While newsroom jobs have been on the decline, content management roles are on the rise, but we’re not seeing a trend in these roles being filled by the out of work (or overworked) journalists, and we find that odd.

Brand journalism and storytelling are becoming trendy terms (almost painfully so) in the content marketplace, and journalists have the skill set and training to tell your brand’s story, to engage and build credibility with your audience. Furthermore, they can often bring to the table something that your average marketing storyteller doesn’t: hard, researched facts, delivered in an easily digestible, concise format that holds a reader’s interest to the very last word (thanks to column inches).

Historically, editors and reporters viewed sales and marketing teams as “the dark side”, and some of them still do. While not all journalists were cut from the same cloth, many of them have acknowledged that things have changed in the marketing world. The content that works is the content that is objective and readable, that gives the reader useful information rather than narcissistic, continuous boasting about your own product or service. Creating and delivering objective, digestible content is what journalists do best.

 Journalists can find the story your readers want to read

Journalists sometimes have to figure out how to make something interesting. And they don’t do it with adjectives. They research and interview until they find a compelling angle. They find a way to draw out a story, whether it be thought-provoking or provocative, journalists write for their audience. They build credibility by delivering honest, unbiased information. Now you may be thinking that most of the news articles you read are impersonal and brief, the five Ws (who, what, when, where, why) are crucial for structure and readability, once those are identified, your article can be taken far beyond the confines of news and a compelling narrative can be constructed.

Journalists know how to harness the power of a story

Not only can they find the story, they can deliver it in a way that’s engaging and shareable, keeping readers on the page for longer and motivating them to read related articles. This increases a users time on your site, and tells search engines that your site is worth visiting. Journalists are trained to be succinct and leave out fluff, and, while marketers may like fluff for the sake of the product, the audience does not. This perfected structure increases the shelf life of your content, and in a time where millions (yes, MILLIONS) of pieces of content are being shared online daily, only stimulating content has a chance.

They don’t need to be subject matter experts, journalists are excellent researchers and interviewers 

Let’s face it, writing isn’t for everyone, but lots of non-writers have knowledge that needs to be published for the sake of your brand or product. Journalists are the perfect solution. For a journalist, the writing is just the final component. Getting to that point involves interviews with subject matter experts, research, learning the lingo. You want your in-house tech nerds to contribute to your brand’s online thought leadership? Get a journalist to help construct their story. You won’t be disappointed.

And last, but certainly not least:

Journalists are deadline-driven

Reporters generally have multiple stories due on a daily basis covering different topics, so you can count on them to be fast and reliable, churning out content and adhering to an aggressive editorial calendar.