Advertising! Public Relations! Journalism! What’s happening in the wonderful world of communications? Well, this article claims that brand journalism is the current hot topic in marketing communications. In fact, it’s such a hot topic that the Public Relations Society of America has actually declared it to be one of the top 12 latest trends.
You see, standard advertising is no longer having its desired effect on today’s population. People are tired of being bombarded with advertisements and harassed by salespeople. We ignore their suggestions and instead look to someone we can trust to weigh in: friends, family, coworkers, friends of friends. Really, just about anyone whose salary does not rely on force feeding you a product. Therefore, companies have been trying to figure out a new angle at which to approach the public with their products.
In an attempt to reach out to the general population on a deeper level, communication professionals have delved into the idea of storytelling. Everyone loves a story. Stories reel people in and bring corporations down to a more human-like and relatable level. It makes former salespeople seem significantly more similar to that friend you trust to give you solid advice. Suddenly, they aren’t in your face with an obnoxious pitch. Rather, they are just communicating with you in a meaningful way.
Storytelling is powerful.
Out of storytelling comes brand journalism. Brand journalism gives your product a story to which people can relate. Blogs and other social media sites have given companies the power to create a personable persona and cultivate a relationship with their target audience. Brand journalism is the phoenix that was reborn out of the ashes of old ads and defunct journalism. And this firebird is taking off.
PR professionals are loving it. I’m loving it. Everyone’s loving it.
Stories are magical. It’s about time that we start using it this way.
Becky Binns 
As a marketing minor, I see a lot of this brand journalism translate over to the marketing side of corporations. The branding by journalists gets the ball rolling for the marketing department and increase the interest from the consumer. I think this trend is definitely going to develop even further and become a useful tool for many businesses!
I enjoyed reading this post. I agree that people are getting tired of the old advertising way, therefore companies and advertising firms are going to have to get more creative with their methods. Social media is a great way to tell stories, especially blogs. Going of this post, I think it would be interesting if more companies started doing vlogs on YouTube. If brands managed to be personal and compelling I believe they could be really successful .