What is a Content Marketer?
Legend copywriter, John Carlton, once told that the best copywriters not only mastered their own discipline, but also similar disciplines like marketing, SEO, and negotiations.
This is true for content marketers, as well.
A content marketer is a multi-disciplined expert. Although, precisely, what does it imply? What are the disciplines and capabilities that we’re discussing? What skills and knowledge are needed to work as a content marketer?
I’ll address those questions and more, but first, let me describe the word “online marketer” in a broad sense.
Then I’ll tell you how I discovered the five basic skills of a great content marketer.
A working definition of “content marketer”
A digital marketer shall prepare, create and share relevant content so that opportunities are attracted and transformed into consumers and customers into repeat buyers. The sort of content the marketer shares would depend on. He educates people, in other words, so that they know, want, and trust him enough to deal with him.
If the marketing material is the responsibility of a content marketer, then let’s look at the classic marketing concept of the four Ps:
- Identification, selection and creation of a commodity.
- Price is fixed.
- To meet the consumer, choose the sales channel (place).
- Plan and implement a strategy for promotion.
Content will be the commodity of this model. This will vary from an e-mail address (to accept blog posts and to add an e-mail newsletter) to a subscription for access to a library of materials, e-books or educational training.
Your blog, your mailing list and your social networking network will be the way to do so. And marketing is how the commodity is shared.
A content marketer is someone who knows how to position and sell content to reach the wider public to transform these people from prospects to subscribers to keep them coming again.
Now, we have seen the art of content marketing for some time, but a real person who’s a content dealer is a very recent concept.
To compile the list, I had to rely on my expertise and the knowledge of content marketers, and I also examined approximately a dozen job listings for content marketing positions.
Exploring five of content marketers’ common core skills.
1. Storytelling
A material seller has a keen nose for a good story first and foremost. She understands that an excellent publicity story has a narrator, coach, objective, challenge and morality. And she will discover the idea of her own company — and even inspire others to do the same.
This is critical because “[Good content] provides credibility by placing you as a credible and useful source of vendor/average material,” as C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley write in their book Content Rules.”
In other words, stories let an audience get to know and believe you like you before selling something to them.
The brand marketer learns the strategies of filmmakers and novelists and authors of short history so that she understands how to exclude prospects from her everyday world and invites them to imagine a journey that leads eventually to trade as she writes content (see skills number three below for details).
The journey of the hero is one of our storytelling methods. It is content marketing which trains the narrative arc to your audience.
2. Strategy
A strong content marketer is also conscious: she knows and expresses the overall goal of the content marketing campaign of an enterprise.
A competent marketer of advertising often sets editorial objectives. She could, she could:
- Work on these 13 issues
- Make a map of empathy
- Set a consumer travel map together
The content marketer shall consider the requirements of purchasers and, if possible, build them.
She would be able to check a website to patch any material damaged, old and lost.
And don’t forget that all content marketers possess outstanding analysis capabilities.
Would you want to dig at this last question more closely?
All writes as Ann Handley recommends in her book:
“Think before you ink means to find your main point by answering three questions about each piece of material that you create.
- Why should I do this?
- What is my core approach to this topic?
- Why do the people I want to meet matter?”
A fourth I’m going to add: To whom do you write? Know your audience. know your audience. This is the core of science.
While it would not be her main competency, a competent digital marketer can still oversee a content initiative by preparing to be promoted.
She can work through people’s skills such as patience, listening, sharing stories, and negotiation.
3. Writing content
Mostly, content manufacturers can also write contents for blogs/websites, ebooks, and infographics, and not just direct strategies and storytelling.
It pays to be an outstanding web writer — one with critical features such as:
- A better understanding of SEO
- Average usability knowledge
- Above and above-average social media awareness (see skill number four below to learn more)
- Excellent copywriting comprehension (yes, copywriting is separate from content marketing)
since more than probably it is one who also writes posts for other guest postings on the websites. This is significant.
A content marketer can manage magnetic headlines, choose existing items for updating and republishing, and reimagine old content in new formats (like flipping an infographic or blog post into a SlideShare).
Naturally, she will set and keep the publishing tone and sound.
She will find a number of unorthodox books to help improve her works and inform her ingenuity because she is an outstanding narrationist.
4. Social media
Social media was understood by content marketers.
Increased demand in the amount and range of different channels might also make this their specialty. However, most content marketers control one or two channels and understand others basically.
See, a marketer of advertising loves to tinker with brilliant new social media items. This enables her to assess the promise of a digital platform and convert it to the right customer.
You can learn which content on each site fits better. Twitter is fantastic at spreading fresh content, for instance. For the audience to engage in debates and polls, Facebook is excellent.
Of necessity, an intelligent content marketer already knows the risks of automated sharecropping — but does not fear warning customers.
In addition, “don’t spend time delivering material that doesn’t even want the audience to be,” writes Content Strategy writers Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach.
Know where the crowd is hanging. And get your interaction approval.
5. Subscription assets
Like e-mail subscriber lists and private group membership needs are understandable to content marketers.
They would also have to have a strong knowledge of how each product works — or even the capacity to administer, calculate and track each model — and are not only responsible for writing the material of these subscription models.
For eg, a small company might delegate the emails of its email marketing campaigns to one content marketer only to write, edit, upload, track and measure.
So, dear marketer of content, we know how to prioritize. If not, you’re going to stretch so thinly yourself.
Stay one step ahead of your customers’ desires
I shall close by quoting Catherine the Greater, who, after depositing her husband Emperor Peter III, took full possession of Russia in 1762:
“You have to rule so the people believe they want to do what you are ordering them to do for themselves.”
In his book The 48 Laws of Power, according to Robert Greene, “to do so it must always take a step further than its wishes and be adapted to its Opposition.”
As Catherine the Great speaks about ruling people, leadership is the central theme here. I also believe it often refers to the marketer of advertising who is, in a certain way, a king, a content leader.
As a leadership, it has to champion content and then mobilize money to create content — and, in the end, create content that the audience needs.
Are you up to the task?
Content marketer, however, remember this: before making a product we must be a step ahead of the wishes of our consumers and do this by building a public.
And by being masters of empathy, we must respond to their opposition by knowing their dreams and fears. Take your steps in your shoes.
You’re up for the job?
By the way, can you place on this list any features of a content marketer?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.