From Good to Epic: The Principles of Journalism Applied To Content Marketing

From Good To Epic
The Principles Of Journalism
Applied to Content Marketing

Plenty of so-called journalistic
practices have infiltrated
marketing departments in
recent years.

Marketers are employing
editorial calendars

style guides

entire brand journalism teams
and

While brands are pumping out
content more efficiently, they’re
not necessarily doing it
more effectively.

As described by the world’s top
universities, here’s how
marketers can apply the
principles of journalism to their
own work – lessons
from content experts.

“Journalists must pursue the truth in a
practical sense. This ‘journalistic truth’ is a
process that begins with the professional
discipline of assembling and verifying facts…
Journalists should be as transparent as
possible about sources and methods so
audiences can make their own assessment
of the information.”
Principle #1:
Source: Pew Research

This is a golden rule for
journalists, and should be
for content marketers, as
well. Your credibility and
your company’s reputation
are at stake.

“While news organizations answer to many
constituencies, including advertisers and
shareholders, the journalists in those
organizations must maintain allegiance to
citizens and the larger public interest. This
commitment to citizens ﬁrst is the basis of a
news organization’s credibility.”
Principle #2:

Every piece of content you
create as a marketer exists to
serve a business goal, but
it's guaranteed to fail if it
doesn't ultimately serve your
audience’s needs in the process.

“This discipline of veriﬁcation is what
separates journalism from other modes of
communication, such as propaganda, ﬁction
or entertainment.”
Principle #3:

Journalism involves
research, interviews, fact
checking and then
rechecking. Your content
creation should be
no different.

Do your research, get your
facts right, include links to
your sources, and double
check all before you publish.
Accuracy is vital.

Independence from
what they cover

“Independence is an underlying requirement
of journalism, a cornerstone of its reliability…
While editorialists and commentators are not
neutral, the source of their credibility is still
their accuracy, intellectual fairness and ability
to inform–not their devotion to a certain
group or outcome.”
Principle #4:

The value of a whitepaper,
eBook or other content asset
naturally diminishes
if it is perceived as nothing
more than glorified
marketing collateral.

Third-party gated content
assets tend to generate more
downloads, and also produce
better leads, on average,
than company-branded
content assets.

“Communicators have an obligation to
protect freedom by not demeaning it in
frivolous use or exploiting
it for commercial gain.”
Principle #5:

Yes, your ultimate goal is to
sell. But content marketing is
a marathon, not a short
sprint. Your real goal is to
create better customers over
the long term.

“Accuracy and truthfulness require that as
framers of the public discussion we not
neglect the points of common ground where
problem solving occurs.”
Principle #6:

Sometimes marketers forget
about their audience and
talk to the CEO or to
themselves. They end up
slipping into the corporate
voice. Do that, and watch
your audience slip away.

Make the
significant
interesting

“For its own survival, it must balance what
readers know they want with what they
cannot anticipate but need. In short, it must
strive to make the signiﬁcant interesting and
relevant. The effectiveness of a piece of
journalism is measured both by how much a
work engages its audience and enlightens it.”
Principle #7:

Journalists can find a good
story in a sea of information
and distill it into something
that the reader wants to stay
with. Your content should be
every bit as riveting.

Keep content
comprehensive
and proportional

“Journalism is a form of cartography:
it creates a map for citizens to navigate
society. Inﬂating events for sensation,
neglecting others, stereotyping or being
disproportionately negative all make a less
reliable map. The map is only an analogy;
proportion and comprehensiveness are
subjective, yet their elusiveness does not
lessen their signiﬁcance.”
Principle #8:

Your content should always
be comprehensive at every
level. From individual pieces
to your overall strategy, you
must effectively describe the
reality of your industry.

“Each of us must be willing, if fairness and
accuracy require, to voice differences with our
colleagues, whether in the newsroom or the
executive suite… This stimulates the
intellectual diversity necessary to understand
and accurately cover an increasingly diverse
society. It is this diversity of minds and voices,
not just numbers, that matters.”
Principle #9:

It might seem difficult to
always produce content that
is accurate, balanced,
interesting, and focused on
your audience.

But content marketers must
remain close to these values.
In the end, this is the only
way to make your audience
trust your content, share it,
and ultimately become
loyal customers.

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From Good to Epic: The Principles of Journalism Applied To Content Marketing

From Good to Epic: The Principles of Journalism Applied To Content Marketing

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From Good to Epic: The Principles of Journalism Applied To Content Marketing