How does a journalism background benefit your content strategy career?

Journalists frame news as a story and place it in the right context that gives the story meaning and legs. They automatically start looking for a protagonist, identify a challenge, and outline the steps the protagonist had to take to solve the challenge. They position the outcome so that your audience finds it valuable and doesn’t feel like you’ve just wasted their time. When they report, they look for color so they can transport you into the story. They are also good listeners and pick out quotes you will remember long after you finish reading. A good story makes it easier for PR partners to pitch the news to reporters. Stories also serve as a reservoir of ready-made ideas for your marketing team.

I literally owe my entire career to my journalism degree. While I never became a professional journalist, the skills I picked up through high school and college and in my professional life prepared me for my last two roles leading content teams at Walmart and TD Bank. The ability to write for different audiences, the knack for finding that perfect story that others miss and the always-curious mindset are skills that I think people with journalism backgrounds develop and put into practice to make them successful. Now as a content strategist, I find myself more than capable of knowing what our audience wants to hear and finding a story that scratches their itch.

If you can communicate like a journalist, you can be successful in any field. That’s because you know how to ask the right questions, you know how to synthesize and analyze information, and you know how to put the information into words in a way that people can understand.

I became a journalist because I was inquisitive and wanted to find ways to tell great stories - first in newspapers, then radio, television and now in content marketing. Being a journalists means understanding your audience first - and that is exactly the same approach you need when developing your content. With so many channels available today on which to read, watch and digest stories, it's important to flex your storytelling approach for whichever platform you're on. So start with the narrative - what are you trying to say, to whom and HOW will you get your message across? Add in there the need for researched facts, and cross-checking of information. Finally challenge yourself to be creative in your storytelling in order to stand out!

Agreed. I think the most valuable skill is the ability to research and comprehend. This comprehension of (sometimes complicated) topics gives journalists an edge in their communication. Unlike some (not all) copy writers or content creators they can understand thoroughly and communicate simply to the reader. I do think we should move away from the concept of ‘content creation’ which opens it up to nonsense creation and talk about ‘knowledge interpretation’. Too much of the unnecessary filling server space and polluting the planet. It is here where journalism can step in with their skill.

Journalists are trained to be skeptical of information and to verify facts before publishing them. In addition, journalists are skilled at finding and using sources to support their claims. ournalists hold themselves to high ethical standards of accuracy and transparency. This ingrained value is invaluable in content strategy, where trust is paramount. By being transparent in your content creation process, citing sources accurately, and acknowledging limitations, you build credibility with your audience.

Sourcing facts and verifying them for your content marketing are crucial - if you are writing for a brand then the audience needs to trust the content you're creating. In an environment where generative AI can quickly generate content, you will need to check facts, and focus on quality in order to differentiate what you are producing. In fact, focusing on quality might be the best way you can differentiate yourself. In the future the research might be something you can pass on to a generative AI tool - but the aspect of content creation that you as a human will need to deliver is understanding context. AI cannot contextualise or analyse situations, and that is one key skill you learn when you train as a journalist.

The ability to do your own research is essential to this gig. The reason? You're usually working from very limited source materials. Best case scenario, you get to interview a subject matter expert on your topic. More typically, you're handed an outline (usually bad), some slides with bullet points, and maybe a transcript of an interview with an SME, done by someone who doesn't know how to interview. So it's your job to fill the many blanks. That's research. Fortunately, The Googles make this job much easier. But you also need to be able to identify reliable/authoritative sources, and to track down canonical ones. Most people don't even bother, which is why statistics from 2003 continue to be quoted in case studies and stories.

Every strategy should start with research. You need to know where you are now - what the current situation is and what needs to be addressed or handled. Then you need to know what you want to achieve. In the past this was often referred to as environmental scanning. Research is an essential skill.

