Journalism might not be dead, but it's hurting. An emerging option is brand journalism. Here's how to do that job the right way.
That you’re reading this article for free, either online or from a mobile app, and probably found it through a “friend” you’ve never met, makes the following point: Journalism might not be dead, but it isn’t breathing normally.
Robert McChesney, author of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out The Lights, argues the journalism industry is in a crisis. The decline in reporting jobs, coupled with the rise in public relations spending, is re-routing the paths of would-be journalists to careers in corporate communications, resulting in today’s out-of-whack 4-to-1 publicist-to-journalist ratio.
But a third option is emerging: brand journalism. The social web has given rise to new expectations — transparency, accessibility and customer-centric content — that line-up nicely with skills learned in journalism school. As a result, “brand journalist” is becoming an increasingly popular job title. Companies like Twitter, Tumblr, Radian6, and Facebook, have all recently hired in-house reporters.
If you are considering hiring — or becoming — a brand journalist, you need to distinguish the role from PR by adhering to seven basic, journalistic tenets of “traditional” media. Here’s what they are....
[Good read on brand journalism vs content marketing by Joe Chernov - JD]
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This article highlights the current state of marketing, and the need to change, adapt and look to the future in order to implement successful marketing strategies. For example, there is a serious need to adapt and change marketing strategies in line with changes in a companys' consumers. Too often companies carry on as they always have because it was successful at the time. However, in our increasingly fragmented and digitalised society, brands must keep up with these changes in order to stay popular or trusted. It is also necessary to converse with consumers. No longer can all brands be successful with top-down, authoritarian communication. They must involve consumers in brand discussions in order to make progress. For example, many chip brands have created campaigns where consumers suggest new chip flavours that could potentially be put into production. This demonstrates including consumers in a brand's discourse and giving consumers the chance to influence a brand's image. These are important concepts in terms of engagement, communicating with consumers and brand management.