Brand journalism to be considered a mainstream career choice in 5 years’ time, says NewsCred report

Brand journalism is to be considered a mainstream career choice in five years’ time, according to 73% of brand journalists themselves, as revealed in content marketing platform NewsCred’s latest report, ‘Rise of the UK Brand Journalist’.
 
While 52% feel brand journalism offers as much satisfaction as a career in traditional journalism, views are evenly split as to whether brand journalism as a career can be taken as seriously as its mainstream counterpart.
 
Yet awareness of the role of the brand journalist is continuing to grow in both the media and marketing industries. NewsCred’s report highlights that 42% of marketers surveyed say they will put more into hiring brand journalists in the next year. 48% of marketers surveyed are planning to invest further overall in content marketing over the next year. And 66% of marketers believe the majority of brands will have in-house content teams by 2020.
 
Commercial awareness outweighs writing ability when it comes to the most important skills a brand journalist should have. This is according to both the marketers and brand journalists surveyed.
 
When asked what is the single most important skill or asset a brand journalist should have, 20% of the marketers NewsCred surveyed picked commercial awareness, against other abilities such as analysis, social media, writing and leadership. Just 12% chose writing.
 
The brand journalists polled were in line with the marketers, with 18% opting for commercial awareness. Again, just 12% chose writing as the most important skill for a brand journalist. However, both marketers and journalists were also united in thinking that creativity should be the number one asset or skill for a brand journalist - according to 32% of marketers polled and 41% of brand journalists.
 
Shafqat Islam, NewsCred CEO and co-founder, comments: “Audiences today demand nothing less than insightful, relevant, creative content, whether that’s from brands or the media. That’s why it’s so crucial organisations hire the right brand journalists, with the experience to dig deep into their brand’s story and produce the copy that will tie all their marketing together.
 
“In the years to come, I know the brand journalist will play an integral role not just for the marketing department but for businesses as a whole, especially as the brands as publishers evolution is already here. The challenge now is how brand journalists make their mark with editorial and commercial prowess that will see the bar lifted for both professions of marketing and journalism.”
 
The full NewsCred report, ‘Rise of the UK Brand Journalist’, is available to download here.