Storytelling, or the lack thereof, is where 99% of marketing content fails. I can't even count how many case studies I've read that are full of facts & puffery, but zero story. And the reason is that stories require conflict, and marketers HATE conflict. Everything that makes a good novel or screenplay -- characters, setting, dialog, conflict, resolution -- should be part of marketing content. But that means introducing negative elements: Company A had a big problem it couldn't solve, until it found Solution Z. (I had one very well known client that refuses to allow the word "problem" in its case studies. Everything is a "challenge.") You want people to read these things? Kill the forced happy talk. Let your writers tell a real story.

Weaving a tale is not easy. It takes practice. Along with being a former journalist of two decades and a current corporate communicator, I am an adjunct communications professor. I teach my students a good storyteller is not just curious, they practice the art every day. You must know what good looks like. You don’t just add a bunch of adjectives in your content. You must take people on a journey. I’ve translated my love of long form writing into personal highlights that have increased traffic on our website. You can find data and business focus in an annual report or on an earnings call. The personal stories that generate emotions are what move people.

My journalism studies and background has helped me helped me hone my listening skills and practice empathy instead of sympathy during storytelling. Thus writing better and more wholesome content by understanding and listening to all stakeholders.

Content strategy is a lot about *finding* the story instead of *creating* the story. Most clients I work with have tons of wonderful anecdotes that they self-select out of our conversations because they don't think they're interesting enough. It's about knowing the right questions to ask and how to dig deeper in a way that's empowering and not exposing. The real magic in storytelling lies in framing. How do we convey this story in the most compelling, emotionally activating, and clear way possible? Do we begin in the middle? At the end? Do we write with lists, and lots of white space? Do we add dialogue? All of these things, usually relegated to fiction writing, are equally as important on social and in any type of content strategy.

I think of storytelling like I do cooking and in storytelling, the audience is the secret sauce. It's not just about serving information; it's crafting narratives that resonate with their tastes, preferences, and cravings. Like a chef adapting a recipe, we tweak our stories based on audience feedback, keeping the engagement sizzling.

As a former journo, I know readers don’t care about why I made a piece of content. It caught their attention and it’s on me to keep it — with every headline, sentence, and subhead. Journalism taught me that I can’t afford to be boring and that “interesting” is rooted in the reader’s perspective. It’s not about me, it’s about what that info can do for them in that moment and over time.

As a journalist, editing goes beyond polishing words; it’s about sculpting a piece to meet the highest standards. Not just refining grammar and style but ensuring the content aligns seamlessly with established guidelines and ethical principles. These skills are pivotal in content strategy too. Adhering to best practices is paramount, as is a knack for maintaining clarity, relevance and usability. It ensures that the content you create not only meets industry standards but, more importantly, resonates with your audience, fostering engagement and meeting the strategic goals of your company or clients.

Where editing skills really help is in the repurposing of content. Content strategy isn't just about running a company blog—it's about getting the most 'bang for your buck' out of every piece of content you create. If you've spent a lot of time or money on a well-researched 2000-word post for your website, what else can you do with it? Can you condense it into 500 words for a newsletter? How many valuable, bite-sized nuggets can you pull out of it to use as social media posts? Can you turn it into a 15-page PDF to use as a lead magnet? Some of this will require a little rewriting, but with creativity and an eye for potential opportunities, strong editing skills will help you get much more mileage out of content.

Coming from a journalism background, I agree with the stemmed fact that possessing good editing skills takes your work from one to ten. The best practice that has worked for me has to be leaving the desk immediately after writing and coming back after 30 minutes to edit my content with a fresh mind. Writing content is important however, editing content is even more important.

When I return to a draft of my work after taking a break of an hour, a day, or a week, whether it's my own writing or a client's writing, I can see it with a fresh perspective. Always give yourself the time to revisit your work and then edit for conciseness, clarity, and color. Reading voraciously and adding to your own vocabulary will help your writing sparkle and add to the tools in your editing wheelhouse.

