Journalists and their storytelling skills are entering the content marketing field to help brands engage with customers and prospects. Now, a marketer may wonder : Are journalists stealing my role? I can tell stories too!

While that may be true, telling the story well enough to achieve the impact you desire is a whole different kettle of fish. In fact, an ideal content marketing team needs both marketing and journalism skills to develop successful campaigns.

Marketers are trained to focus on The Sell when it comes to marketing content. Let’s take marketing an established premium tea brand, as an example. The marketer may feature a fine lady sipping tea to show 1) the drinker’s preferred brand for many years, and/or 2) the brand is in a class of its own and the choice of those with good taste.

This approach visualises the customer’s experience if they are sipping that cup of tea with all the right cues. It targets the right consumers with the right information. However, with the deluge of advertising we’re exposed to, the Sell might not be compelling enough to makes us go out and buy that tin of tea. You need The Story too.

Journalists are wired to find The Story. They look at fresh angles to an idea, and dig deeper to find what makes customers tick and encourage them to engage with the brand. They go beyond the lovely lady sipping tea. The tea set may be a beautiful heirloom passed down to a young man who is serving tea to his grandmother – two generations bonding over tea. Or you might get a peek at the tea growers and their stories that help put the tea leaves in your cup. Or you will find out ways to use the tea bag after you’re done with it.

The Story approach brings a new perspective and makes brands more relatable and memorable. It entices consumers to follow and form a relationship with the brand that transcends one-way advertising.

The Story can then be delivered through different formats like videos and infographics  that lengthens its shelf life and promote shareability.

With the advent of content marketing, we see both marketing and journalism skills blended together for brands to tell their own stories. It’s not easy to find the right balance of skills for our content team but hey, that’s part of the fun isn’t it?