content marketing and brand journalism strategy ragan

Gene King, APR

Director Global Media Relations

& Corporate Communications

@geneaking

U.S. newspaper print circulation decreased 8.7% in past 5 years

Digital circulation of newspaper outlets worldwide increased 45.3%

Reporters writing headlines to get more views

NY Times builds out “digital rewrite team”

Dailies don’t print daily anymore

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Cerner’s big

win sets off Twitter boom Surprise was widespread Wednesday

when the business team involving Cerner

Corp. won a $9 billion to $11 billion

contract with the U.S. Department of

Defense.

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YOUR

BRAND

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90 percent of purchase decisions conducted online

60 percent of consumers are inspired to seek a product after reading content about it

50 percent of marketers with content strategy indicate it has increased brand visibility, thought leadership, SEO, web traffic and buyer engagement

80 percent prefer content vs. ads

61 percent more likely to buy from brands with custom content

Source: Captora

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Content Marketing

vs.

Brand Journalism

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Media and marketing are converging as more brands launch their own publishing operations

Storytelling is a powerful way to connect with consumers

The key to gaining trust of your audience is to publish material that is credible and honest

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Content Marketing is the planning, creation, and amplification of brand and customer focused narratives that drive measureable business outcomes – Mark Ragan

Content Marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. – The Content Marketing Institute

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Brand journalism involves telling journalism-style stories about a company that make readers want to know more, engage with the brand that ultimately leads to a relationship based on trust leading to increase in brand reputation.

◦ PRSA listed it as one of top trends in public relations

◦ Use tools, tactics and style of journalism to tell a company’s story

◦ Give them real and interesting stories they can relate to

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Content Marketing

Transactional/Sales

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Brand Journalism

Relationship/Reputation

+

Combine strategic content produced in a journalistic style for a targeted segment to move audiences through customer hierarchy.

◦ Increase awareness

◦ Engage the audience

◦ Influence behavior

◦ Gain/establish trust

◦ Build relationships

◦ Drive reputation

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+

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Know your audience

◦ Most audiences still get info from news organizations

◦ News and content shared among professionals on LinkedIn

◦ Audiences share content with friends/family and say they read content shared by friends/family

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Big data

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polyculturalism

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Awareness of products/services

Engagement metrics of views, shares, time on page

Clicks as referrals within your site

Lead generation via fillable forms within content

Year-round interaction

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Turn press releases into features and then some

Convert expert interviews into video and/or audio posts

Post slideshows to share

Multiple pieces of content out of studies and whitepapers

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Preseason

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Media Hits

Newsroom

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Media Hits

Newsroom

Tax season

Summer

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Media Hits

Newsroom

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50% of Switch to Block media mentions included SwitchToBlock email.

Switch To Block post on newsroom was No. 1 most viewed in history. Almost 45,000 views

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Sept

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Oct

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Nov

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Dec

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Jan

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Feb

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Mar

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Apr

'15

May

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Jun

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Jul

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Aug

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Sept

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Oct

'15*

Newsroom Views

Google Search

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http://news.shepherd.org/ 34

Not just Media Relations pros, but Bureau Chiefs

◦ Reporting the news goes both ways

◦ Professional story tellers

◦ Bringing client and/or office stories to life

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August 2015 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

FOCUS 3 4 5 6 7 8

News Personal Finance Features Blog Save on college textbooks Are scholarships taxed? National dollar day Book lover's day BA NL W-4 checkup HRB NL Activation TTI.com Wynne and KCET Self-employment tax LinkedIn Culture counts

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News ITC enrollment Features Blog ITIN and child tax credit Most serious IRS notices Tax ID theft BA NL HRB NL Tax calculator Activation TTI.com IRS notices re: APTC Disaster relief LinkedIn

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News First-time penalty abatement Features Child care credit First-time penalty abatement Blog "Get Transcript" breach Moving out Basic finance terms Debt-free or no? BA NL Year-end plan HRB NL Activation TTI.com Tangible property rules LinkedIn Time to stop tax fraud

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News Features Higher education credits Social Security and taxes

Blog Health care and life changes Building work wardrobe Life expectancy of appliances

BA NL HRB NL Activation TTI.com “Get Transcript” breach LinkedIn Budget Challenge

Industry has changed

Need to change with it

OWN your content

Already doing some of this

Aligns with PESO model

Measureable and actionable

Content can drive clients

Brand Journalism can drive reputation

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Content

Marketing

+

Brand

Journalism

=

Success

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Gene King, APR

Director Global Media Relations

& Corporate Communications

@geneaking