Journalists' collaboration skills smoothly transition into content marketing, as both roles require effective teamwork. Journalists collaborate with various professionals to produce cohesive stories, while content marketers need to work with diverse teams for comprehensive content strategies. Communication, idea-sharing, and coordination are crucial for both roles. Content marketers, like journalists, collaborate with designers, SEO specialists, and others to align content with marketing objectives, engage the audience, and maintain a consistent brand voice. These strong collaboration skills empower content marketers to navigate the complexities of content creation within a team environment.

As a journalist, you already know how to work with people from different teams to get a story produced. Using this experience, you can leverage on it to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts that might arise in the workplace as content strategist.

I love collaborating and getting to learn from my peers. That's what makes this industry worth while and so much fun. Something I implement with any team I get to work with.

Journalists are great at storytelling. When it comes to presenting projects and creating a story around them, team members without a journalistic background can learn a lot. And: Journalists usually can quickly learn about different topics, they understand backgrounds or acquire knowledge through research quite fast. This is important when working collaboratively with people with different backgrounds. For example: In my team are software engineers. Nobody expects me (a journalist) to be able to program like a professional - but if you can educate yourself with the topic and get some basic knowledge, you will be able to increase your standing within the team as a project manager.

One of the great skills all journalists possess is an ability to look beyond the obvious and explore deeper. That innate curiosity helps tremendously in any profession as you are able to challenge status quo and explore things that most non-journo colleagues may not ever consider.

Every company is a media company these days because they have to -- the media industry continues to struggle so companies have to learn how to tell their own stories. A journalism background helps determine the story angle, it's development and where it should be published. But hiring former journalists doesn't mean you will get content of a high journalistic quality. The PR and marketing folk that would do the hiring generally don't have journalism backgrounds and they impose their daily standards. Which is why the majority of content marketing looks like marketing and far from looking journalistic. The right leadership counts a lot and it should have its own VP seat on the senior leadership team -- not led by corporate comms or marketing.

It's never been more important to be learning all of the time. Digital channels, tools and platforms are changing every day, and with the pace of development of advanced generative artificial intelligence that is only likely to increase in pace. Being curious is at the heart of our learning - finding solutions, new ways of approaching content... but often it can be difficult to maintain that curiosity. Try new approaches to your work or your life. Encourage yourself to talk to new and different people. Engage with the new and the novel. These simple practices might inspire and engage you, and hopefully pique your interest to become ever more curious throughout your life.

Reading outside your discipline for at least 30 minutes a day inspires a natural curiosity that serves both journalists and content strategists well.

As Einstein is so famously quoted, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious” and to achieve results this is one of the pillars of success. As I like to say, the added benefit of being curious be is you can create wonderful memories and amazing adventures.

One thing that all journalists learn to consider as they craft stories is the audience they serve. I find that many marketers start with the message they want to deliver whereas a journalist will approach a story with what the audience needs to know. In news writing, this often takes the shape of a nut graf, which tells the reader early in a piece what the payoff will be if they read. Remember: audiences don't owe you their time. Journalists know they need to earn attention. Good content strategy considers their needs first, which translates into better experiences and engagement.

My background in journalism has given me the instincts and skills to listen to the what and why of what people are saying, to ask questions that advance narratives and to trust but verify what people share. It has also given me the ability to distill information into digestible takeaways.

I was a raised a journalist and spent two thirds of my career as one, but reporters can be a double edge sword. They have all the skills for not only writing well but researching stories. And they have a natural gift for taking provocative angles or finding unsual ideas. But the principles of corporate content can often be in direct contrast to those of journalism and it can rattle the reporter trying to become a corporate content writer. It's up to their manager to understand this challenge and guide journalists through the journey.

The biggest element missing here is interviewing, which often gets overlooked as the important skill it is. An interview is not just reading through a list of questions or having a conversation. It takes training and practice to nail interviewing. Journalism teaches you: - How to steer a conversation toward what you need without influencing the source - How to interview a reluctant subject - How to coax quotable answers out of people giving one-word responses (and writing questions that don’t allow for one-word responses) - What to paraphrase, what to quote and how to attribute correctly This is all paramount to content marketing strategy — speaking to company stakeholders, SMEs, target audience all require interview skills.