I’ve been writing more sponsored content for print publications lately, and I am increasingly struck with how powerful and valuable this kind of endeavor is. There’s just so much to love.
What is Sponsored Content?
In my experience, my clients have purchased or somehow gotten a page or two in a print publication. These could be regular monthly magazines, or special seasonal industry mags, or special city guides and whatnot. A lot of these publications are hungry for high-value content anyway, and are always willing to sell ad space. Having a whole page to fill is nice, too, because you don’t have to compete graphically with other ads on the page, that creates visual clutter and isn’t very engaging.
Then my clients have hired me to come up with the content that fills that page they have. And it’s awesome.
Marketing Advantages of Sponsored Content
Of course sponsored content is great for visibility, awareness, thought leadership, etc, but so is every marketing endeavor. I want to point out a few advantages that are unique to sponsored content:
- It’s written in the third person. This may seem like a small thing, but almost all your written brand collateral, from blogs and websites to social media postings, business cards, and brochures, are written in the first person. However, there is an enormous psychological difference between reading “We are the most reliable rain gutter company in Dubai” to reading “They are the most reliable rain gutter company in Dubai.” Writing in the third person lends weight and credibility to your brand, in a way that might be weird if it appeared in your own collateral.
- It’s an excellent door opener. Of course, everyone knows that it’s sponsored content, but it’s still a fantastic way to score an introduction. “There’s a great article about our new initiative in this months BlahBlah magazine” is fantastic fodder for social media posts, LinkedIn connections, and in-person interactions. Print publications, especially if they have a good name, have a kind of substance and persuasiveness that online blogs haven’t quite yet achieved, and are much more serious and credible than blog posts.
What I Love About Sponsored Content as a Writer
As a writer, sponsored content is incredibly freeing. I get to write for a human, and not for a search engine algorithm. Blog posts tend to be written as:
- X is a Fact
- Define X
- 3 substantiating claims about X
- If you want to know more about X, click here
along with optimal word counts and keywords. Blog posts are (in the best case) designed to offer actionable value to the reader.
With sponsored content, I get to try to find a hook, something that will intrigue the reader and engage them, because I am instead trying to entertain them. I get to tell a brand story or deliver a marketing message in a very unusual way, because I am inviting the reader to discover value as the story unfolds. It’s show, not tell.
As a writer, instead of reporting and substantiating facts, I am instead looking for the angle that intrigues and engages me, with the hope that, if I’m interested, the reader will be too.
Properly done, sponsored content is a great example of content marketing; if the primary objective is to entertain and inform, and the piece is well-written and well-structured, then the marketing objective is met organically, without clubbing the reader over the head with it. If I’ve done my job right, the reader wants to know more at the end, because I have told the story the right way.
I know, I know, print is dead and online is the future, but these projects are especially interesting to me, and I do enjoy them.
If you need someone to write your sponsored content, give me a holler. Or if you want sponsored content, but don’t know where to start, I can do that too.
Villon adVentures 