[Ipg-smz] Marketing as a Journalist and Vice Versa

[ljkelly1888 at gmail.com]

Ah yes, I was hoping for a nice, muddy tl,dr. 


Basically, the line is relatively subjective (assuming editors/publishers are also on board). 


Danke Tom (und alle),


Liam



Sent from Windows Mail



From: Tom Henderson
Sent: ‎Sunday‎, ‎December‎ ‎9‎, ‎2018 ‎8‎:‎13‎ ‎PM
To: ipg-smz at netpress.org


Liam,

As a freelance, it's possible to do what you want. This topic has been covered on this list many times over the past decade.

MY tl;dr is that I'm a researcher and journalist. Others here have broad and varied combinations of skillsets, more true "freelancers" in that regard, than I. Others are editors, generalists, fiction writers (I've sold four of my latest novel!!), non-fiction writers, and a gaggle of combos. There are at least three known grammarians (formerly "grammar nazis"), and we argue the Oxford comma for grins. I dangle participles and end sentences with prepositions to taunt them. I can hear their teeth grinding. There are thought and speech police here, too. 


I have been known to write for vendor-sponsored publications, but that was a passing fancy, and I've vowed to write only for non-vendor sponsored publications. When I do research for vendors, they're required to print my research intact. When I express opinion, which is frequently, you'll know that's opinion vs journalstic-standard-based facts vs marketing prattle and foam-and-goo.  


The Unbiased Journalist is a figment of your imagination. Subscribing and adhering to journalistic standards is a spectacular goal, and many here, including I, subscribe to these standards and adhere to them to the best of our abilities. In the real world, reporting as a journalist in an unbiased way is possible, but to be unbiased is to be an automaton, and none of us are those. We may, one day, battle automatons for space in media, and that day is coming soon. 

Morally, I can do research and publish results based on referential standards, facts and findings, (hopefully) poised to a target audience. Targeting sales people rather than geeks in data centers are two different endeavors. The "general public" are a third set of humans and have different needs still. 


Having been the guy that had to make what the salesperson promised work, I tend to side with the geeks. In tech writing, I can address both audiences, but they are composed differently. I distrust vendors and corporations, because their goals are not my goals, and often only partially the goals of the purchasers of their products and services. 


You'll be tempted by vendor money. Editorial pursuits of vendors may be highly walled from the vendor's marketing or other departments/functions. The taint of bias can be very highly removed, but for some, writing for a vendor is verbotten. Others believe that their editorial integrity is not besmirched by funding from vendors. They often cite that non-vendor pubs/sites are only vaguely separated, and find that this fast blurs the distinction. Some do not. 


Your comfort and how you sleep at night is something you have to decide. Income is your problem. There are tech writers that currently work for organizational/corporate internal consumption and are very good at this, and do a good and moral job. Moral in the same way that making the best burger you can for McDonald's is moral. We all have to eat. Sometimes eating defines morality, and sometimes it doesn't. 


Sorry to muddy this up for you, but the subsequent replies will attempt to give you other and better answers. This is why the IPG community is valuable.

Tom







On 12/9/18 1:41 PM, ljkelly1888 at gmail.com wrote:



Quick question,

 

I get approached by a ton of different firms asking if I can help them with content, copy editing, technical writing, and general writing needs. 

 

The thing is, I consider myself a journalist and not a marketer. 

 

Perhaps, I’m being a bit too naive, but can I morally take on work for private firms to write marketing material for them and continue to present myself as an unbiased journalist? I’ve yet to try this out, but as I’m a bit of a minnow, maybe there’s another way to think about this dilemma?

 

Would love a bit of advice on this one.

 

Cheers,

 

Liam 


 

Sent from Windows Mail

 


-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc
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