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Content management tools are lifesavers when you're a marketer. These tools go beyond just a social media calendar or a task tracker. They help you organize and streamline all your content processes, from planning and creating to reporting to your clients. We all know...
The way we see it, branded content merges branding and advertising. It targets human emotions in a calculated and very artistic manner. Branded content challenges the principles of content creation as we know it. It tends to go the extra mile and tap into storytelling.
If we were to look for a definition of branded content, we would find out that it’s just content that is openly produced by a particular advertiser. However, due to this, transparent funding advertisers need to create impressive content that strikes an emotional chord with their audience.
While the concept does appear as modern, its first iterations can be traced back to the early ’40s. Back then, quiz shows and soap operas were produced and sponsored, each by a single brand. Those same trends are being repeated today through web shows. One example of this is Jerry Seinfeld’s show, ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’. It doesn’t take very long to see that car manufacturer Acura is highly involved in the show’s content.
Throughout the last century, businesses have been looking into intricate ways of creating impressive content that is recognizable and has a substantial emotional impact. At the same time, they must also balance a desire to market with expectations that they hold to ethical standards.
The latter can be complicated. The article listed above mentions the Quiz Show scandal of the 1950s. But branded content controversies still exist today. Celebrities and influencers have been criticized for sharing content about products, then failing to disclose that they’ve been compensated for doing so. There’s a trust issue that must be solved for sure. In fact, 54% of people don’t trust sponsored content. Another ⅔ felt misled when they found out that content was sponsored by a brand.
Of course, trust is just one of the challenges marketers face. The other is creating branded content that resonates with audiences. The following addresses both dilemmas.
There are certainly some modern day examples of branded content that stand out as very good examples. Marketers can use these as a starting point.
The story here is a bit of sponsored photo-journalism from a dad sharing his experiences at an Airbnb in the Pacific Northwest. The writer expertly tells a story of making the most of a family vacation, in spite of one family member being sick. He weaves in ways in which staying in an Airbnb helped them enjoy a fun but subdued vacation, while still keeping a sick kiddo well-cared for.
Here, the focus is on telling a very relatable story. The brand mentions are relevant and sparse. It’s a great example of branded content that avoids hard sell tactics.
This is a great example of video content that incorporates likable characters, humor, and an interesting take on a common issue. Here, virtual reality is used to create scenarios where people experience a visual lag in real life, similar to what they might experience online with a slow connection.
In the video, people with VR headsets attempt a variety of activities while dealing with a lag. They try to play ping pong, bowl, cook pancakes and take an exercise class. Each effort is a hilarious failure. Here, the sponsor’s message is clear. If you wouldn’t tolerate lag in real life, why would you tolerate it online?
It’s one of the episodes from Samsung’s series, ‘Connected’. This episode follows a man with total color blindness who’s had a device implanted that senses color and translates it into sound. It’s a compelling watch.
This is a great example of brand-building goodwill simply by sharing interesting content. There are no mentions of Samsung products in the content whatsoever. The only way viewers know that it’s at all related to Samsung is the video’s description.
The essential aspect of branded content is that the story comes first, the advertisement is always second. The examples above do an excellent job of illustrating this. Secondly, the content needs to have a strong emotional impact on the audience. It has to make people care and needs to tap into emotions like happiness, sadness, surprise, and fear.
When this is done successfully, the results are hard to deny. Branded content that has an emotional impact increases sales and engagement. Doing this starts with developing a clear understanding of your audience. After all, how can you connect with someone if you don’t know them?
For some inspiration, check out these insights from marketers themselves about brands they love. In this piece, they describe how specific brands have used content that has impacted them, and inspired their loyalty.
Be transparent right away: it’s been shown that the consumers of native ads are much more responsive to it if the ads are openly labeled as such.
Here’s an example of a transparent native ad. It shows that it doesn’t take much effort at all to make it clear that content is brand sponsored. This can be done without distracting from the content. Further, if the content is interesting enough, it reflects quite well on the brand sponsoring the content.
Sync with the platform’s audience: It’s common that businesses create native ads featuring topics that are irrelevant to the magazine’s or website’s target audience.
Here’s an example of an ad that is relevant to the platform. Not only is the content itself appropriate for the Wa-Po audience (sophisticated, intelligent), but the imagery and formatting are as well.
Entertain and educate audiences at scale: While it’s important to have a profoundly inspiring message behind the ad, educating your audience is absolutely essential. It’s our responsibility to find topics that are common denominators between the niche aspects of a business and topics of public interest.
Here’s an example of an ad that provides a broad spectrum of information on a topic that is important to a large section of the population. It covers goals and concerns that virtually all of us have in common. These are the desire to travel, worries about family and health, and pursuing a career that is both lucrative and meaningful. It matches well with a wide audience and is relevant to Synchrony’s role as a financial services provider.
We, as consumers, become desensitized to ads. We’ve been conditioned to react less and less. We’re also no longer a captive audience. We can skip video ads, install ad blockers, scroll past, or buy subscriptions that give us the gift of an ‘ad-free experience’. This infers that providing customers with the advertisement that aims to deliver a message other than a compulsion to purchase a brand’s products is preferential to traditional advertising.
Not only is it easier to get branded content in front of your audience, but it’s also more impactful when you use it. Brand recall is 86% when audiences consume branded content, but only 65% with standard advertising.
Like any other marketing effort, branded content is only as valuable as the ROI it brings you. To do that, you have to start with goals and metrics. Whether you choose social media engagement, lead generation, or something else, and determine how you will obtain your measurements.
Once you know how you will measure your ROI, you can start taking action to get better results.
Branded content can certainly be an effective tool. It can build brand loyalty, help companies establish thought leadership, generate engagement, and earn leads. However, there are also challenges. While branded content can create an emotional response, making that happen isn’t easy. Trust is also an issue. To overcome these, brands must create quality content that is relevant to their audience, publish it on the right platforms, and focus on transparency.
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