What content marketers can learn from journalists

Anyone who spends even a small amount of time reading online news sites will remember the Women Inmates feature, a 2014 collaboration between Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black and The New York Times’ T Brand Studio. It was hailed as one of the best examples of branded content, and it ended up in the top 2% of all content published on nytimes.com that year.

The person behind the interactive feature is Melanie Deziel. A journalist by training, she has worked as a brand content editor and strategist at some of the world’s leading publications. Today, as the founder of StoryFuel, she uses all that experience to teach marketers how to think more like journalists so they can create better content and tell better stories. I spoke with Melanie to learn more about what brands can learn from the world of journalism.

Content marketing isn’t new but there still seems to be a lack of understanding as to what it is. Do you have an elevator pitch that succinctly explains what it is you do?

Here’s the short version: I help brand marketers create better content processes, establish stronger content strategies, create more compelling and credible content, and get their creative juices flowing around content creation. To do all that, I use all my experience and skills as a former journalist, because the two things are more similar than people sometimes think. Journalism is objective storytelling, while content marketing is storytelling with an objective. (Though this doesn’t mean that content marketing can’t be valuable for readers, or just as enjoyable as great journalism!)

Journalism is objective storytelling, while content marketing is storytelling with an objective.

And why do you think so many brands are interested in creating content?

As the digital world has gotten increasingly noisy in the last few years, and people have more choices than ever about how to spend their time and what content to consume, marketers have increasingly found that disruptive banners, pop-ups, and pre-roll ads don’t always make the connection they hope for, and that story-driven content is often more valued by consumers. As brands experiment and see these results, it becomes increasingly obvious that content it something to continue adding into the marketing mix.

Speaking of results, how should content marketers be measuring the impact of their efforts?

One of the key challenges with measuring the ROI of content is that most content tends to be higher funnel than other direct-response marketing objectives. How can you truly tell if a blog post about your founder influenced someone to buy? It’s hard to say, especially if you’re trying to calculate it after the fact, once the content has already been produced. By that point, you’re left with whatever marketing metrics you usually measure, which are most often tied to sales.

So when I first start working with a brand, I always try and help them determine what their actual goal is with content marketing. Is it to change opinions, to reach more people, to create more loyalty, to grow traffic, or something else? Once we get clear on the primary goal, and any additional goals, we can clearly define the ways to measure that change, and any steps we need to take to get there.

Another thing I try and emphasize to the brands I work with is that content marketing is not a short-term tactic that will show immediate results. In most cases, content marketing needs to be a long-term strategy — you have to plan to consistently create content for at least 3 to 6 months before expecting to see meaningful transformation. I often make dating analogies here; if you’re looking to create a long-term relationship with these customers, then it’s going to take some courting, listening, follow-up, and a few different kinds of dates before they’re ready to commit to you for the long term.

Content marketing is a long-term strategy — you have to plan to consistently create content for at least 3 to 6 months before expecting to see meaningful transformation.

What does it take to create really great content marketing?

Most of the best examples of content marketing share some common characteristics. Often times, they take a less branded approach, and tell a story that is at least a few steps away from the product or service itself, allowing consumers to connect with them on a level that isn’t simply transactional. Most often these successful pieces and campaigns are also focused on providing value of some kind to the audience, and take their needs, concerns, priorities, fears, challenges, questions, and other preferences into account in terms of the topic of the content, the format it’s presented in, and the means of distributing it.

Any tips for coming up with content marketing ideas?

One great tool to try out in your brainstorm phase is Answer The Public. This free tool lets you put in keywords related to your brand, and shows you the questions people are searching for, as it pertains to that keyword. This can be a great source of ideas for content, because it tells you what your audience wants to know more about, what they struggle with, or what resources they are looking for. Every question they ask may not be a fit for a content piece, but it can certainly spark some new ideas for related topics and themes you may not have considered.