Why Content Marketing Needs Professional Writers/Journalists

Way back in 2010, Joe Pulizzi, the leading evangelist for content marketing, founded the Content Marketing Institute, because he had proof that brands and companies could do a better job of marketing themselves.

As Pulizzi still defines it: “Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

What does that actually mean?

Whether your company and brand(s) target consumers or other businesses, your content marketing is genuinely committed to educating and informing your existing and prospective customers. You are making the effort and taking the time required to find and share relevant, credible information that is of real use in an engaging, accessible format.

What’s the real difference between content marketing and native advertising, branded content, product marketing, traditional marketing, social marketing, social media, inbound marketing and public relations?

Content marketing is related to every single one of them but the key differentiator is that true content marketing is the art of communicating and sharing information without blatantly PROMOTING or SELLING your own brands, products and services!

Rather than pitching your products or services – you are educating and informing your existing and prospective customers about everything from market trends to why a particular strategy is effective.

You are providing relevant, valuable, accurate, credible and authoritative information – if they welcome and appreciate the information.

You are presenting biased, irrelevant and inaccurate information – if their defenses go up when they start reading the content, then they resent and reject that information.

To deliver readable, credible and engaging content that tells a great story while providing plenty of solid facts and data, increasingly astute content marketers turn to writers and content creators who are trained journalists with related experience on trade and consumer publications.

Certainly, their marketing department may have such writers in place, but if not, they are outsourcing to freelance content marketing writers who have journalism backgrounds. They have the training, skills and experience needed to create superior marketing content for their e-newsletters, blog posts, social media, microsites, video clips, online presentations, print magazines and webinars/webcasts.

It makes good business sense because as the report “2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America” by the Content Marketing Institute’s Pulizzi and Marketing Profs’ Ann Handley, discovered, 56% of respondents said their organization’s top content marketing challenge is the production of engaging content and 76% said the TOP priority is to create more engaging content.

They need writers with the appropriate skill set and experience, particularly as Pulizzi and Handley also note that 76% of B2C marketers now use content marketing and that 76% will produce more content in 2016 than 2015. About 50% of respondents plan to increase their organization’s content marketing budget in the next 12 months and those surveyed will now devote 32% of their entire marketing budget to content marketing up over 25% the previous year.

What’s the major difference between B2C and B2B organizations when it comes to content marketing?

As mentioned earlier, 76% of B2C organizations use content marketing, while 88% of B2B organizations rely on content marketing – otherwise the statistics are remarkably similar.

Organizations with a commitment to content marketing rely on freelancers like content marketing writer and journalist Kara Kuryllowicz.

Over the years, she has written thousands of articles for trade magazines and hundreds of stories for consumer magazines as well as content for e-newsletters, blog posts, website articles, presentations, in-person events, social media, microsites and video clips.

As a working journalist, Kara Kuryllowicz has to find and report facts and as importantly, know how to use them in the stories she tells. She knows exactly what questions to ask and respects the 5Ws that are at the very foundation of every story: who, what, why, when and where!

She knows how to find the most relevant, credible data and statistics from reputable organizations and uses them to support the various points she presents on her client’s behalf.

As importantly, she knows how to lure readers in with a great opening line and take them from the beginning of that content or story all the way to the end.

She always checks her facts and invests the time and effort in getting it right every time.

Contact Kara about an assignment and check out her portfolio!

Kara Kuryllowicz is a professional freelance writer and journalist who creates a wide variety of marketing content for print and digital publications.

Why does she love writing marketing content? It’s actually a whole lot like writing for magazines!

She gets to learn a lot as a result of talking with and interviewing interesting people as well as trolling a vast range of online resources for solid facts, figures and statistics pertaining to the various trends and markets, verticals and industries.

Whether she’s writing marketing content pertaining to telematics and GPS technology, materials management and distribution, manufacturing, IT, lifestyle, MSPs, travel, the plastics industry, real estate or property management – it’s fun!

In short, there is very little that doesn’t pique her curiosity which is great because that why’s she’s always going to ask questions and look for more fascinating facts. She likes getting the hard data, yet recognizes that there is still nothing better than being able to share a great story through content marketing!

A great believer in lifelong learning, Kara continues to hone her skills and enhance her experience. In addition to a journalism degree from Ryerson, she has completed the university’s writing for the internet course and is taking George Brown College’s Social Media Marketing program.

In 2005, she completed the Cours de Langue et Civilisation Francaises de La Sorbonne, La Sorbonne, Paris, France. Yes, she got to live in Paris. Yes, it was awesome!

She continues to commit to the various business, writing and editing seminars presented by the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC) and International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Recent Clients

Getting Started:

1. Discuss content marketing assignment including specific perspective and angle, key points to be made if known in advance.
2. Check out website(s) and other information to gain an understanding of the client, industry, readership and reach.
3. Determine word count and deadline.
4. Identify the need for images (photos, charts, graphs),
5. Confirm *fee/pay rate and obtain/provide written contract.
6. Detail possible sources – Kara recognizes that in many instances, the content marketing client wants to recommend and requires the use of certain contacts/firms and resources.

*Fee/Pay Rate: If you’re a marketer, you know that both per word, hourly and flat rates work – talk to Kara about what makes sense for both of you.

Mid-Stage:

1. Apprise content marketing client of progress.
2. ***Inform content marketing client immediately if the content is going in an unexpected direction or if there is a real lack of the solid, relevant credible information that is required to produce content marketing material that will have the desired effect and impact on the target audience.
3. In that event, there will be discussion as to next steps and any required adjustment in angle/theme/perspective and the potential impact on word count and timeline.

Final Stage:

1. The content marketing that has been created is fact checked.
2. The content marketing material is proofread.
3. The content that has been created is submitted with collateral such as images if required/agreed upon.

In the “2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America” report by the Content Marketing Institute:

• 56% of respondents said their organization’s top content marketing challenge is the production of engaging content
• 76% said the TOP priority is to create more engaging content
• 76% of B2C marketers now use content marketing
• 76% of B2C marketers will produce more content in 2016 than 2015
• 50% of respondents plan to increase their organization’s content marketing budget in the next 12 months
• Respondents will now devote 32% of their entire marketing budget to content marketing up over 25% the previous year.
• 76% of B2C respondents use content marketing, while 88% of B2B organizations rely on content marketing

For more facts on how B2B organizations use content marketing such as case studies: LINK to factoids page https://www.b2bcasestudywriter.com/factoids/

To find out how content marketing such as B2B case studies helps close sales – download Kara Kuryllowicz’s FREE ebook “Top 10 Reasons B2B Case Studies Help Sales”