Brand Journalism—Why You Need It for Your Business
Forget traditional marketing today. If you want to attract customers and clients – the ones who truly need your services – you need to practice brand journalism.
Put simply, it’s telling stories that showcase your brand and speak directly to the consumer/potential customer.
A great example is the Teleflora video that went viral just before Mother’s Day. Notice that while the Teleflora logo is shown a few times, at no time is it the center of the story. Instead, this powerful story is designed to evoke emotion tied to the brand and solidify the company’s positioning as one to think of when you need to express love. As of this writing, the video had more than 11 million hits.
That’s brand journalism. It isn’t designed to directly sell your product or service, but to connect with potential customers over time so you gain their trust. That trust eventually turns into sales.
How do you implement brand journalism for your business?
- Identify your own stories. This could be a case study about a client you helped, blogs commenting on news in your industry, or white papers that inform and educate readers about industry issues. It can even be an infographic. What it is not is a press release about your achievements or a sales aid about your services.
- Find a good writer. Sure, this might sound self-serving, but it’s true. If the content isn’t compelling and well written, it won’t be read/watched/listened to. Some companies are even hiring journalists to produce content (full disclosure: I have more than 10 years experience as a newspaper reporter).
- Use a variety of channels. Print is great, so is putting it on your web site. But what about publishing it as a Pulse column on LinkedIn, turning it into a podcast, posting it as images on Pinterest, or filming it as a video?
- Track your traffic. Which stories get the greatest interest? Where does that interest come from? What are the common elements of the most popular stories?
Are you using brand journalism or need help identifying and telling your story? Email me!
My New Identity
For 15 years I’ve identified myself as a medical writer able to communicate about clinical and healthcare (i.e., healthcare reform) topics. But at the Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) Writing Workshop I attended in March, I learned that I am also a “managed markets writer.” Who knew?
Some Updates
Speaking Gigs
Most Unique Project of the Quarter
A nonprofit association hired me to come up with 20 potential taglines for their new branding campaign. I had so much fun brainstorming that I gave them 39. What a blast!
|
|
|
