By: Valuetech

What was once a quick glance at a highway billboard is now a scroll past a sponsored post in a personalized feed. How does your brand capture an audience in those fleeting moments? Frankly, it can’t. According to Wendi Lu, Chief Marketing Officer of Martinsen Global, the answer isn’t a clever tagline or a one-off ad campaign. “In the glassy-eyed attention economy, storytelling is more than a style choice—it’s the keystone of any brand identity with staying power.”

As Chief Marketing Officer at Martinsen Global, Lu has overseen millions in marketing budgets, seeing firsthand how well-executed PR and brand journalism help companies like Panasonic, BMW, and Johnson & Johnson achieve repeat success across platforms. This approach, known as brand journalism, is changing how companies build lasting connections with their customers.

What is Brand Journalism?

Brand journalism, as the name suggests, applies journalistic principles to brand-building content creation. Unlike traditional marketing, which often focuses on driving immediate sales and short bursts of brand awareness, brand journalism is about telling stories that resonate with your audience and build trust over time.

“Think of it as companies becoming their own media channels,” explains Lu. By creating content that reflects company values, shares industry insights, and positions the brand as a thought leader, organizations can develop a stronger, more lasting relationship with their audiences. “The goal isn’t about quick wins,” Lu emphasizes. “It’s about long-term credibility.” Done right, this strategy builds a following of brand evangelists whose loyalty far outlasts the typical lifespan of a marketing campaign.

Why Should Companies Care?

Consumers today are bombarded with content and misinformation. As a result, traditional advertising methods have lost much of their effectiveness, and don’t look to be making a comeback. “People are now skeptical of overt sales pitches, even those from trusted influencers, and gravitate toward content that feels genuine and informative,” points out Lu. Brand journalism meets this by demand by offering value over more noise.

It also allows companies to differentiate themselves in an oversaturated market, in a novel way. While the approach requires a higher level of commitment and consistency—qualities often associated with legacy brands—any company can implement this strategy. “By consistently producing high-quality, narrative-driven content, brands can really make themselves into industry authorities,” Lu says. “It builds widespread brand awareness, and also deepens customer loyalty.”

Most importantly, brand journalism gives companies control over their narrative in an age where news and trends circulate at breakneck speed. Having the ability to tell their own story, on their own terms, can be a powerful advantage.

How to Build a Successful Brand Journalism Strategy

Anchor your content in thought leadership. Successful brand journalism starts with positioning the company as a leader in its field. Lu advises brands to highlight emerging trends, share data-driven insights, and feature perspectives from recognized industry figures. “Brands like Salesforce and Hubspot have mastered this by producing valuable, educational content—blogs, reports, guides—and these benefit their readers while positioning themselves as trusted industry voices,” she says.

Providing curated, insightful content helps establish the brand as a go-to resource, which can convert readers into loyal customers. A deep, well-established mindshare can lead to conversions far beyond your traditional customer base.

Focus on authenticity and core values. Audiences are tired of overproduced, sales-heavy content. Lu recommends brands avoid promotional gimmicks and instead focus on stories that are transparent and aligned with your brand’s values. Patagonia’s content strategy, for example, is deeply rooted in environmental activism, a commitment reflected in both their messaging and their manufacturing. “It’s very clear that their consistency’s built a loyal customer base that aligns with their mission,” Lu says.

Regularly offering honest opinions, telling relatable stories, and sharing industry-adjacent insights will naturally draw your audience into your content spaces. “Think of your brand as an influencer,” Lu advises. “There are few things more powerful than when your audience engages with your brand at scale.”

Embrace multiple formats & platforms. Today’s consumers engage with content in various ways, so sticking to a single format or platform can limit a brand’s reach. Lu advises companies to diversify their content across blogs, videos, podcasts, and infographics. “Avoid relying too heavily on one platform,” she warns. “As we’ve seen with X (formerly Twitter), shifts in leadership or regulation can quickly disrupt even well-established platforms.”

Stay on peak of trends and be willing to experiment with new platforms and formats. Lu suggests federated social networks and e-commerce pop-up shops as fresh opportunities for engagement, especially as decentralization and ‘small web’ continue to generate interest. “Diversification aims at where your brand is where your audience is, and also protects against potential disruptions in the market.”

Brand Journalism as the Future of Marketing

Brand journalism is a powerful tool for creating depth and substance in modern marketing. By applying journalistic principles, companies can craft stories that inform, engage, and strengthen their brand’s identity—staying with their audience long after they scroll past traditional ads. To explore how brand journalism can elevate your marketing strategy and leadership approach, visit Martinsen Global for expert insights and tailored training solutions.

Published by: Nelly Chavez