Branded Content Guide: Definition, Examples & Tips
In a fast-paced social media-driven society, consumers often only give content a few seconds before swiping and seeking new content.
Yet the content that can capture their audience's attention has the opportunity for brand engagement and potential virality.
In such a high-volume, high-reward content marketplace, it can be challenging for businesses, marketers, and creatives to know where to focus.
While some of the specifics might depend on the marketing budget, the high-level goal stays the same: your focus should be on maximizing the potential of modern content. And there’s no better way to do that than branded content.
In this article, we’ll walk you through what branded content is with a definition and examples.
But hey, if you’re already familiar with branded content and want to jump straight to the tips.
What is Branded Content?
Branded content is a marketing strategy that involves producing content that aligns entirely with your brand. Generally, branded content explains brand values or tells a unique brand story.
Some of the main characteristics of branded content includes
- Brand Storytelling - branded content should tell a story that helps the audience better understand who the brand is, where the brand came from or where they are heading
- Focused on the Brand Values - Instead of focusing on the product or service, branded content is focused entirely on expressing brand values.
- Seeks to Develop Engagement and Brand Ambassadors - branded content doesn’t have a sales-related goal. Instead, the goal will be building brand awareness and loyalty.
Two Examples of Branded Content
Wondering what this content marketing strategy looks like in action? Here are two great examples of branded content:
Red Bull TV
Red Bull started as an energy company. But founder Dietrich Mateschitz always had a larger vision of wanting to combine his business with his passion: sports.
Initially, this involved years of Red Bull sponsoring a variety of action sports events. The company then decided to pivot into media by starting the production company Red Bull TV. The pivot proved successful. Red Bull TV is now considered one of the most prominent action sports media companies. The company’s branded marketing has grown into a holistic strategy where all content produced or sponsored helps solidify Red Bull and its brand.
Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches Campaign
The beauty product company Dove created powerful branded content with its Real Beauty Sketches Campaign.
Within the ad, Dove hired a forensic artist to interview and draw women based solely on their descriptions of their appearance. Then, the artist drew another image based on an interview with an individual that had recently met.
Once both drawings were complete, the women were brought in to observe the differences in the images. What they found was that they often didn’t even recognize their beauty.
The entire ad is a brilliant example of branded content and went viral surpassing 70 million views on YouTube.
How to Create Content for Your Brand
If you’re looking to get started creating content for your brand, here are a few key tips to keep in mind.
- Understand your brand - this is the most important part of creating branded content. if you don’t have an in-depth understanding of your brand then you’ll have a very challenging time creating content that connects with others.
- Content Brainstorm - your first idea probably isn’t going to be the best one. Be sure to take the time to brainstorm with key stakeholders. Look to develop at least 3-5 different ideas that you’d be excited to produce.
- Align Values with Creative - after you’ve identified what you’d like to express, work with a creative team to make sure that all of your creative expresses the same values that your story is looking to speak on.
- Share & Repeat - after you’ve produced the content, get started sharing it. For sure on social media, of course. But you may also want to produce paid media campaigns to drive traffic and awareness.
If you’d like to learn more about branded content, feel free to reach out to us at Russell Film Company. We’d love to speak to you about how we can collaborate and create powerful branded content.
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