Content Marketing: The Evangelism of Brand Journalism

Every year businesses spend millions of dollars trying to get on the front page of high profile publications, websites and news stories. They throw themselves at media outlets with time consuming projects, expensive galas and off-brand publicity stunts--all for what? To get ignored, because journalists have a nose for when they are being sold and an even keener sense for what the public is interested in.

But how do you not get ignored? The answer is simple: hire them.

By hiring a journalist you hire an insider to write for your brand. A savant-of-the-printed-word that not only has consumer instincts and writing talent but better methods to keep from being ignored.

One example of a company excelling in branded journalism, highlighted in David Meerman Scott's WebInkNow, is Raytheon. Raytheon is an aerospace systems company specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. In 2011, Raytheon brought on ex-TV producer Corinne Kovalsky as Director of Digital and Social Media. Kovalsky then picked up Stephanie Schierholz, social media manager from NASA, and Chris Hawley from the Associated Press. Together they have put together a editorial operation to rival a news publication.

"I'm helping to build a news operation," said Chris in WebInkNow. "We are working at Raytheon just like an AP beat to find interesting stories and tell the world about them in a way that engages. We have bureau chiefs in all of our four divisions. They have certain products that they want to talk about so we try to find new and interesting ways of exploring those stories. And we refine the story ideas, assign writers and we're doing a lot of training on editing and getting those stories out."

As far as success, Raytheon has seen a 451% web traffic increase over the year before and is frequently featured in articles from publications like Gizmodo and other tech outlets.

Know of other companies hiring brand journalists to write or run their content strategy? I'd love to hear about them below.