We may call it whatever we want to – Content marketing or brand journalism, it is indeed one of the trending tools of brand building in today’s era of digital dynamism. Content that builds a brand’s relevance and reverence. Content that brings to life a brand’s personality. Content that connects contextually with the consumer. In the new age of the empowered consumer, aiming to own his mind space can very well be termed as marketing arrogance. If you want to engage users, you must give them something useful – not just marketing messages. That requires a depth of not only engaging information, but high-quality content designed to attract prospects, content that feed marketing programs and fuel brand trails. No wonder, brand journalism is increasing in importance.
Over the next couple of years, one will very clearly see brand journalism transition past its early phase. We will see a distinct shift towards original storytelling by brands. Not to miss the big point – storytelling has to be purpose driven to become the lifeblood of a brand. That is how brands will be able to establish deeper and more genuine connections with target audiences. Mobility will also be a big focus area for consumer brands. In this new world order, one will see the emergence of the concept of ‘Brand Newsroom’ mandated with the responsibility to build & drive a brand’s content strategy and storytelling. The end result expected is obviously to connect with target audiences – anytime, anywhere and across any device.
‘Brands as Publishers’ or ‘agencies as publishers’ or ‘publishers as brand communication experts’ – these are questions which will be solved as the concept of brand newsroom evolves. ‘Brand Newsrooms’ will aggregate and curate empowering content from various sources – be it from its own set of content creators, photo journalists or freelance writers. News or factual content will be leveraged to attract an audience who might be converted into paying customers. Brands will also be repurposing content to suit the needs of different audience groups and making it available to them across platforms. Technology will play a big role in this evolution process. It will soon be a common phenomenon to see brands outfitting Newsrooms with content management systems that matches that of media organisations.
