Journalists and professional writers have taken a hit over the past few years, being forced to take part-time positions, move to undesirable cities or write online articles for pennies or even nothing at all. Now, this is not a post meant to bash journalism. It is a highly respectable career and it certainly isn’t one to scoff at. If you want to pursue a job at a newspaper, magazine or news channel, do it! The world still needs you.
However, there is another world of opportunity opening up to writing professionals from journalism and public relations majors to seasoned pros—content marketing. So what makes content marketing so great for writers? Here, I have compiled just a few of the many reasons to consider a career in content marketing.
Every piece of content begins with good writing—even videos, podcasts and infographics. But what makes journalists move straight to the top of the list is their ability to tell a compelling story. Not only can you sniff out a good story, you have a natural finesse for transforming information, even information classified as “boring,” into entertaining, educational and intriguing stories. This is what content marketing is all about.
One of the reasons I decided to pursue writing as a career—and I have heard many other journalists say they too chose it—was the never-ending chance for learning. I used to say, “Every story is like a new job.” It never gets boring! In content marketing, whether you choose a job at an agency or a corporation, you can write about something new every single day.
In order to learn about new industries, though, you must ask the right questions. Knowing how to get to the needed information is highly valued in marketing, so interview skills are beginning to be sought out on the content side of things. And who better to conduct interviews than trained journalists?
There's a certain amount of creativity required for journalism. Those doors are blown wide open when you step into a content marketing role. Every piece of content, from blogs to eBooks, should have some sort of creative flair that will draw readers (and leads) in. And it doesn’t stop there—it takes creativity to dream up new formats of content, too. Don’t stop with blogs and videos; you can pitch content snacks, Facebook contests or whatever else you think of.
Content marketing isn’t necessarily new, but it isn’t exactly established either, and it is constantly changing. Companies that utilize content marketing will need to make a lot of changes, both in their processes and the technology they use in order to keep up. This gives content marketers the chance to be on the forefront of innovation, voicing their opinions and trying new things. What’s more exciting than that?
While some companies are moving full-steam ahead with content marketing, others still are not even sure how to take Step 1 in implementing the strategy. What does this mean for you? You can choose the route that best fits you: Do you want to follow the path someone else has created (this is not a bad thing) or do you want to carve out your own journey? Both opportunities are available to you.
If you are like most journalists, your basic career goal is to get paid to write fulltime. Unfortunately, there just are not many opportunities for that in the world of journalism anymore. However, if you can open your mind to becoming a brand journalist instead, then content marketing has thousands of options for full-time gigs. And better yet, most of the companies offering those jobs see the value in writers and pay them appropriately. While this isn’t the main objective of any writer (seriously, we wouldn’t have even started down this path if it were), it is certainly a nice perk.
There are several more benefits of starting a career in content marketing, but you will have to find those ones out on your own. Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comment section below!
With a degree in journalism, Brianne Rush has more than seven years of professional writing and content marketing experience. Through web and editorial writing, she reaches target audiences for Fortune 1000 companies, as well as small businesses. She uses her content marketing powers to help Kuno and its clients build their brands. You can connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google.
