Why Branded News Works, and How It Can Help Your Healthcare Organization
Now more than ever, healthcare consumers are turning to the internet to find reliable health information from healthcare organizations they trust. As a result, savvy healthcare marketing professionals are looking for new ways to deliver quality, engaging content that tells their brand’s story.
Branded news — which is a type of branded content that involves creating journalism-style articles with provider bylines for use in company-controlled publication, blogs and websites — is becoming a popular and effective tool for healthcare organizations to provide value, build trust and promote their providers’ expertise to targeted groups of consumers.
Just how well does branded news work? A study conducted by IPG Media Lab, Forbes and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University found that branded content is more effective and memorable than display advertising. And perhaps most importantly for healthcare organizations, branded news is also perceived more favorably, creates better brand recognition and promotes more consumer engagement than traditional display advertising.
Whether branded news is part of your ongoing strategy or you are hoping to include it in the future, here are five reasons why it works — and how branded news can help your healthcare organization achieve its marketing goals:
1. Branded news creates value.
High-quality, accurate branded news articles can be a valuable resource for your healthcare consumers. Branded news allows you to provide your healthcare consumers with useful, reliable health information from providers in the community that they already know, like and trust. And, it offers your healthcare organization a unique opportunity to provide content that to the health needs of the community you serve.
2. Branded news puts consumers first.
By creating blogs, e-newsletters or publications targeted to specific groups of people — such as parents, older people, people with diabetes or athletes, to name a few — you can deliver the most relevant branded news to the right people and provide even more value.
And, because branded news is consumer-focused and allows you to promote your organization’s services and expertise in a more indirect way, studies show it is perceived more favorably than traditional paid advertising.
3. Branded news promotes health literacy.
Branded news is a great way to provide health information to your consumers in an engaging format. Blogs, for example, are an especially great way to distill complex health topics, answer common health questions (see this blog on whether it is safe to breastfeed if you are sick) share healthcare news (see this blog on blood pressure guideline changes) and raise awareness about public health issues (see this blog on addiction).
4. Branded news builds authority.
Your organization’s healthcare providers are committed to delivering expert care day in and day out. Why not use news to share their efforts with your healthcare consumers? In addition to promoting the services your organization offers, branded news can help to boost the reputation of your organization’s healthcare providers and establish them as experts in their field. It also makes consumers more likely to remember your healthcare providers and choose them when a healthcare need arises.
5. Branded news is flexible.
Branded news can take several different forms, such as blogs with bylines by healthcare providers, remarkable patient stories, e-newsletters on specific topics, and more.
Your healthcare organization can customize your branded news strategy meet a range of marketing needs — such as weighing in on a “trending” healthcare debate to build authority, announcing new services, promoting innovations, or providing patient education that answers FAQs. And, because of its engaging format and consumer-friendly messages, branded news can be tied to social media campaigns and may promote increased social sharing.
At Pulse Content, our writers take a journalism-style approach to creating branded news content that educates and engages your consumers while promoting your organization’s core messages and achieving its marketing goals. We partner with your healthcare organization to learn about your consumers and deliver relevant branded news content.
For more information about how Pulse Content can help you establish or implement your organization’s branded news strategy, contact us today at or
