What does an experienced digital journalist and trained fiction writer have to offer to companies for the purpose of content marketing? Plenty. The tools and experience are already in place. He/she just flips a mental switch and continues doing the same things in a different way.

One quick visit to Wikipedia tells us that content marketing “is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers.”

The two words that I hone in on, naturally, are “media” and “content,” because I have spent all my working years creating and producing content for media. My area of specific expertise is digital media. Lucky for me, digital media is the ‘here and now’ and the foreseeable future for media. By the way, in my world digital media also includes social media.

So, the question is: what specifically am I able to offer companies that are in search of someone with writing and content development abilities? People generally abhor being sold to and much prefer being told stories and presented with useful information. I offer a long history of successfully doing these two things.

Let’s take a look further into my back of tricks and see what we find:

• a propensity for spinning stories that resonate – i.e. an account of a trucking company’s CEO who spends the majority of his working hours carefully acquiring and retaining the best possible customers by building relationships with them, and leaving all other jobs to his trusted staff
• a talent for interviewing people and relating with them, and capturing the essence of this conversation, as in a case study – i.e. marketing a fledgling human resources organization that is re-imagining hiring practices by focusing on skilled people who are out of work or between positions
• the aptitude for constructing a first-rate case study: researching and examining a subject of study (the case) and leading the reader through an investigation of the key problems, allowing them to ‘live the experience’ and providing them with ample information so they can come up with answers on their own
• the ability to ingest and disseminate information, and make it relevant to a specific audience – i.e. producing a white paper for a supply chain corporation and their customers
• a deep understanding of the social media landscape, including platforms, viewership and trends
• a thorough knowledge of integrating text with video and producing a package that promotes both with equal elegance. I did this professionally for nearly a decade.

By now you’ve gotten the idea of what a digital journalist’s world involves. It’s based on the ability to write, edit and research. You blend these finely honed talents with an assortment of digital and social media skills that are acquired over a few years. You need the inherent curiosity and doggedness that is required to work with all the words, video and images, to turn them into something that seems utterly simple and brilliant. It must look good, function flawlessly and capture the imaginations of the masses.

A content marketer’s role is different, yet the same. It’s different mostly because the of the change in focus. The journalist’s work is built around spreading information to the general public, or at least a substantial representation of it. There is typically no product or service to market. When it comes to the commercial world, the media’s role is to review with a critical eye.

You might think that the expressed job of a content marketer is to sell. Well, it is and it isn’t. The company you work for wants you to publicize their products and services. The most effective way of doing this is to first determine your audience: potential buyers of your products and services. If you are in the business of manufacturing home medical equipment and mobility aids, for example – such as stair lifts, walkers and wheelchairs – your audience is hospitals, medical clinics, retirement residences, and drug stores and specialty retailers that sell this equipment. They will want to know why your products and services are worth purchasing, and what makes your brand stand out.

As a content marketer, your job is to inform and illustrate: paint a picture with great information. Give your audience a reason to believe that yours is the best brand available to serve their needs and solve their problem. Their primary need is to get hold of the best available products and services for their customers. Their biggest problem (it reasons) is how to do this seamlessly and with confidence in their suppliers. You, the content marketer, build the case for this confidence.

When it comes to the issue of selling … well, as a media professional and broadcaster, I have always been in the business of selling my company’s brand. Now I’m just changing my company and the nature of the products and services. Much of the rest stays the same. Every day is about learning things that I didn’t know anything about before, and producing content to feature this new found information. That’s the same as before.

The notion of being ‘of service’ remains a constant as well. So does the habit of excellence.