When former journalist Thomas Scott started blogging about his home-staging business in 2007, he discovered that his industry-related content radically improved how business prospects perceived his company’s brand. Scott realized there was an untapped market for providing other businesses with content that’s well-written and entertaining, while helping consumers relate to them on a personal level.
Soon after, he launched Brand Journalists, a Nashville, Tenn.-based firm that specializes in corporate storytelling. Scott says that because today’s consumers don’t like being “sold” with heavy-handed marketing messages, successful branding is more about crafting interesting and consumer-relevant narratives. “The marketing materials and the logo don’t become the brand,” he says. “It’s the company’s story and how it’s expressed.”
Brand Journalists offers blog and web content, ghostwriting services and reporting on the human stories that make companies relatable for consumers. For example, for an insurance broker, Scott’s team blogs about issues related to city life, such as what to do if the tub in the apartment upstairs overflows through your ceiling. “If you try to sell renter’s insurance as an agent, people tune out,” he says. “But when you talk about the coffee they drink and neighborhoods they like, and how important it is to have renter’s insurance as part of that story, it connects with people.”