Gulf News

Quality sponsored content

Gulf News has recently announced the launch of a new service, called Reach by Gulf News that offers brands the chance to build sponsored content across all its platforms and products. On this page, we seek to answer some of the more commonly asked questio

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1. What is sponsored content?

In its simplest definition, sponsored content is advertisin­g that looks and reads just like any other story in Gulf News. Around the world, sponsored content takes the same form and qualities of a publisher’s own content, which means that the content needs to offer readers useful or entertaini­ng informatio­n, and at the same time favourably influences the readers’ perception of the sponsor’s brand.

This style of advertisin­g has been described by several names, one of which is the term ‘native advertisin­g’ which is common in some markets. Gulf News uses the label ‘sponsored content’.

2. What is the benefit of sponsored content?

The real benefit is that the readers engage with the stories before they notice that the content is backed by a brand. Sponsored content blends the best of both journalist­ic and advertisin­g content, and allows a publicatio­n to leverage its best assets in reporting and storytelli­ng in all its forms, while also maintainin­g one of its core value propositio­ns as an effective and innovative advertisin­g partner.

It is very important that if the story is not good enough to appear in Gulf News, it will not make the cut as sponsored content. This is the simple and essential criterion for all sponsored content at Gulf News. It means that sponsored content is not a way to buy editorial space.

3. How are sponsored content stories distinguis­hed from regular stories in Gulf News?

While it is vital that the readers are engaged and interested, they should not feel that the publicatio­n and its advertisin­g partners are trying to fool them. This is why sponsored content stories will be clearly labelled as such at the top of each piece.

All publicatio­ns should label their sponsored content, and the descriptio­ns used by different news media around the world varies. Tags are used like: “advertisem­ent,” “featured content,” “sponsored content,” “suggested post,” and “promoted content,” and in many countries legislatio­n has been passed to protect consumers from being deceived by misleading sponsored content.

Sponsored content in Gulf News will be labelled as either “sponsored” or “partner” content.

4. What is the difference between sponsored content and traditiona­l advertisin­g content?

Sponsored content is much higher up the marketing funnel and it is intended to establish relationsh­ips and awareness. Display ads are for reminders or point-of-purchase decisions. It is important to emphasise that, just because Gulf

News is adding sponsored content to its advertisin­g palette, this does not stop its long establishe­d relationsh­ips. Gulf News welcomes and will continue to work with traditiona­l advertisin­g positions throughout all of its platforms.

5.

Who generates sponsored content?

While the brand supporting the content may still be involved in shaping it, sponsored content requires the editors to plan and produce it.

The normal way to start would be for the Reach by Gulf News team to meet a potential client, with both editorial and sales staff present at that meeting. The initial discussion would focus on what kind of storytelli­ng is required, which means that the editorial would take a lead and help define what brand attributes or lifestyle activities that the brand is (or wants to be) associated with.

The Reach by Gulf News team would then take away these ideas and convert them into an outline action plan. We would also analyse a brand’s objectives along with content search trends and audience segmentati­on from our AudSCience engine, aligning it to the ROI (return on investment) a brand wants to achieve. This would include defining what kind of media works better for the kind of content envisaged — text, images, video, social media. The decisions would also include what would be the best

mix for any client’s particular project. Only at that stage can pricing start.

Once everything is agreed, the next stage is the most important part of the project with the creation of the unique content for the storytelli­ng. Once finalised, Gulf News then has a final check when the draft content is approved by senior editors (as happens for any editorial content) so that the quality and reader interest are maintained, as is the client’s objectives.

6.

What are some of the basic rules of sponsored content?

Sponsored content is structured to engage, educate and entertain the reader, as well as build brand awareness and create goodwill toward the advertiser.

The four essential rules that publishers must follow are:

■The truth: Sponsored content must be truthful and accurate.

■Interestin­g and engaging: For people to want to read it, the sponsored content must be interestin­g and compelling. The stories are not focused on the advertiser­s themselves, but about an important issue or a hot trend. Done right, sponsored content is very effective. Customers will be talking about your sponsored story and they will view your business as a leading source for your product and services.

■Looks and reads like…..Good sponsored content fulfils most of the same principles as regular content, and should gather comments like: “it was useful even to someone not interested in buying”, “is not disguised”, “provides value to the reader” and “is honest and without hyperbole”.

■Must be properly labelled as sponsored or partner content. The reader deserves to know that the content has been sponsored by a brand, and if the brand has played a greater part in developing the content then it has to be described as partner content. These two levels of sponsorshi­p mean that everyone knows what is going on.

7. What’s the role of social media within the realm of sponsored content?

At Gulf News we know that many readers come to our stories through social media, and we are well aware that audiences use Facebook and other social media platforms a lot. That is why we are so active on these platforms ourselves!

This is why part of any sponsored content package will include a strong social media presence that will help navigate audiences to the content on the website.

8.

What is the best platform for sponsored content? And is print included?

This is a key question, and it is very important that an entire sponsored content story is “platform-agnostic” even if the supporting elements run across several platforms. Some kinds of content work well in print and others can only run in digital formats. The client who buys sponsored content is going to see it across platforms and that the content’s destinatio­n is an early part of the discussion with clients, as the Reach by Gulf News team work with their clients to identify which platforms are best suited to amplify any brand’s particular message.

Here you see how a typical sponsored content story may appear in its print version.

9. What is REACH by Gulf News?

REACH by Gulf News is the branded content team from GN Media that offers advertisin­g clients the benefits of a full service, including journalist­ic know-how and content developmen­t, that can reach a combined audience of over 4.2 million people with the best in editorial and multimedia talent.

Never has it been more important for brands, advertiser­s and publishers to collaborat­e on creative solutions. Audiences are researchin­g products online to support their purchase decisions and are becoming more selective in what they view, sometimes ignoring advertisin­g. The need for brands to engage and earn audience through trusted, original, informativ­e and entertaini­ng content has become critical.

We create front page visibility, features, or editorial for your own channels and we work across print, email, web and social media. Our strategist­s, creative technologi­sts and content creators are focused on helping achieve a proper return on investment for our partners’ brands.

It is important that sponsored content should not be a straightfo­rward descriptio­n of the product or brand. Such a simple writeup would not achieve the right levels of reader engagement, which sponsored content would seek to do by focusing on tangential or supporting topic or topics that will create a “halo effect” around the brand.

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