Can journalism help establish your brand?
Advocates say ‘brand journalism’ makes use of reporting techniques and increased transparency; critics call it an oxymoron.
Some envision a communications future in which organizations spread their messages like bread-crumb trails through Twitter, Facebook or whatever new medium emerges next week.
But a new movement sees the future in an old media institution known for bad coffee, snappish editors and storytelling prowess under pressure: the newsroom.
A growing number of organizations are embracing a communications philosophy under a hotly debated name: “brand journalism.” They are hiring reporters and photographers to write articles, shoot pictures and produce videos that draw readers to their websites and heighten brand awareness.
Brand journalism is the effort by any organization—the military, corporations, rock bands, nonprofits—to position itself by creating content ranging from articles to video to white papers, says David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of Real-Time Marketing & PR.
“I think all websites in the future will look like The Wall Street Journal online or msnbc.com,” Scott says. “The good ones already do.”
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