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    Why You Should Introduce Brand Journalism In Your Marketing Strategy

    Dominic Tarn

    Dominic Tarn Head of Content

    24.08.2019

    Traditional PR approaches aren’t as efficient as they were previously. According to Cision’s research, 71% of journalists believe that the public trusts them less than they did three years ago.

    Marketers started focusing on the credibility of their materials and it turned out that brand journalism is what people are really looking for and trust.

    How can your business benefit from the introduction of brand journalism? Let’s unpack this question together.

    What Is Brand Journalism In Simple Words?

    When detecting the reduced impact of the usual PR solutions, digital marketing experts went far beyond direct promotional messages. They figured out how to make press releases more open and trustworthy by leveraging the power of content marketing and storytelling. This is how a new kind of soft promotion, called brand journalism, appeared.

    This new PR direction shifted from the model of ‘story pitching’ to ‘content sharing.’ It translates the values of the organization through fascinating stories. Stories don’t force you to any action and decision and aren’t lobbying for the interests of the company overtly, but they get readers worked up.

    Unlike direct ads, traditional journalism, and cursory content marketing, brand journalism powered by storytelling:

    • avoids direct selling;
    • answers the question “Why?”;
    • is based on research results and scientific facts.

    what is brand journalismThe most prominent thing about brand journalism is that your business name won’t remain hidden even without its explicit mention. Just come up with new exciting types of stories to share with your public and observe that great buzz arising around your company.

    The simplest way to introduce brand journalism in your marketing strategy is to launch a corporate blog. You can use it as:

    • An advertising platform for publishing company news instead of referring to some external media;
    • A tool to increase brand awareness and boost your industry expertise;
    • A stage in your sales funnel to convert leads into customers.

    Michael A. Stelzner, a founder of Social Media Examiner, surveyed 4,800+ marketers and figured out that 80+% of specialists were going to concentrate more on creating their content in 2019.

    social media examiner

    It’s not surprising.

    Blogging helps businesses make money. The higher the traffic to the target web page is, the higher the chances to get client opportunities. You can intentionally generate traffic to your website by using non-trivial headlines and experimenting with descriptions.

    Here are some special rules, or rather, tips to follow when creating branded content:

    1. Describe things that readers can check, operate on facts, do not sugarcoat, be objective.

    2. Show the face of the company and do not be afraid to express a personal opinion. The audience appreciates when company executives are sincere.

    3. Promote your content. It’s quite senseless to write blog pieces without actively sharing them with the community. You can look for influential media and opinion leaders in your industry to help spread your materials. Try publishing a press release on some public news platforms like PR Newswire, Marketpressrelease, Globenewswire, Prweb on your own.

    Is it hard to distribute content by yourself? At ReVerb, we’ll provide you with a dedicated PR specialist who’ll build a comprehensive promotional strategy and give you access to a wide network of impactful resources with great traffic to publish the news on.

    Feel free to write and call us. We really love to assist you in your pr efforts.

    Formats and Types of Brand Journalism

    You can implement your brand journalism strategy not only in the format of a blog. Take a look at such advanced solutions as promotion via magazines, radio, TV shows, videos, podcasts, games, and so on.

    Find more brand journalism examples and ideas of branded content formats in our previous article Overview of Fascinating Branded Content Examples To Learn From.

    Whatever you can tell users about your company, services, and products is a type of brand journalism. For instance, this can be:

    • useful information about the industry (statistics, updates, trends);
    • problematic issues of the industry and the solutions you offer;
    • overview and recommendations on the use of your products;
    • real stories of your company’s successes and failures (they will show your honesty and openness);
    • interviews with your employees.

    types of brand journalism

    Simple brand journalism examples are:

    1. Corporate blog: several categories, longreads;
    2. Instagram: a branded page with user-generated posts;
    3. Facebook: a business page with company updates and regular categories (memes, statistics, tips).
    4. A multimedia project: longreads + stories of your employees + video tutorials + sponsorship materials written by industry influencers.

    How Famous Brands Make The Most Out of Brand Journalism

    These giant corporations presented the world with numerous awesome brand journalism examples. Enjoy them and get the juices flowing.

    Red Bull

    Initially, it’s an energy drink manufacturer. But making the shift to branded journalism, the company became a real Media Holding. Red Bull launched an online media called redbullmediahouse.com. They also have online radio, Red Bull TV, and glossy magazines.

    All of the Red Bull’s communication channels are under one umbrella. They are aimed at meeting the target audience’s needs and relate exclusively to its values and interests by promoting an active lifestyle, extreme sports, youth, and entertainment.

    red bull

    Airbnb

    The company detuned from the traditional short-term rental proposals by the unreasonably expensive hotels to the opportunity to stay in private apartments of locals. This feature allowing you to get to know the country through its inhabitants became a turning point in Airbnb’s brand positioning.

    The main channel of communication with their audience is the Airbnb blog. Here you’ll find not only typical travel posts but traveling tips that help future travelers to study a city’s sights and entertainment possibilities in advance. Their branded stories are user-generated, i.e. written personally by guests and hosts.

    airbnb blog

    Guide.michelin.com

    The MICHELIN Guide does not have a huge impact on modern gastronomic culture. Their blog authors make reviews of the best restaurants around the world, introduce prominent people in the field of culinary, and share travel recommendations with reference to the best cafes and restaurants. All this is presented in a unique branded style.

    michelin guide

    Brand24.blog

    It’s a kind of content marketing academy that produces a lot of branded educational materials. On their blog, you can find numerous case studies, tutorials on how to make a remarkable content and efficiently distribute it, and insights provided by the marketing influencers.

    brand blog

    Conclusion

    You should understand that brand journalism is a helpful, culture-forming tool for boosting sales that will kick in when it’s time. It may take you a while to get expected financial results if you work on your own.

    Surely, the involvement of qualified journalists, bloggers, and PR experts will speed up this process. However, you can stay assured that it will immediately affect your company’s reputation and users’ trust. Isn’t that priceless?

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