I read a wonderful article this morning in Mass High Tech magazine. The author, Denise de Murcie a former journalist and now brand manager, wrote a piece in the February 6th issue of the magazine entitled The Lines are Blurring Between Branding and Journalism.

De Murcie writes about a new term she learned from David Meerman Scott: ‘brand journalists.’ The term itself is intriguing, but by the simple fact that journalists are (or should be) completely objective in their reporting of a story, ‘brand journalism’ is actually an oxymoron.

I do however, completely agree with the premise that the future of online marketing does not lie in search engine optimization, or paid search advertising, or large-scale online advertising efforts. The future of online marketing is actually in Online Content Marketing. Great content is inherently valuable. It always comes up highest insearch results and it travels like wildfire in niche networks and it builds relationships with the constituents you’re trying to reach.

As a former freelance producer for network news programs like the Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning and CNN, I completely agree that journalists are well-suited to make a tremendous impact in the creation of both timely and evergreen content for brands interested in helping customers solve their problems.

There’s just one problem with hiring a journalist: they’re “objective.”

Now, if you have a great product, that really does solve people’s problems and fulfills its promise to the market, creating and distributing valuable content written or produced by a journalist will be tremendously successful. If you don’t have a great product solving a real problem, a journalist will surely be able to tell you why your product isn’t hitting the mark. But don’t blame the journalist. Blame the product.

So, if you’re a journalist, interested in selling your soul to the world of online content marketing, give me a call. We’re hiring!