Branded Content Marketing Definition and Examples

Branded content is a fantastic way to make your company stand out in a crowded marketplace. Users are currently so inundated with advertisements that many of them turn to ad blockers and experience ad blindness. In order to overcome this, brands must look for novel ways to market to their audience and devise inventive strategies for grabbing customers' attention. Branded content is a fantastic answer to this problem and is often utilized by professional SEO services to drive sales.

You can utilize branded content as a marketing technique to share your company's history. Continue reading to discover more about this tactic's usage by marketers.

Branded content is a marketing tactic that raises a product or service's brand awareness. A branded content campaign may involve sponsored partnerships or collaborations with well-known individuals, celebrities, or other businesses, but the content must be clearly identifiable as belonging to the brand.

Business partners may disseminate branded content by telling a target audience about the brand or its values. When it comes to fostering brand loyalty, branded content marketing campaigns can occasionally outperform conventional advertising strategies since they frequently sell an idea or a feeling rather than the actual goods. Branded content can come in a variety of forms, such as social media updates, podcasts, quick movies, blog articles, creative works of art, and other projects.

A marketing strategy known as "branded content" involves producing content that is closely associated with a brand.

Let's look at some of branded content's key aspects in order to further describe it:

1. It is concentrated on the brand's ideals rather than its goods or services: Although it can take on the shape of a traditional video advertisement, it is more focused on the brand's intangible attributes than the specific things it provides.

2. It aims to promote awareness of the brand and spark conversation. This kind of content aims to have an impact on the audience and start a dialogue about the brand rather than directly pursuing a sale or conversion. Consequently, the primary indicators used to gauge the effectiveness of branded content tend to be based on the popularity and quantity of mentions.

Branded content aims to flip this notion on its head by producing content that users genuinely want to consume. Normally, we think of advertising as a cost we must pay to consume the content that interests us the most. This increased value typically manifests as entertainment.

4. Emotional appeals: Using emotions to persuade dates back to Aristotle's time, yet the strategy is still powerful today. Instead of using logical justifications for why a brand is superior to the competition, branded content aims to establish a deeper personal connection with the viewer.

5. It employs storytelling: Essentially, this kind of material aims to convey to the audience a narrative about the brand with protagonists and a beginning, middle, and finish.

6. It can be delivered in a variety of channels and formats: Since the concept of branded content is relatively adaptable, it may be used for a variety of different formats, including video, podcasts, interactive formats, video games, events, or even a combination of several of them to convey the brand's history. In a similar vein, there are numerous ways to disseminate this content, including applications, social media platforms, and the brand's website.

7. The material might have been co-created: Brands frequently work with famous directors or other professionals to produce their best content. However, the collaborations go on. Another well-liked resource is user-generated content, which enables customers to participate in the creation of material while also telling their own tales about the company.

Through narrative, a branded content marketing approach creates a connection and a dialogue with your client base. For instance, social media posts and podcasts with a company's branding promote interaction and dialogue between businesses and their current or potential clients. An individual is more likely to use a brand's products or services if they feel a connection to the brand's community or content. Professional SEO services are very much aware of this connection and consequently use it in their business growth drive.

To gain a better understanding of branded content marketing, it can be useful to contrast it with conventional marketing approaches, which businesses employ to cast a wide net and draw in a variety of client groups. Traditional strategies include product placements in motion pictures or television programs; radio or TV commercials; and web advertisements. These tactics have the drawback that they are overt kinds of promotion that consumers who are marketing-aware may choose to ignore or completely avoid. The attractiveness of branded content, on the other hand, may emphasise the content itself and contain more covert advertising elements.

Take a look at these typical instances of branded content:

1. Podcasts: A company may decide to produce a podcast centred on a subject that is important to its goods or services. The objective is to draw in a target audience by either amusing or educating them while also increasing brand recognition or brand loyalty. For instance, a mattress manufacturer might produce a branded podcast that offers advice on how to sleep better. In comparison, creating typical advertising material would entail a mattress business providing a commercial for a separate podcast.

2. Social media: Online community apps and social media platforms can serve as hubs for businesses wishing to produce content, establish networks, or use other digital marketing analytics. Branded content uploads may consist of images and videos with a hashtag or they may be the result of partnerships with influencers who are sympathetic to a company's positioning. This kind of material can encourage follower interaction between different brands and benefit both of them equally.

3. Videos: A brand may decide to produce a part for a video that is not explicitly a commercial but nevertheless presents a thought or an engaging tale that is important to the business. For instance, a company might decide to produce a video showcasing how it positions its brand in relation to a social issue or other goal. Companies can use branded material like this as a marketing strategy to establish their corporate values while also adjusting to online marketing trends.

Some of our favourite branded content examples are these five instances. They demonstrate how branded material can adopt utterly unique formats and strategies.

The Morning Show is among the best instances of promoted content on Apple TV+.

The series showcases a wide variety of Apple devices in addition to A-list acting talent and a topical, pertinent, and interesting idea. This programme was developed by Apple for Apple and emphasises the variety and integration of their products into daily life.

GQ and Goldman Sachs collaborated to produce the My First Million YouTube series. Young athletes discuss how they used their first sizable payment in the videos. Along with discussing topics like designer clothes and expensive cars, they also talk about significant financial choices they have made.

Because it blends amusing material with financial knowledge, this series is one of the most popular ones on the GQ channel. Many players mention buying real estate, clearing debts, and providing for their family.

One of the best instances of branded content is Red Bull. Most of its marketing efforts are concentrated on fabricating narratives that advance its brand ideals, which include athleticism and taking chances.

The 38,969-meter jump by Felix Baumgartner from space is the most well-known example of Red Bull's promotional content. The company assembled the necessary technical tools to pull off the feat, and it succeeded in getting the entire world talking about it for days.

The advertising's profits double the investments. The event left a lasting impression on the brand and was also incredibly memorable.

The most well-known company in the world is no longer required to advertise the fact that they produce soda. Instead, they now emphasize spreading happiness, a value that is widely shared.

The capability to personalize Coke cans with names is one of the best illustrations of how Coca-Cola uses brand material.