What 'sponsored content' means at The Press

The Coeur d’Alene Press launched something called “sponsored content” less than six months ago. As something that’s new to many of our readers, we thought explaining it might help remove some of the mystery.

Sponsored content at The Press is a combination of storytelling and marketing. The goal for advertisers who sponsor the content is to generate business. As just one example, a senior citizen read a sponsored content article about an energy rebate program and called Marc Stewart, director of sponsored content for The Press, about buying a new furnace. Marc referred her to the local business that had sponsored the story, and they were happy to help a new customer. Happy business; happy reader and customer. That’s the goal of sponsored content, and it’s highly successful already.

The Press has received recognition from Editor & Publisher, a national newspaper industry publication, for doing sponsored content “the right way” and for being a trailblazer in the medium. We’ve gotten calls from newspaper executives across the country who want more details on how we’re doing it. But it’s still a foreign concept to many.

In a letter to the editor today, for instance, a Post Falls reader suggests we label sponsored content as paid advertising. Yes, sponsored content is paid for by advertisers, but it’s distinctly different. Paid advertisements are crafted exactly the way a business wants them crafted to promote that business’s products or services. The advertiser is in the driver’s seat, from concept to publication, and the result is traditional ads that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing in print and online.

Sponsored content, done right, blends strong editorial content, created by a trained journalist, with a marketing component. Our version is meant to provide interesting and useful information to the readers even if there were no sponsor for that piece.

For example, the story that got the letter writer’s attention was about a woman who had to prove she was a U.S. citizen, and the lawyer who worked for free to get her legal status corrected. The story was sponsored by a local law firm. It was a true story. It was compelling. It explained a complex process in a way that most people could understand. It was useful for people in the same situation. And it was clearly labeled at the top of the page as sponsored content.

Sponsored content — unlike traditional advertising — is vetted by Press editors who make sure it meets the paper’s editorial standards for accuracy. Their approach is that the content should be so useful that the reader shouldn’t care if it’s sponsored content or something else.

To avoid any confusion or appearance of deceit, the Press clearly marks each piece as sponsored content in the paper and online. We format it differently, giving it a slightly different look than a typical news story, and in print, sponsored content is placed adjacent to a traditional ad as part of the overall design package.

For the most part readers are responding positively. Engagement on cdapress.com and the Coeur d’Alene Press Facebook page is way up, and many sponsored stories are getting more comments, shares, and likes than some traditional news stories.

This isn’t an exact science and we’re always looking for ways to improve. If you’ve got questions or suggestions about sponsored content, please feel free to contact Marc Stewart at mstewart@cdapress.com or 208-664-8176, ext. 2011, or managing editor Mike Patrick at mpatrick@cdapress.com.