Branded content can be loosely defined as content produced by an organization with two discrete (and overlapping) goals: to engage the ultimate content consumer, and to drive an organizational goal – often brand-building, competitive differentiation, or sales.
Done well, branded content is an important engagement tool. Done poorly, it looks clumsy and self-serving.
Here are 24 branded content thought-starters. Some are well beyond the “typical,” and illustrate how persuasive – and flexible – this tool can be.
- Guest blog posts
- A sponsored blogger
- A sponsored speaker
- Advertorials in traditional media
- Columnist in a newspaper
- Radio show host
- Product reviews
- Product comparisons (white papers, “independent” websites, etc)
- “Flanker” websites for shopping or reviews
- Paid content on content sites
- Trade magazine articles
- “How to” articles in article directories
- “How to” video/ YouTube channels
- Editorship of sections of “how to” websites
- Co-operate monthly magazine (real and web)
- Sponsored survey
- Sponsored market research
- Creation of a research institute to fund both academic and corporate research
- Product giveaways to ambassadors/influencers
- Sponsored contests with corporate judges
- Student ambassadors
- Multiple Twitter accounts
- Training on industry knowledge (Online/Real World)
- Certification for industry knowledge
- Corporately self-published books
This Week’s Action Plan: Finding the balance between meeting the target audience’s needs and your own is difficult. This week, review the balance for any branded content you produce, and readjust, if necessary.
