Delving into Digital Marketing?: Write Like a Journalist: Tips for Content Marketers

Friday, May 2, 2014

Write Like a Journalist: Tips for Content Marketers

Write Like a Journalist: Tips for Content Marketers Marketing language is sometimes designed to "make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” George Orwell, the author of dystopian novel 1984, was talking about political speech when he wrote those words in 1946. Yet his words are just as apt when it comes to what can go wrong with content marketing: jargon or poorly crafted prose, cliches, ambiguity, empty phrases and other clutter.

That’s not necessary. As content marketing eclipses more traditional marketing and advertising copy, there’s something to be learned from writers and journalists. Delivering a story people want to read means spending time to create something they want to know about, and respecting readers by not peddling sensationalist or annoying pitches.

Yes, you are writing with a point-of-view. No, it’s not investigative journalism. But marketers will do well to read (and apply) much of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to build the kind of trust and attention they want associated with their brand. It’s not just about what’s right. It’s what works.

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