What Is Brand Journalism?

A lot of businesses and organization content offers who, what, when, where ... sometimes a little of the why and how. We take the time to do deeper interviews exploring the why and how before writing a story in a style like you’d read in a newspaper or magazine.

For example:

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Texas Tech University was given a $1.7 million gift for engineering scholarships from a man’s estate. A press release would have given the basic details and quotes from officials at the university.

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We interviewed his attorney and niece to find out he was a spy who listened to the Russians for the NSA and that he didn’t talk a lot about it. This was his authentic story. They also explained how much he loved Tech and wanted to support his alma mater, which modeled philanthropic behavior for others, which the client desires.

The story began like this:

Attorney Steven Andrew Jackson was curious about one of his estate planning clients. So one day he finally asked Frank Mitchell Jr.,

“Were you CIA or NSA?”
“NSA,” Mitchell replied.
Jackson asked what he did.
“Listen,” Mitchell told his attorney.
“To who?” Jackson asked.
“The Russians,” Mitchell said.

He said nothing more.

Mitchell — who passed away a couple of years ago in North Carolina — was a man of few words. He loved his country and was adored by family and friends. He also loved Texas Tech University, and his generosity will help engineering students with scholarships for a long time.

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Click here to read the rest of the story... 

Yes, it’s a long story ... that’s what this client liked and had in-house talent to make it look great on their website. Most of the stories we do are shorter.

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In the article, “5 Big Ways Content Marketing Will Change” by Contently, they say: 

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“Marketing execs are going to realize a rather obvious point this year: You can’t just tell a career marketer to ‘do content’ and expect to compete in a Hunger Games-esque media arena. That’s not a knock against marketers; it’s just that writing, editing, videography, and content strategy are specialized skills.”