• Branded content is about presenting your brand’s values in a way that aligns with and engages your target audience.
• Incorporate great storytelling, use the right tone of voice and focus on evoking a feeling. You can also leverage social media channels and hire content writers to polish your branded content.
• Whether you're new to creating branded content or you're looking to polish your existing work, follow these 9 steps to take your branded content to the next level. 

If you want to take your content marketing strategy to the next level, you should create branded content. If you do everything right, you will make your customers more attached to your brand. And, consequently, you will ensure the financial stability of your company in the long run.

What is branded online content?

Branded online content is a marketing practice that involves creating online content that aligns your values with your consumers' values. Branded content drives genuine user engagement to build brand recognition by entertaining, teaching or adding other value to your consumers' lives. Examples of branded content include articles, podcasts and videos. 

How to create remarkable branded content in 9 steps 

If you have no idea how to write branded content, here are nine steps to write engaging and quality branded content for your business. 

1. Focus on your values

Branded content is a type of content that promotes the company’s values rather than products. Before creating branded content, you should think about the values which your company and your target audience have in common.

Take a moment and name three things that your business is fighting for. Have your company joined the zero-waste movement to keep our planet clean? Do you sponsor a local medical institution that supports cancer survivors? You can use this yo to write a great story.

For instance, Levi’s actively supports the LGBTQ+ community. For this reason, the company decided to create a branded video that spreads the message of support, unity, and love to LGBTQ+ people.

2. Use the art of storytelling

When it comes to brand content, a key aspect that is often overlooked is captivate storytelling. This means that if you want to write great branded content, you should choose the main characters and share their fascinating stories with the world.

Who can play the leading part in your story? Literally anyone can spread the word about the values your company promotes: your customers, suppliers, employees or even random people, who have relevant stories to tell.

3. Focus on feelings 

Another distinctive feature of branded content is its emotional component. Branded content should evoke one of the following emotions:

• Happiness
• Sadness
• Fear or surprise
• Anger or disgust

Before you start, think of the feelings you want to evoke. Do you want to make your customers cry from happiness? Or, maybe you want them to experience fear?

It doesn’t matter whether you focus on positive or negative emotions. The result will be the same – you will get people emotionally connected to your brand.

4. Engage with social media users

If you want to get the most from your branded marketing campaign, you should find a way to engage social media users. Here are a few tips for you:

• Find out what type of content your target audience prefers to share
• Check what topics are currently trending on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms
• Present your ideas on the trending topic and try to incite controversy
• Collaborate with social media influencers to widen reach

5. Set the right tone of voice

When crafting a story, you should think not only about what to tell but also how to tell. You should use the right tone of brand voice to make sure that your message will not be interpreted in the wrong way.

Firstly, you should analyse the preferences of your audience. Secondly, you should think about what tone of voice fits this very story. The right tone of voice can be educational or entertaining, scientific or humorous, honest or humble. It’s up to you.

6. Don’t overuse elements of brand identity

You shouldn’t overload your branded content with elements of your brand identity.

What does that mean?

It means that when you write a sponsored post, you shouldn’t put your brand name in every paragraph. It’s enough to mention your brand name and branded hashtag only once or twice at the beginning and/or at the end of the post.

Here is a great example. Airbnb published a 750-word sponsored article at Fatherly.com and mentioned its brand name only twice: in the first and the last paragraphs.

If you create visual content, you should also use your logo and other elements of visual brand identity wisely. Otherwise, your branded video will look like an ordinary TV commercial.

7. Get help from professional content writers

If you have no degree in English or journalism, it’s highly likely that you will fail to write a good story. If you want to get professional assistance, feel free to use one of the following services:

• TrustMyPaper. Whether you need to write a branded article or a script for a branded video, you can use this online service. Experienced content creators will complete your order within 24 hours.
• Upwork. It’s a world-famous freelance platform. You can use it to find freelance experts in storytelling and branded content creation.
• GrabMyEssay. If you are looking for content creators with a marketing background, visit this website. Here you can get high-quality writing services that will not cost you an arm and a leg.
• Fiverr. This is another popular freelance platform which you can use to hire a storytelling guru.

Content writers will write, edit, and plan content, so you get results.

8. Polish your story

If you have just created your branded content, don’t rush to publish it online. You should edit and proofread it first. You should make sure that your branded content is free from spelling errors and typos. It’s really important because even one misspelt word can ruin your perfect story. You can proofread the text using such tools as Grammarly and Studicus. It will help you to define your mistakes and fix them.

9. Pick the right moment

Also, it’s important to choose the right moment to publish your content. You will boost your marketing efforts if you release your content a week or a few weeks before an important event or holiday. For example, if you have written a story that aims to evoke the holiday spirit, you should publish it a few weeks before Christmas. It will increase the chances that your branded content will go viral online.

Wrapping up

Production of branded content takes a lot of time and efforts, but still, it is worth it. If you do everything right, your company will be rewarded with increased brand awareness and more profit. Write a great story, and you will be amazed at the result you will get.