The old way of inspiring brand
awareness and loyalty focused on influencing consumers by subtly “highlighting”
a certain word or term in marketing campaigns. Today, users no longer respond
to marketing language and advertising campaigns that speak generically about a
brand. It seems to me that customers want a personal connection, and brand
journalism allows companies to entrench themselves in consumer’s lives without
the in-your-face, sales tactics people hate.
Adobe, American
Express, Red Bull, and several other companies have adopted brand journalism
with the goal of adding value to their target markets’ lives, while still
planting and tending the marketing seeds needed to nurture a consumer through
to the point of purchase. Their digital properties are designed to offer
insight, entertainment, and awareness. While this strategy isn’t brand new by any means, it is becoming more and
more prevalent as brands try to find ways to connect to customers and engage a
migrating digital audience. In fact, if brand journalism is done expertly, many
online readers may not recognize the brand affiliation right away. But does it
work?
What is Brand Journalism
In a nutshell, brand journalism is marketing through
journalism. Instead of using content
that directly promotes the brand through traditional marketing tactics, brand
journalism focuses on building stories and other informational content that highlights
value from a different point of view. Companies that embrace brand journalism
use interviews and article-based websites that provide journalistic information
to support a product’s offerings.
Players In The Brand Journalism
Field
Brand journalism helps businesses build thought leadership. Some
companies dabble in it here and there, contributing guest articles on
third party sites, but those that make it a lucrative strategy tend to go
the whole nine yards and build their own media sites. Enterprises that have
done this successfully include:
·
Adobe’s com. Adobe caters to marketers.
CMO.com offers insight for marketers, and expands Adobe’s online presence from
a mere vendor to a source for inspiration, understanding, and trending
information.
·
Disney’s com. Disney focuses on children
and families. Babble, a Disney owned website, provides moms with tips and
information on everything from pregnancy to raising healthy, active children.
·
American
Express’s Open
Forum. American Express offers
credit and loan opportunities for small businesses. Open Forum allows
entrepreneurs to stay current with the latest business news and information,
often from thought leaders and business types who are knee-deep in the
trenches.
Having a hard time “remembering” the last time you landed on a
branded media site? Here’s an exercise to start doing: Look at
the URLs and “about us” information for these seemingly impartial, unbiased
media sites. You may be surprised at how many of them are actually brand
affiliated.
Brand Journalism
You can use the principles of brand journalism on your own website
in the form of a blog. In doing so, you’ll naturally boost your overall content
marketing strategy. Simply think about your industry as a reporter would think
of their “beat”, and remember the following:
·
Think
outside the box: Expand
your content scope beyond marketing to include other topics of interest for
your audience. Focus on adding value, not making a sale.
·
Emphasize
engagement: Digital
marketing involves creating a dialogue between brand and consumer. Content
should never feel like a one-sided conversation.
·
Mix
and match content: You
don’t have to dedicate a separate blog or website to brand journalism. Try
mixing up existing content to include pieces of brand journalism with product
demonstrations and customer reviews. As long as you tell a truthful story to
build awareness or offer insight, the piece will fall under the category of
brand journalism instead of advertising or marketing.
·
Build
trust. Companies that build
trust with the content they produce can maintain their presence as reliable
media sources for their audiences. Anything that feels too branded or
marketing-focused will come across as biased and untrustworthy. Do research and
avoid putting amateur or unfounded opinions into the writing.
If your company has a collection of topics that fills a missing
niche for your consumers, create your own affiliated site to offer thought
leadership and prioritize brand journalism instead of relying heavily on
branded assets, such as blogs and social media, to do the work for you. Use the
incoming information to generate and qualify leads for your primary site – and
you just might inspire some loyalty for your products and services.
Source: www.forbes.com
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