The Branded Content Project, an initiative by Local Media Association, the Local Media Consortium and Facebook Journalism Project, today announced a
call for entries from Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) publishers for its Branded Content Sales Bootcamp.
The program will provide state-of-the-art sales training and consulting to help publishers develop successful and sustainable branded content offerings and related
revenue streams. Thirty publishers serving BIPOC communities will be selected based on their willingness to apply strategic focus and resources to growing innovative branded content initiatives.
Branded content – which can include native advertising articles, social videos, live events or paid video segments – uses the strength of storytelling to provide a valuable benefit to advertisers while increasing audience engagement and revenue for local media publishers. This powerful revenue stream is succeeding and growing for many media organizations and there is potential for more growth, more engagement and more success for publishers of all shapes and sizes.
“We are excited to offer this new content marketing training program to publishers serving BIPOC communities, particularly as some of these outlets were hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Julia Campbell, General Manager of The Branded Content Project. “On the plus side, a recent survey by Borrell Associates showed that despite Covid’s effect on businesses, content marketing remained relatively steady and is projected to be more of a priority in 2021, so our training program will be extremely beneficial to local publishers looking to grow revenue through branded content.”
The 24-week program will begin in February and conclude in the summer. The training team will be led by Campbell and strategy consultant Peter Lamb, a 30-year marketing veteran who has worked with some of the world’s largest media companies.
As part of the training, participants will have high-level interaction with a segment of their local customer base as well as access to free audience sales products and specialized training on closing advertiser partnerships. Full-time project managers, experts from the LMC, LMA and Facebook Journalism Project, as well as past project participants will serve as coaches and trainers on helping to secure new revenue.
“The Branded Content Sales Bootcamp is designed to help publishers grow their initiatives with the help of expert training and go-to-market strategies,” said Lamb. “We look forward to working with this group of BIPOC publishers to help sharpen their content marketing experience and maximize their content in a way that is attractive to readers and advertisers.”
The Branded Content Project launched in March 2019, reaching thousands of industry leaders, executives, sales reps, content creators and marketers. During the first 18 months of the project, 35 media participants generated over $24M in local revenue. A second phase launched in September 2020 to provide local media companies with a full-service branded content creation, education, distribution and monetization resources.
Working with The Branded Content Project, one BIPOC publisher, the New York Amsterdam News was able to secure just under $100,000 in advertiser sponsorship for a content series on aging.
BIPOC publishers interested in applying to the Bootcamp program can learn more here, and can apply here. The deadline for submitting an application is February 5, 2021. The Bootcamp begins in March.
About The Local Media Consortium The Local Media Consortium delivers economic value through strategic partnerships and initiatives on behalf of over 90 local media companies in top markets across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 4,500 outlets. The LMC delivers over $50M in annual financial benefit to its members by harnessing their combined volume and scale to reduce costs and increase revenue with technology and service providers like Google, Facebook, Monster and others. The LMC has also launched several strategic initiatives to provide cost-effective shared services and aggregated ad revenue opportunities for its members like The Branded Content Project, The Matchup and the Local News Advertiser Inclusion List. According to ComScore, the aggregated LMC audience footprint spans 212 million monthly unique visitors and reaches 80% of the U.S. online audience. More information is available at http://www.localmediaconsortium.com/.
About Local Media Association Local Media Association is a thriving and innovative organization serving more than 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, digital news sites, radio stations and research & development partners. Local Media Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable trust that supports the mission of LMA and the essential role of local news and information in a healthy democracy. 2021 projects include: Lab for Journalism Funding, The Fund for Local Journalism, Fund for Black Journalism/Word in Black, Oklahoma Media Center, Solving for Chicago, The Branded Content Project and much more.
About the Facebook Journalism Project The Facebook Journalism Project works with publishers around the world to strengthen the connection between journalists and the communities they serve. It also helps address the news industry's core business challenges. Our trainings, programs, and partnerships work in three ways: 1. Building community through news by working with and investing in organizations that fund quality journalism; 2. Training newsrooms globally; and 3. Partnering with news publishers and nonprofits to combat misinformation, promote news literacy, fund new initiatives, share best practices, and improve journalism on our platforms. For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject
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