Our Approach to Branded Content

Brands need to find new ways to build equity with customers
And one way to do that is by finding new ways to tie your brand’s values to your customers’.  The growth of social media channels and the ubiquity of the web have made this possible.  But all of these possibilities come with a price.

The media landscape is a crowded, messy place.  And as the information “pipe” continues to expand, the ability of traditional media to keep filling it with new and useful information is in doubt.  This results in publishers, broadcasters, writers and editors relying on sources they know and material they can easily access when it comes to producing news and information.

It also means that stories about “known” brands are often repeated by one or more competing media. The resulting “echo chamber effect” can amplify both the good and the bad.

One thing’s for sure – if you’re on the outside looking in, it’s bad.

It all starts with a plan
In order to help clients break through to editors, writers and other media – and, more importantly, to reach select audiences who matter to the survival of the brands we support – we create an editorial “plan” for our clients’ brands and produce additional media channels to guarantee their message gets out.

We make sure to take a number of factors into consideraiton when developing the plan: the buying cycle of our clients’ customers, established media calendars of leading publications, important trade/industry events, national holidays, etc.  The plan gives us a foundation from which we can research and write the stories we tell and to advance our work to other journalists who might be interested in pursuing the story on their own.

Story-telling gone hi-tech
Timely and regular distribution of this content is a key to the success of our branded content programs.  In some cases, we work with our clients to produce and own the media vehicle used and in others we work with media properties to create long-term editorial and engagement relationships.

A key piece to hi-tech story-telling, however, is engagement.  Social media marketing practices require us to find ways to get consumers to feedback to us.  Whether that’s tying a Facebook page into our editorial plan or creating a series of public events – the brand’s message needs to live in a two-way conversation in order to really make a difference.

The key is to own as much of the conversation as possible in order to make sure it’s accurate, engaging and relevant to those who matter most to your on-going success.

See Also:

About Liz Lareau, Partner
About Mike Bawden, Partner
Our Strategic Partners
Why We’re Different
Our Five Major Strengths
Our Experience with Social Media
Our Approach to Branded Content
A Broad Overview of Our Services
Why We Don’t Enter Award Competitions
Retainers, Fees and Projects … How We Get Paid
A Brief Geography Lesson …