This is the essence of brand journalism: the simple idea that your
organization is in the best position to break its own news, showcase
its expertise and deliver thought leadership to your many audiences,
internally and externally.
Public relations reaches people through the news media, which can add credibility to a story. Yet many people have tuned out the media.
Brand journalists create stories using the same techniques that reporters and editors use, such as reporting, interviewing and storytelling, to build a company’s reputation. Brand journalists focus on what the audience wants to know, unlike [public relations, which focuses on what the organization wants to tell them.
This guide goes through the three phases of starting your own brand journalism program:
Phase 1: The building blocks. Make the business case for your new venture, review your current editorial process and begin designing your online newsroom.
Phase 2: Train, market and launch. Teach your team the new way of thinking about storytelling. Firm up the marketing plan and establish your new editorial structure.
Phase 3: Regular publication. Distribute your stories with existing and new communications channels. Plan your content.
Brand journalism is certainly a content strategy, but it’s also a management strategy. You aren’t just creating a platform; you’re building a news operation that seeks to feed a well-defined and demanding audience that will just as easily go to the Google machine if they can’t find what they want.
How do you start? You can start one story at a time, but this guide will give you the big picture.
