only 6.8% of respondents say it’s decreased in importance.

And the pace of messaging has increased significantly as well. Nearly 76% or survey respondents said communications around their brand’s values and mission has increased in recent months.

The findings are part of Ragan’s Annual Survey on Brand Storytelling, which was conducted recently and sought to get a sense of communications priorities in brand messaging and preferred channels.

The survey and an accompanying event were sponsored by 3BL Media and News Direct.

Respondent profile

Of the respondents, more than 58% have responsibility for both internal and external communications, with the rest specializing in one or the other. Nearly 40% of them work for for-profit corporations, while about 25% work for nonprofit organizations and associations. Respondents also came from agencies, government, and were independent practitioners.