Brand journalists utilize their power to present information, while creating intriguing stories for a company or brand, that help to engage an audience. The stories are often clever marketing strategies for the company sponsoring the publication. These advertisements can, at often times, be so discrete that many people don’t even notice that they are being advertised to. In John Oliver’s video, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Native Advertising, he claims that nearly half of visitors to a news site, cannot distinguish news from advertisements. Depending on how you look at brand journalism, it can be seen as both an advantage or a conflict.
There are many similarities between traditional and brand journalism, which is part of the reason that it can be difficult to decipher the two from one another. The only difference between the two is the intent of the writing. Good traditional journalism is typically used to inform readers about any variety of subjects, without any particular preference, bias, or stance on the matter. Where as branded journalism is used to inform readers about a subject, but with the intention of intriguing or swaying the audience into checking further into the subject, company, or brand that the journalist is reporting on. So again, in simple terms: Traditional journalism reports on any matter with or without the desire to have the audience do anything more than be informed. While branded journalism, typically creates some type of call to action, or interest in the audience to further their knowledge on the subject.
Research is a huge part of brand journalism. Journalist must do thorough research into demographics, insights, and the likes and dislikes of consumers that would be interested in the brand they are working with. The White Paper: The New Rules of Content discusses how social media has made this much easier to do. “By closely monitoring Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others we can see, in a live environment, what is attracting the most interest.” Facebook’s analytics system is very informative. These outlets have become a huge time saver for Brand Journalists. Ideas can be drawn from these statistics and give the company a far more likely possibility of engaging their consumers effectively.
From a journalist’s perspective there are many advantages. As traditional journalism becomes less effective and more expensive to manage, journalists are able to use brand journalism to help finance traditional pieces. There is so much spam and bad use of advertising that it is only normal that people would be less than trusting. That is where brand journalism, also known as content marketing, has gotten it’s boost from. People love stories over just plain advertisements. They want to know the who, what, where, when, why, and the how’s of a company. Journalists are natural story tellers and are able to use that talent in a way that can benefit the companies they choose to work with and the audience. Bianca Consunji, a video producer, featured in the Video Now: Mashable piece, says it perfectly, “The best way to get more views is to get people to react to it. It has to be something they can either relate to, something that they feel that they should share with their friends. I think that is the direction of video right now. It’s about social sharing.”
From a marketer’s perspective, brand journalism is highly effective. Forbes discusses how Brand Journalism builds trust between brands and consumers. Content Marketing Institute states that 93% of business to business marketers now use Brand Journalism, or content marketing, as a part of their marketing plan. The audience needs to feel a connection to the brand. Building a quality and creative story about the brand, helps to connect the audience and intrigue them. Creating an inspirational piece or enticing emotion is what drives people to share the information with their friends and family. According to Diane Gage Lofgren, brand journalism drives search engine results and pictures within pieces enrich your story and brand. Search engine optimization is very important. With so many people using Google for any and all questions they may have, being sure to be one of the top results can play a huge part in attracting flow to your brands page, as well as bring trust to the brand as being a top ranked source for the searched information.
Although there are many positives to this type of journalism, there are also many negatives or rather controversy, from both sides. It is argued that this type of marketing is “trickery”. Like I stated previously, in many cases, it is difficult for the audience to determine whether they are reading traditional journalism or branded content, since sponsorship information is sometimes excluded or hidden within the piece in a way that if you aren’t looking for it specifically, you wouldn’t notice it.
Traditional journalism holds an ethical duty to present information to the people in a credible way. It is the journalist’s duty to be an informant of the people and their best interest, well-being, and prosperity must be taken in to account. They are to ensure that those in power do not take advantage of the public. Whereas, in branded journalism, it is the sole desire to make the company or brand sponsoring the piece, to look the best it can, with or without all of the facts. They are not necessarily lying by doing things this way, but rather withholding bits of information that may sway the audience’s opinion in a way unfavorable to the brand or company.
This has caused a frustration in some consumers and traditional journalists because they feel that they should be able to trust that they are receiving factual information without bias. This belief is based of the standards within our democracy placed on journalists as well as the laws through the Federal Trade Commission, which states that when consumers see or hear an advertisement, whether it’s on the Internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, federal law says that ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. If a trusted journalist is writing a sponsored piece with possibly a conflicting personal opinion, one could call this dishonesty and against typical ethical guidelines. If a journalist is paid for post then the likelihood of them creating a bias piece, with or without factual information is far more likely.
It has become quite apparent, that the main concern that needs to be addressed is the ethics within brand journalism. If brand journalist can report while upholding the same standards of conduct as a traditional journalist should, while still representing a brand, then it is more likely that this new media trend would be more widely accepted. People don’t mind being advertised to if they are aware, engaged, or feel a connection. They don’t like to feel deceived. If marketers and journalist can find a happy medium, then they should be able to utilize the full benefits of brand journalism. According to statistics from Hanley Wood, “eight in ten people prefer receiving information about a company through custom media. A contributor, Carol Krol, also discusses that communication is the greatest challenge for sale and marketing alignment. Journalists and marketers need each other.”
The controversy and conflict surrounding brand journalism as it exists between journalists and marketers can continue to be debated greatly and both sides of the argument. Both points of view are quite understandable. Change is always a scary thing, but it is also inevitable. Traditional journalism is not going to die out completely, but it is important for current and future media professionals to stay up to date on what is working and what is not. By doing so they give themselves a competitive advantage in their field.
Link List:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_F5GxCwizc – John Oliver’s Video
http://publish.lewispr.com/whitepapers/brandjourno/ – The White Paper: The New Rules of Content
http://videonow.towcenter.org/mashable.html – Bianca Consunji discusses how to get views and the direction video is taking.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lewisdvorkin/2012/10/03/inside-forbes-the-birth-of-brand-journalism-and-why-its-good-for-the-new-business/#53b171bb2107 – Forbes discusses how Brand Journalism builds trust between brands and consumers.
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/10/2014-b2b-content-marketing-research/ – 93% of business to business marketers now use Brand Journalism, or content marketing, as a part of their marketing plan.
https://prsay.prsa.org/2015/04/27/the-power-of-brand-journalism/ – Brand journalism drives search engine results.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising – Federal Trade Commission – Truth in Advertising.
http://www.demandgenreport.com/features/industry-insights/study-communication-is-greatest-challenge-for-sales-and-marketing-alignment – Communication is the greatest challenge for sale and marketing alignment.
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