TURNING BRANDS INTO PUBLISHERS

PRESENTERS

Shaun Wootton Waggener Edstrom

Veronica Botet Garcia GE Healthcare

IN THIS SESSION

o Defining branding journalism o Forces impacting change o Case Study: GE Healthcare: adopting a newsroom mentality

BRAND JOURNALISM

Brand journalism is the creation of videos, blog posts, photos, charts, graphs, essays, ebooks, and other information that deliver value to your marketplace. Brand journalism is not a product pitch. It is not an advertorial. It is not an egotistical spewing of gobbledygook-laden, stock-photo enhanced corporate drivel. David Meerman Scott

FORCES IMPACTING CHANGE

WHY IS BRAND JOURNALISM IMPORTANT?

o o o

Traditional newsrooms are shrinking Technology and search engines are redefining how audiences find and consumer information Social media has made everyone a publisher and puts the consumer in control

TRADITIONAL NEWSROOMS SHRINKING

The Guardians move to digital first will involve job cuts to save 25m before 2016

A vacuum and a shortage of reliable, quality content o Reporters have limited time for news gathering o Multiple beats o Required to file stories in two to three formats

Number of newspaper reporters in the US 1990: 56,900 -> 2011: 41,600

SEARCH & TECHNOLOGY

o New Devices - Content needs to be slippery - App overload - Pushes video to the fore - Trolls and Zombies! o Search - Increased competition - Brand Ethics Financial Times - 100K downloads one week after HTML launch - Digital subs up 50% - 15% of digital subscription downloads were through a mobile device JC Penney - Backlinking - Black hat

SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES EVERYONE A PUBLISHER

Brand

Media

Audience

o Everyone is creating content o Brands and companies circumvent media go direct to audiences o Influence the Influencers We are all publishers and need to think like a news editor
Media Brand

Audience

GE HEALTHCARE:
ADOPTING A NEWSROOM MENTALITY

FIVE STRATEGIES

1. Content is King 2. Build Communities 3. Search is integral to strategy 4. Measure, measure, measure 5. Keep evolving

CONTENT IS KING

GEHC NEWSROOM
o Business challenge Large global organization, multiple press sites hard to find. Consistency an issue Large volume of news: 10+ press releases a month Multiple stakeholders, but no champion Healthcare professionals and policy makers Trade and business reporters General public Candidates

o Audiences

GEHC NEWSROOM
o Creating a dynamic newsroom Newsroom launched end 2009 to be online hub for news Develop 360channel A targeted publication that requires continual management and a clear content strategy Create dynamic user experience to win brand trust and loyalty. Be a dependable source of information o Content Strategy Over-communicate process and change Define and enforce editorial strategy, calendar, house style Define content types and stories Refresh internal skill sets provide editorial excellence training to PR teams Ensure global teams needs met

GEHC NEWSROOM

NEW WAYS OF WORKING

o Defining roles & responsibilities Appoint a newsroom editor PR managers as content owners o Other stakeholders GE Healthcare web team Legal & Regulatory affairs Marketing managers in business units Executive comms managers GE corporate stakeholders and digital platform owners

RESULTS
o Success metrics Increased volume and depth of media coverage Direct re-use of content Broader reach Our own stories in our own way Greater trust through transparency RSS subscribers and newsroom visitors o Results Newsroom is core component of global PR strategy Consistency Adapting to change Usage continues to grow month on month Content increasingly used by trade media Globalized newsrooms

BUILDING COMMUNITIES

GLOBAL STORYTELLING
o Storytelling Platform: Breast Cancer Emotion Create platform for company-wide activities during breast cancer awareness month (BCAM) No strong sales push Encourage participation. Get cancer survivors, caregivers, fundraisers customers and fans involved Use storytelling as main driver. Let people speak about their own experiences

BREAST CANCER EMOTION

RESULTS

Go-to-site during BCAM. 44,000 visitors during October-November 2010. 70 global stories uploaded. Multi-year commitment to build out content Strong links to patient advocacy groups and community Positive feedback from field sales and customers

... It takes time to create momentum

SEARCH

SEARCH o SEO is PR: content + media relations o Ethical SEO protects company reputation o White hat SEO is more efficient and less risky o Like in PR and social media, SEO prefers humans vs. computers o Train the team: keyword strategy, keyword optimization and building inlinks

MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE

WHY MEASURE? o What did you set to achieve when you launched your campaign/site? o Get internal buy-in - Team engagement and participation - Secure future investment o Measurement Toolkit Google Analytics Newsroom dashboard digital

KEEP EVOLVING

KEEP EVOLVING o Commitment from senior management to invest in newsroom to remain relevant - Resources - Content (executive comms) - Technology (mobile optimization, SEO) o Fail forward approach. Sandbox to try new things. o On-going review of editorial strategy o Regularly canvas feedback from reporters and other influencers

GET FIT

THANK YOU!

@shaunwootton

@veronicabotet

QUESTIONS?