If you’re studying to complete an online journalism degree, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’ll be permanently boxed into a career as a journalist. But the truth? Attaining a qualification in journalism can open the door to a variety of career pathways, including an exciting and rewarding career in marketing. So, how exactly do you leverage your journalism degree to build yourself a career in the marketing industry? The transferable skills you attain during your studies in journalism will take you far.
Here are just some of those transferable skills and how you can leverage them to pursue your marketing career aspirations.
Transferable Skill # 1: Content Creation in the Era of ‘Content is King’
Content creation is a crucial aspect of being a marketing professional. Indeed, in the era of ‘content is king,’ creating high-quality, human-written, and valuable content has become a cornerstone of effective marketing, digital marketing, and search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies.
But not everyone knows how to write good copy. It takes great skill to conceptualise, create, and craft content that not only reads well but is also engaging and enjoyable to read. The best type of marketing content also often includes a ‘call to action’ (CTA), which encourages, inspires, and compels readers to think, feel, and even act in specific ways.
As a journalism grad, your ability to craft compelling copy will take you places. You know how to create copy that captivates, compels, and converts — essential elements of high-quality marketing content.
Transferable Skill # 2: The Ability to Identify and Target Audiences
Knowing which audiences to target is another transferable skill you’ll pick up as part of your journalism studies, and which is also essential to marketing practices. Indeed, without targeting the correct audiences, marketing campaigns can fall flat. Similarly, media broadcasts, whether in print, radio, or television, must also be targeted correctly so that their messages reach the intended audience.
In marketing, audience segmentation is a strategy that identifies target demographics within an audience. This enables marketers to tailor their messages to the ideal audience and, just as importantly, create campaigns with messaging that resonates closely with a particular audience’s values, interests, and needs.
As part of their degree, journalism students learn a great deal about audiences – from segmentation to understanding and identifying audience needs, and also how to target messages so that the people receive them who’ll hold them in the highest value. When transitioning into a career in marketing, journalism graduates can apply this knowledge to their new profession.
Transferable Skill # 3: The Art of Storytelling for Brand Marketing
As a journalism student, you’ve likely chosen to pursue this educational pathway because you love to tell stories. No doubt, you have a natural flair for the art of storytelling. You also love to write for the reader and make just about anything sound interesting.
The good news? Your storytelling flair is also transferable to marketing. In brand marketing, especially, the ability to captivate readers’ attention and tell them a good story is essential.
You need to be able to grab the attention of your audience. While you have it, retain it for as long as possible. For this reason, it’s not enough to just be able to craft a ‘clickbait’ headline. Your storytelling needs to be captivating enough to have your reader immersed in your brand’s story and follow the messaging through.
This is something you’ll have a solid grasp on as a journalism grad. Something you can easily transfer to your new career as a marketing professional.
If you’ve recently completed or are completing a journalism degree, you may feel that your career prospects are somewhat limited. However, there are other options available to you. One of the most exciting and rewarding? A career as a marketing professional.
By capitalising on the skills you’ve acquired during your studies in journalism – your ability to create compelling, captivating content, identify and target relevant audiences, and perhaps most importantly, tell a great story – your marketing career will take you far.
