Why Brand Journalism Is Back and Why PR Is Best Positioned to Lead It

By Jessica M. Pasko 

Everything old is new again – and that includes brand journalism. Although some of us would argue it never really went away, the companies that excel at it are still quietly toiling away and building the strong narratives that propel business just as they always have. But lately, it’sseeing something of a resurgence amid a landscape rapidly driven by AI.  

Put simply, brand journalism is a type of content creation that’s more about storytelling and establishing a brand voice than driving sales, and the vehicle for it is company-owned channels like your blog, website or social media profiles.  

People don’t just buy products. They buy stories. They “buy” personalities. They buy solutions to their problems. This is true of both individual consumers and corporate (B2B) buyers. But not all brand journalism is created equal. Not all brand stories are actually brand journalism – in fact, some of them aren’t even what I’d really call a story.  Brand journalism isn’t a bunch of marketing jargon strung together or hyperbolic claims and overpromises. In an era where we are bombarded with content in the form of headlines, emails, texts, ads and more, it’sbecome harder to stand out. And too much content – or the wrong content – will alienate your intended customers quickly. I can think of several brands I have had to unsubscribe from recently in my own life simply because receiving four text messages a week about the same apparel sale was just too much for my oversaturated little brain to take. I have rarely felt so satisfied as I did clicking the unsubscribe button after one overloaded week.   

Brand journalism vs. content marketing 

While there are certainly similarities between brand journalism and content marketing, they’re more like cousins than siblings. Some of that comes down to intent: Content marketing is focused on driving sales and customer acquisition, while the goal with brand journalism is more qualitative than quantitative. It’s about creating a feeling, building trust and establishing authority, and providing information in a journalistic manner. By contrast, content marketing is typically more promotional – it’s meant to sell products and solutions, of course – andthe immediate focus is on conversion. Here’s where all those SEO tricks of the trade bear fruit, and all of those email addresses and lead information are captured.  

Retailer Patagonia does a great job with brand journalism, featuring real-world stories with gorgeous photography on topics that range from rock climbing in South America, rafting in the Arctic and more. None of it is overtly promoting the products Patagonia sells, but it is promoting a lifestyle that’s both informative and aspirational, involving outdoor activities like the ones Patagonia’s customers just might be interested in. AAA is another standout example, with a focus on all things travel. Certainly, outdoor recreation and travel might seem like easier topics for brand journalism simply because they provide ripe opportunities for fun visuals and exciting stories, but plenty of less consumer-centric brands are doing some great things in brand journalism. Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley is one standout, combining written insights with multimedia components like podcasts. IBM has also done a bang-up job, with original research to boot.  

There’s a caveat with brand journalism and how it’s delivered: You don’t want to overwhelm consumers with too much content. Quality leads over quantity. Too much content, inauthentic or otherwise missing-the-mark content can quickly turn a consumer or prospect off; I can personally think of several brands whose products I love but whose marketing love-bombing led me to hit that unsubscribe button with great satisfaction. I recently saw the ideal approach to this described as “Don’t shout louder – tell better stories.” Amen to that.  

It’s also good to remember that brand journalism isn’t a substitute for content marketing or other public relations efforts; rather, it’s just one more tool in the savvy communications team’s toolkit. While brand journalism is about telling stories, it’s also about being useful, with a focus on real-world facts and examples rather than a bunch of marketing fluff. It should center on people.    

Brand journalism for the AI era 

If you’ve spent even the tiniest bit of time reading anything about the world of marketing today, you’ve heard about GEO and how AI is affecting, well, pretty much everything. Brand journalism isn’t immune.  

Large language models are transforming how consumers discover brands and we’re already seeing this have a significant impact on traffic to media outlets’ websites. In fact, a recent report found that 10 major tech publications lost a combined 65 million monthly organic visits since their peaks. That marks a 58% decline. AI search is quickly becoming the de facto way that people search online, with a recent survey from McKinsey finding that about half of internet users surveyed see it as their go-to over traditional search engines.  

What’s the takeaway here? You need your business to show up in those AI-powered searches. That’s the theory behind GEO.  

Brand journalism and earned media can play a key role in how your company shows up in these search engines. Specifically, your brand journalism can help raise visibility with media companies and, in turn, lead to improved discoverability in LLMs.  

So, how do you make that happen? It all comes back down to public relations.  

Why PR 

LLMs prioritize trusted sources like media mentions. That means one of the best ways to use brand journalism to help boost appearances is by using it to gain earned media mentions. See how it all comes full circle?  

Your PR team can help with this in several ways.  

Telling stories, crafting narratives, and building a strong message are all the hallmarks of good public relations. Brand journalism is a natural fit for this toolkit. That said, it’s not all on PR’s plate; we can’t (or at least we shouldn’t) just make up stories out of thin air. That defeats the whole purpose of authenticity I mentioned earlier. Founders need to tell us their story – they own that – but we can take those stories and make them shine. What was the aha moment that made you create this product or start this company? What was that challenge that made you rise up and think, “I can fix that”? So we need that buy-in, and we need help making sure that message gets spread internally, too.  

From there, we can take that content and use it in our outreach to media. Case studies and customer stories are especially good examples of how brand journalism can also be used as a tool for media engagement. Reporters love real-world stats, facts, data and human stories that tell a much more nuanced and layered explanation of what your company does and how it benefits others than pretty much any other type of content. We can help you pull out those valuable nuggets and make them sing.