5 ways to build a brand journalism newsroom that gets results

Your website is the front door to your organization, inviting visitors to learn more about what you do and what you can do for them. That makes your online content one of the best ways to get their attention.

Yet so many organizations continue to underuse their website newsrooms. Many are hard to find, tucked into the page footer or worse, treated like an afterthought under the “About Us” tab.

Once discovered, too many newsrooms are what we like to call “press release graveyards” ― dusty repositories for content few people read even the first time around.

Happily, newsrooms are getting better. Those who practice brand journalism use them as a hub for external communications, realizing that news media, while still important, is not the only way to connect with their many audiences.  Sometimes the media are not even the best way.

Here’s our list of five features every newsroom should have, along with two elements you should downgrade, or banish altogether.

1. Breaking news. First and foremost, your newsroom should keep your audiences up to date on what’s happening in your organization and industry. Not the “we’re thrilled to announce” drivel forced into so many press releases, but actual news, as in studies, trends, innovations and other topics of interest to your readers. Some brand journalists are doing this superbly:

• Médicins Sans Frontiéres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, offers a constant stream of news and updates on the organization’s medical humanitarian projects around the world. Some articles are tagged “developing story,” with a link to the most recent updates.

• Blue Sky News, the brand journalism site for Pittsburgh International Airport, reports on all things aviation, from the development of its new modern terminal to trends in airport technology and sustainability.

2. Human interest. Broaden your coverage by publishing stories about people, places and events that engage your audience. Many of these stories get shared more on social than your so-called “news.” A few examples:

• Omaha Public Power District has been covering its “resident raptors,” peregrine falcons and ospreys that have built their nests in two power stations. The district’s news site, The Wire, provides regular coverage on the birds, their babies and their ongoing adventures, including a live webcam.

• Duke Energy’s brand journalism site, Illumination, publishes terrific features about its people, including this engaging story on a 24-year veteran staffer who helps to provide care and feeding to out-of-state crews that come to the region during hurricanes and other major storms.

3. Offer your point of view. Many websites have separate blogs for commentary and thought leadership. But why stash this copy under another tab for visitors to discover, if they bother to look? Here are two good examples of thought leadership on a brand journalism site:

• Morgan Stanley continues to maintain a rather traditional media newsroom (see below), but the Our Insights page is a thing of beauty, offering commentary and analysis.

• BOK Financial’s commentary with Chief Investment Strategist Steve Wyett explains the markets so everyone can understand them, as I’ve written before.

4. Visuals. As much as we love words, your news site needs more than a gray wall of text. Eye-catching photos, tight videos and compelling graphics tell stories all their own.

• BOK Financial’s “By The Numbers” feature matches a weekly chart with Wyett’s commentary.

• The Mayo Clinic Minute is a 60-second (or so) video offering insights and expert analysis.

4. Deliver your stories directly to readers with headlines and social posts. More people are getting their news from social media than ever before. Last year, Pew Research Center reported that 54% of American adults get their news at least some of the time from social media sites. Your headlines should be as engaging as social media posts, and you can deliver them in a free e-newsletter to anyone who subscribes.

• Morgan Stanley highlights its recent “Thoughts on the Market” with clever headlines and short descriptive sentences that we call teasers but some news outlets call riders or readouts.

• Health e-news, by Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health care offers readers its headlines three days a week. For potential subscribers, Illumination registration page describes what readers will get – and what they won’t.

What Shouldn’t Be in Your Newsroom

1. Ditch the press releases. Or at least put them in a corner of your newsroom. Releases should no longer be the focal point of your external communication efforts. And if you must keep them, make them more useful (meaning searchable), as the Moffitt Cancer Center has done with its newsroom for media, an ideal companion to its online news site, Endeavor.

Morgan Stanley’s storytelling platform, Our Insights, provides tips, updates and commentary. The editorial team has wisely chosen to relegate its press releases to a separate tab at the top of the page, where reporters can find releases, media contacts and other resources.

2. Keep the marketing copy at bay. There’s lots of places on your website to showcase your products and services. But your newsroom shouldn’t be one of them.

The idea behind brand journalism is to highlight your expertise and enhance your reputation. Use your stories to link readers to those experts or services. Cape Cod Health News highlights doctors at the bottom of each story, with a link to the expert’s profile and contact page.