Note from Jennifer: Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the January Marketing Content. I was thrilled that so many people entered! I will be posting the winner later this week.

The answer is absolutely yes. And I think that many writers, including myself, successfully straddle this line. In fact, I think that most writers are finding that doing both is the key to making a good living as a freelance writer. The exception to this rule is investigative journalists and maybe some political journalists, since impartiality is a huge factor in this niche. For everyone else, I think that in order to do both, you have to put thought into your client choices and consciously think about ethics as well of conflicts of interest.

However, in full disclosure, there are a very small handful of publications, such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which will not use writers who have written custom content. If you are currently writing for these publications or hope to write for these publications, you should take this into consideration before jumping into content. However, I have heard that different editors have different stances on this issue, so it’s not cut and dry. If you have found other publications who will not use writers that have done both, please post in the comments.

I have found that for many journalists concerned about doing both that keeping separate niches between content marketing and journalism is a good place to start. For example, you write content marketing in the automotive industry and do travel journalism. This keeps things pretty neat and clean. However, once you become more comfortable doing both, I find that many writers are able to do both within the same niche, especially in large niches like business, tech and finance.

A few years ago I wrote a post about straddling the line between content marketing and journalism and decided that now was a good time to revisit the topic since I have been having many recent conversations on the topic. Several of the “rules” I use for my own business still apply, but a few have evolved over the years as well. These are in no way “laws of the land”, but simply the guidelines that I use in my own business. I think that it is important for each writer who does both to have their own set of ethical rules that they follow for doing both content marketing and journalism.

Here are my three rules for writing both content marketing and journalism:

1. Never use a source who you have taken money from. I haven’t wavered from this one since I wrote it two years ago and honestly think that this rule is the cornerstone of doing both content and journalism. If a client hires you to create content for their brand and then you later use them as a source in a story, then it could easily be perceived that you used them as a source because they are your client. To me this means that when I take a client, I think long and hard about how it will impact my ability to write journalistic stories in the future that could involve the client.
2. Disclose any possible conflicts of interest before working on any project. This is the key to writing both content marketing and journalism. If there are any potential conflicts, tell both the brand and the publication before you start work. Even if you don’t think that there is a conflict, but there is an iota of a chance that someone else could perceive a conflict, have the conversation. I have had many of these conversations and have found that the editors almost always say it’s no issue. And even if they do have a concern, I always earn brownie points up front for having the conversation.
3. Do not place articles for a client in a journalistic publication. I didn’t include this in my original list because I honestly never thought that placing articles would become a thing. But unfortunately it has. I have been asked to do this several times and have heard countless stories of other writers being asked to do the same thing. This is when a client asks you to write an article about their company and then pitch it to the publications that you write for as a journalistic article, with you getting paid by both the company and the publication. This is absolutely unethical, and happens enough that I wrote a post last year about how to handle this issue.

 But sometimes you follow the guidelines you made for your business, and it still doesn’t seem right. I had been working for a hospitality trade publication for years and was offered a gig through an agency that I had worked with for a while to write about hospitality technology for a very large electronics company. Everyone was fine with me doing both, but after a few months, I just didn’t feel good about it so I decided to no longer write for the publication.

Rules are great. Lines in the sand are needed. But sometimes even when you follow everything that you have decided to do, you still have a funny feeling. You know the nagging voice in your head. Or maybe a queasy feeling in your stomach that says that something feels off.  Even if it is seems ethical, but your gut says no, then my advice is to 100 percent listen to your gut. No paycheck or byline is worth compromising your integrity or your ethics.

What are your thoughts on the ethics of writing working for both publications and corporate clients? How do you handle this issue in your business?