How branded content sales exploded for this newspaper in New York

A few weeks ago, I was speaking at a state press association conference on the power of branded content and the factors to consider when launching or improving your program.

My presentation covered everything from how to pitch a program, price it, write the content and present the results.

The opportunity caught the attention of one of the attendees who said he thought he could definitely sell a branded content program but fulfilling it (figuring out what to write about, writing it and distributing it) was where his company would get stuck.

My approach with our branded content program is to provide publishers what they most need to be successful. In some cases that might be an overview of their program and in other cases it’s serving as a content strategist.

In this publisher’s case, it was getting a program launched and doing the fulfillment.

I want to share what’s happened since that conference and why our program really does get results.

🏗️ 1. We built a program from scratch

Even if a publisher doesn’t have a well-articulated program, they probably have produced some form of branded content in the past.

And that was the case with this publisher. The idea of branded content wasn’t something totally new. They had sold forms of it here and there but a structured program was not in place.

Here’s what I did with their sales director to create it:

• Lots of examples: Went through examples we have done with other clients to show the kinds of content that works, the advertisers it’s a good fit for and how it can be presented on the site.

• How I could help: We discussed the role that I could play with his advertisers, which could include pitching clients, coming up with the story to tell, writing it and then distributing it. Explaining how we could do all of that made this feel achievable.

• Distributing it: We went through the places it would be distributed and discussed how to position the value of everything from SEO to newsletters to where it would show up on the website.

• Making money: We discussed rates and provided some best practices and then helped create packages that helped him achieve the margins he was after.

This wasn’t an overly complicated process, but we got our thoughts on paper, he had examples and confidence we could execute it.

💼 2. Taking it to sales reps

The sales director asked me to create a flyer that we could use to explain the program to sales reps but that it would also serve as collateral they could use to promote the program.

With that flyer in hand, we held a remote training session where I spent time talking about how to position branded content, why it’s different than advertorials and the process we’d go through to tell the right story.

There’s a lot of strategy that goes into our branded content program. We do research before meeting with a client, we come to the table with keywords and questions we can see being asked around their industry and we make the content planning process very collaborative.

Explaining this approach and “the why” around branded content moved the conversation with the sales reps way beyond just selling another product, it got them excited about what we could provide and why it would be so valuable for advertisers.

🚀 3. And sales started happening

Not even a week after that training session with sales reps, the first sale got made to a local downtown business association.

Then a few days later, another one was made to a local jewelry store and then a few days later they sold another one to a state program that was providing free health screenings.

I know how important it is when we start working with someone that they see results quickly. So as soon as the sales were closed, within a few days, we conducted calls with those advertisers and we were off and running on the content.

It usually takes about two weeks from the time that the sale is made to when the content is posted and distributed. Lots of factors can impact that but as long as the advertiser is engaged, it can be a pretty quick turnaround.

And that was the case with this publisher.

Just this last week, I had a phone call with the sales director and we discussed the data needed to present the results to advertisers and what steps he was going to take in one-on-one meetings with sales reps this week to start building out pipelines for the program.

When you have such early success, confidence with sales reps builds and you have real-world examples you can take out to other advertisers.

🤝 We’d love to build a program with you

Email me at david@davidarkinconsulting.com or call me at 832 407 0188 so we can talk about how we can help your media company build a great branded content program.