Blog and Brand Media: Is There A Difference?

The difference between a corporate blog and a brand media has been blurred. It is commonly believed that a blog is a place where a business can speak about itself, its products, projects and news. The blog content is focused on the company, its goals, innovations and achievements, and there is no place for general topics in a blog.

A brand media, however, is a broader concept. It’s a place where a brand can talk about what interests and excites the target audience. But that doesn't mean it has no commercial goals: brand products are integrated natively and tied with the topics that a brand-media explores.

A brand media includes multiple formats. To prevent the audience from getting bored, different types of content are used: longreads, shorts, interviews, checklists, videos, tests and email newsletters.

While a blog is about the company, a brand-media is a dialogue with the audience. Developing a brand media raises many questions. Here are the most popular ones:

• On which platform should it be launched?
• What problems can it solve?
• How can you predict results?
• How much does it cost and is it profitable?
• Can a brandmedia be developed without SEO?

It is better to launch a brand media on a separate domain or subdomain. However, it depends on both resources and goals of the company. You don’t have to launch a new platform to talk about a new product. In most cases, it will be cheaper, easier and more effective to use existing media.

• Cultivating the image of a brand as an industry’s expert

Companies that have brand media always look more professional than those who don't. Useful content plants the idea that not only you are a market expert but also your product is better. This is how the brand stands out from its competitors.

• Promoting a product without direct advertising

People are tired of ads with an annoying Buy now slogan, but they still love to learn something new. And through your brand media you can bring up an interesting topic and promote your product in a native way. The audience doesn’t take this type of content as direct advertising, but they gradually remember the brand and begin to trust it.

• Creating a demand

When you regularly publish different formats of content about a new or unknown product and talk about how this product changes the quality of life, it arouses interest. If you launch a new product, need to raise awareness and don’t require sales right away, a brand media is a great solution.

• Gaining visibility for a brand

The more often a brand’s name is mentioned in the media, the more people are aware of it and its products. If you cover topics that are relevant to your readers, your content will be shared and discussed. This is the way to expand the brand's audience. And since by that time people will have already heard of the company as a niche expert, many of them will be ready to buy.

Although a brand media doesn't directly sell, it pulls people into a sales funnel. It's used as a supplement to other promotional tools. If there are no sales, the company has to deal with classic sales channels first and then launch a brand media.

Let’s be honest, it is hard to estimate the exact efficiency of a brand media. It doesn’t sell nor does it have a direct impact on conversions. A post on social media will be the first contact with the user, an article will warm him up, and then he will access the product page and decide to buy. All of these touchpoints are almost impossible to track and analyze, as there are no direct metrics to assess them.

Tip: Our agency predicts brand media’s effectiveness using SEO metrics. We take topics, content to be published, a target audience and a work period. Knowing these inputs, we make a traffic forecast and link it to the conversion we need.

It is vital to understand that a brand media will not pay off right away. However, in the long term, it will bring more benefits than direct advertising. It usually takes at least six months to launch, and even longer to monetize. This tool is more suitable for large projects with a stable income, which can provide enough funding for the brand media development.

Tip: We try to reuse created content in other channels. The point of it is to ensure you don’t just write a bunch of articles without publishing them or publish them only once, but gain stable traffic.

The cost of the brand media development depends on:

• Niche
• Content amount
• In-house team
• Contractors’ services.

Tip: To measure a brand media’s ROI, we analyze the number of filled-out blog forms and readers’ involvement in the sales funnel. For example, a user selects a blog from search results, then accesses a company’s website and places an order there. In this case, the blog is one of the sales funnel stages.

SEO is essential for a brand media. Developing and promoting a brand media through search engine optimization is a necessity, as it helps to:

• Understand what readers are interested in and cover their needs
• Rank higher and attract the target audience
• Improve behavioral metrics: dwell time, scroll reach, exit and recirculation rate.

Without SEO it will be much harder for a brand media to find its readers without wasting time and money.

So, here are some beliefs that prevent companies from developing brand media. They are truthful but still have set-offs.

❌ Developing a brand media is expensive.
✅ It pays off in the long term.

❌ A brand media takes a lot of time to start.
✅ It stays with the company forever: it can’t get blocked, as it happens with social media profiles.

❌ Developing a brand media requires an experienced team.
✅ You always can outsource or form a community around the brand.

❌ The results are complicated to evaluate.
✅ A brand media generates branded and organic traffic.

A brand media is a powerful tool for shaping the brand's image, attracting new customers, increasing their awareness and loyalty, and distinguishing the business from the competitors. However, you have to consider that launching a brand media requires significant resources, and it may not provide immediate results.