It’s almost impossible to have a conversation about content marketing writing either online or in person without this question coming up. The other concern, which is intertwined with this question, is whether a person can ethically write both content marketing and journalism. Last week, I wrote about my lines in the sand and how I ethically do both content marketing and journalism projects. But the question about whether you are limiting future opportunities in journalism by taking content marketing work almost always comes up.

The Majority of Editors Do Not Care if You Also Write Content

Over the past few years, I have become more convinced that very few editors will refuse to hire a writer who does both content marketing and journalism. The only publications that I have heard of that have issues with writers doing both are some editors at The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. On a tangent, I find the stance both of these publications have taken to be terribly ironic since both of these publications do both content and journalism themselves, since they have both have a content marketing division as well as their flagship papers. However, if you currently write for these publications or want to write for these publications, it is important to carefully decide how taking a content marketing client will affect your income now and in the future.

In my many conversations with both writers and editors, I have not heard of writers having problems with editors at other publications. If you have run into issues at other pubs, please post in the comments.  I believe that this is especially true if you keep your journalism and content niches separate, which is a great strategy especially for those writers who are concerned about doing both. Most publications are including sponsored content these days so it is an issue that they deal with themselves. However, as I said in my other post, I think writers should be totally up front about possible conflicts and ask for permission, not forgiveness, if they foresee any issues.

Concerns from Other Writers

Surprisingly, I find that the people who are the most resistant to writers doing both content marketing and journalism at the same time are actually other writers – typically pure journalists. For a long time, I thought that more editors had a problem than I believe really do because I often heard these fears from journalism writers. I totally respect that each writer has to make their own decision about who they want to work for and what they want to write. However, for many writers, it has become financially challenging to do only journalism because of lowered rates and folding pubs. With content, you have unlimited number of potential clients since every business needs content. So the few jobs you limit yourself from are more than made up by the many opportunities available in content.

More Similarities than Differences

Interestingly, I have actually found that many editors at journalistic publications are actually comfortable with me using content clips for journalistic assignments. I landed an ongoing gig at Entrpreneuer.com a few years ago using only clips from American Express OPEN Forum. And I got published in the Atlantic.com using clips of features I wrote for a custom publication for Fifth Third Bank, created by the Wall Street Journal Custom Content division. Now, in both of these cases, the content looked very similar (if not identical) to the articles published on both of these sites.

And that is honestly the point. Great content marketing and great journalism should look very similar. Both should include sources, both should be accurate and both should be written in a way that speaks to the reader. And the best people to create amazing content that both gives information and evokes emotion are journalists.

What has your experience been with editors regarding writing both content and journalism?