From content marketing to native advertising to influencer marketing, the world of communicating brand messages continues to change to better reach audiences across new and emerging platforms and networks. Here at StatePoint Media, this evolution has brought us to a crossroads of four avenues where marketing, public relations, journalism and advertising converge into a superhighway of “Sponsored Editorial Content.”
For us it’s all about creating high quality content with editorial integrity, to generate both earned media placements and paid opportunities for our clients to maximize their exposure with customers.
It’s a quickly maturing landscape where brand stories and messaging can traverse both paid and earned media to garner real, targeted organic results — in the form of both readers and social media engagements within the same unified campaign.
How Can “Sponsored Editorial Content” Help You?
At StatePoint we have found that it’s best to leverage the expertise of your brand to create journalistic “news readers can use.” This is where the “Editorial” comes into play in the phrase “Sponsored Editorial Content.” You can then distribute this content far and wide via both paid and earned opportunities to garner both traditional media and social media results.
In our case, StatePoint has built a unique platform that drives guaranteed local media coverage for our clients. This proprietary platform generates media coverage that is a blend of earned media placements and paid placements in local print and online newspapers and on TV and radio websites.
And when it comes to amplifying your message on social media, good Sponsored Editorial Content can also generate both paid and earned results. You can cost effectively garner thousands of social media engagements by relying on a sponsored media model in which targeted influencers are compensated for posts they share on their social media accounts. These posts, in turn, connect with consumers in meaningful ways – and generate thousands of engagements that are NOT paid for, but are purely earned social results that spread organically across targeted topical communities.
The Key: Start with Top Quality Journalistic Editorial Content
Sponsored Editorial Content will fall flat unless it’s of high quality. This approach to content creation hinges on securing true editorial coverage by providing readers with tangible information of value. You can earn positive placements by crafting journalistic content that local media websites, newspapers, and bloggers actually want to run.
For example, here at StatePoint Media we don’t just create great sponsored content. We leverage our clients’ expertise and knowledge to craft high quality informational stories that resonate with media audiences – typically centering on tips, advice and other how-tos of interest to the typical American family. Products can be organically spotlighted within this content and brand representatives positioned as experts on the topics covered.
The better the content, the better the coverage.
How Do “Sponsored Editorial Content” Results Matter?
The goals of a good Sponsored Editorial Content campaign should dovetail with a client’s key PR objectives. It’s all about raising awareness of a brand or product (making consumers more likely to purchase in the future), enhancing a company’s goodwill, changing consumer attitudes, and providing valuable information to consumers.
If done successfully, consumers will read about a brand in their local newspapers in print and/or online, and will get alerted to the brand’s story via social media influencers who matter to them on Facebook and Twitter. The key is positioning the brand in trusted places that matter in both local and topical communities. And earned and paid opportunities reinforce each other to help client messaging spread organically.
And you don’t have to go it alone. A good Sponsored Editorial Content service will handle all phases of content creation, distribution and promotion for you with a blended approach of both earned and paid media. It’s not just about doing the heavy lifting for you; it’s about doing the right lifting that will generate the right results with the right audiences.
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