3 Ways to Prepare Before You Switch Careers From Journalism to Marketing

3 Ways to Prepare Before You Switch Careers From Journalism to Marketing

I’ve worked as a staff writer and editor for both digital and print publications since then, all while the industry felt like it was coming apart at the seams. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the writer-friendly career that stands to see the most growth in the next decade isn’t journalism—it’s content marketing. What does that have to do with marketing? I’ve been here for about a month, and as heretical as it might sound to some reporters, a content marketing career can be more intellectually engaging than churning out blog posts and breaking news. The more thoughtful commentary you can find, the quicker you’ll be able to use your skills instead of second-guessing yourself. But in many cases, strange terms can point to important concepts. But I never thought of it as a business-to-consumer relationship. Now, I’m in the B2B space writing to help other companies. But what values do journalists cling to? If branded content still feels icky, consider this: My writing career thus far has focused on superheroes and horror movies.

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You may have read that journalism has been in its death throes for the last decade. That’s bad news for many, but it struck me as particularly horrific when I entered the workforce six years ago hoping to be a professional writer.

I’ve worked as a staff writer and editor for both digital and print publications since then, all while the industry felt like it was coming apart at the seams. There were plenty of positives along the way—nothing feels better than interviewing artists you love or landing a magazine feature. But at every stop I’ve made, journalists tend to describe themselves as huddling in a foxhole.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the writer-friendly career that stands to see the most growth in the next decade isn’t journalism—it’s content marketing. If you read me that sentence two months ago, that phrase may have gone straight into one ear and out the other. Wasn’t I already creating content? What does that have to do with marketing?

Then I joined Contently as the associate editor. I’ve been here for about a month, and as heretical as it might sound to some reporters, a content marketing career can be more intellectually engaging than churning out blog posts and breaking news. However, the craft requires you to use your writing tools in slightly different ways.

Here are some of the actionable items I recommend to journalists making the switch. Granted, I didn’t do every single of these before coming to Contently, but if I could go back, I would.

1. Zoom out on your media analysis

Journalists tend to focus on granular information. Most have specific beats to “walk”, post quotas to meet, and traffic goals to hit, so the time they can allot to high-level analysis doesn’t always exist.

When I worked as a culture writer specializing in horror and superheroes, I read the highlights from Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog before I even got out of bed each morning. By noon, I caught up on smaller blogs and subreddits, in addition to writing breaking news posts. For all of that mandatory content intake, the conversations I read about could seem small and fleeting.

In the world of content marketing, the news cycle is slower and more deliberate. It’s also a bit trickier. Content marketing is such a positive place because most companies will never aggressively investigate their own products or industries if those pursuits lead to negative coverage. That means it’s important to find reputable content sources for a more objective picture of what’s going on.

Ad Age,…

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