ABOUT US | BEST PRACTICES

ABOUT BRANDCONNECT

BrandConnect is a platform that connects advertisers with The Washington Post audience. All content is developed and paid for by the advertiser. The Washington Post Newsroom is not involved in the creation of this content.

PARTNERS

Audi of America
CTIA
CVS Caremark
IBM
Land Rover
Mercedes-Benz
National Dairy Council
NCTA
Philips
T. Rowe Price
The Lincoln Motor Company

BEST PRACTICES

Washington Post readers trust us to provide them with everything they need to understand the world around them. They’re smart. They’re influential. They’re educated. They’re business-minded. They’re powerful. They want to consume and share content that is well-written and produced. This means that what you create through WP BrandConnect Studio is valuable to readers: material that makes them think, feel, laugh, share and want more.

TIPS FOR PRINT

  • Print is trustworthy. The printed word is still most often perceived as more credible than what can be found on the web.
  • People can “disconnect” with print. More than ever, people are choosing to take time to disconnect from their digital devices and instead engage and spend more time with print. As such, people are in a different frame of mind, can be engaged for longer periods of time and are open to different types of messages.
  • Print is palpable and has the perception of permanence. Readers still enjoy the physicality of print. Having a print component to your native strategy says something about your organization and the message you’re trying to send: you care about engaging with your consumer over the long term.
  • The focus of print is customer retention. You’re not trying to “sell” the reader; you’re trying to engage with them to create brand loyalty.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

In order to create the most successful content with WP BrandConnect, we suggest asking yourself the following questions before you start:

  • Why am I producing/promoting this content?
  • What marketing problems does it answer, and how?
  • What does a successful end to this campaign look like?
  • Who is accountable for the story of my brand?
  • What’s the difference between a consumer who reads this content and one who doesn’t?
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People come to The Washington Post for our news articles, videos, info graphics and photo galleries. In fact, nearly every story contains a visual element. Create your content in a dynamic, visual story form; one that’s accessible on all of our print and digital platforms. By putting visuals to your content, our readers and users are more likely to connect and engage with it.
Celebrate our audience, not your brand. The more logos and brand mentions within your content, the less likely our readers and users are to engage with it. Our audience wants to be educated and informed—rather than sold to.
Rather than simply publish your press release use its content to craft an engaging news article for consumers.
Assume that your audience is not an expert in your industry, but help them to become one by educating them in a way that’s engaging, accessible and avoids jargon.
Use your lede and headline to capture the scanning eyes of our busy readers and users, and draw them in to the rest of your narrative.
Offer useful content in the form of articles, videos, blogs, galleries and infographics to host a conversation that our audience will value. To gain the trust of our readers and users, communicate with them instead of just talking at them about your brand.
Constantly engage our audience with articles, lists, trends, how-to guides, and real-world stories and profiles—all of which have proven to interest Washington Post readers and users.
Our readers and users are savvy with digital and social media, and are less inclined to engage with content that’s just repurposed from your web site and/or that they’ve seen before. Take the time to create something that stands out and that is unique to this platform.
Take our audience on a journey through the daily life and experiences of your company, giving them a backstage view of what makes you interesting and unique.
This is what the news industry lives for. Having an exclusive – content that can’t be found elsewhere (e.g. check lists, user guides, worksheets or videos) – gives the audience a reason to both read and share your content. Be sure to adopt a news editor’s mentality here to include a sense of urgency and responsiveness in your content.
When filming video content, make sure to have some fun and don’t stop rolling. Some of your behind-the-scenes materials and outtakes will help deepen your relationship with our readers and users (this is the type of content that goes viral!).
Don’t assume our audience is familiar with your industry, product or service. Help our readers understand the issues you’re discussing in an informative yet uncondescending way.
Cover your bases by making sure your message is spread across multiple channels and platforms—print and digital—to ensure our audience doesn’t miss your message.
People rely on The Washington Post because we’re one of the world’s most trusted news sources. If something topical in the news is related to your business, make sure to jump on it and leverage it in a way that’s timely, organic and responsible.
Along with being adaptive to breaking news, you should always be prepared to launch content anytime, anywhere. For example, at The Washington Post, when a celebrity or political figure passes away, we’re ready to publish almost immediately because we’ve prepared an obituary in advance as much as possible. You should do the same if you want to pivot and respond quickly to a relevant topic, story or news piece.
Highlight the people involved in your story so that our audience can easily connect with your content. By doing things such as offering advice or sharing heartwarming stories, you’re more likely to have readers and users feel something about you and your mission.