Why Learn Content Marketing?

Traditional marketing is based on the pitch, pushing a product or service to sell it. Content marketing provides consumers with something of value to build a relationship that often turns into sales. Have you ever explored all of the things content marketing can do?Good quality content builds trust in your audience, improves search rankings, and leads to higher sales. People who create content are Copywriters, Copy Editors, Photographers, Illustrators, and Videographers. Here, you’ll learn more about the types of careers that benefit from content marketing and how they can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning content marketing is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing relies on content created with a specific audience in mind and designed to appeal to the interests or problems of that audience. This could be blog posts, articles, reports, ebooks, videos, podcasts, or other media. The content builds and supports a relationship with the audience through social media, email, or websites.

Content doesn’t push a product, service, or brand. It focuses on what the audience is interested in, and Content Marketers learn that through data analytics. The content is relevant and valuable to the audience and rarely mentions the brand or product. Relevant content tells consumers a relatable story and gives them a sense of belonging to a group.

Read more about what content marketing is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Content Marketing?

Content marketing helps you connect with your audience, improve brand loyalty, generate leads, and increase sales. Unlike traditional marketing, which makes a direct pitch for products, content marketing is based on storytelling and rarely mentions a brand or sales. The content appeals to readers by helping them with a problem or issue. 

The first step in content marketing is to determine your audience and what they care about using Google Analytics and social media analytics tools. Once you know your audience’s interests, you can begin to draft content that addresses those needs. This helps build a relationship with your readers, which is crucial to improving brand loyalty. 

Although content rarely mentions the brand or product, relevant content tells a story that consumers relate to best. It gives them a sense of belonging to a group. Content marketing creates more customers than traditional marketing, and these customers are also more loyal. They feel connected to the company or brand and are more likely to buy again. This connection develops through storytelling that resonates with followers.

Content marketing also generates more leads than traditional marketing. Consumers prefer to learn about companies and products through articles and blog posts rather than advertising. Finally, content marketing costs less than traditional marketing and leads to higher conversion rates.

Common Professional Uses for Content Marketing

If you love writing, photography, or video production, you could turn that into a career in content marketing. Companies are looking for people with excellent communication skills, writing or editing experience, data analytics skills, and SEO knowledge. Agencies and large companies employ some Content Marketers, but many work as freelancers. Content Marketers fall into the advertising and marketing category, and according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, these occupations will grow by 22% in the next ten years.

Copywriter

Copywriters work with the marketing team to create content for social media, email, and web pages. They earn an average yearly base salary of $50,000, ranging between $40,000 to $65,000. 

Copy Editor

After the Copywriter finishes the content, it goes to a Copy Editor who reviews the piece and corrects errors in mechanics, like punctuation and spacing, grammar, and spelling. Copy Editors also check the text against the company’s chosen style guide. Copy Editors sometimes fact-check material if the company doesn’t employ Factcheckers. Copy Editors earn an average annual base salary of around $40,000.

Photographer

Photographers use cameras to produce images to illustrate articles in magazines and newspapers. They also work for marketing agencies and companies that use digital marketing and take photographs for social media posts on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. Photographer salaries vary, but the average annual base salary is $50,000.

Illustrator

Illustrators and Graphic Designers create digital art and infographics. These can be added to blog posts as illustrations or stand on their own as posts. The average yearly base salary for Graphic Designers is $45,000, ranging from $38,000 to $60,000.

Videographer

Videographers shoot and edit videos for company websites and social media channels. Many also work as freelancers. Videographers' average yearly base salary is $50,000, ranging from $40,000 to $60,000.

Content Marketer

Content Marketers may be creators, too, but whether they make the content or get it from someone else, they set a schedule for publishing the content, track performance using data analytics tools, and plan future content strategy. Salaries for Content Marketers in the US range between $40,000 and $100,000 a year, with an average of $65,000.

Content Manager

After working as a Content Marketer for a while, some people move up to Senior Content Marketer or Content Manager. These positions come with more responsibility and sometimes involve managing personnel. Content Managers earn higher salaries than Content Marketers, with an average yearly salary of $70,000.

Additional Reasons to Learn Content Marketing

High-quality content can help you build trust, increase brand loyalty, generate better leads, and make your brand an industry authority. Learning content marketing is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to build an online business.

Builds Trust

Trust and authority are important for creating a relationship with your audience, but they have another role, too. Websites with relevant and quality content rank higher on search engine ranking pages (SERPs). This is a good idea for website optimization. 

Bolsters Brand Reputation

Solid content increases engagement, and this also builds a brand’s reputation. High engagement means that your content is shared, liked, and commented on, increasing brand recognition and eventually leading to greater brand loyalty. Taking the time to nurture the relationship with your audience creates long-term customers and repeat buyers.

Generates Better Leads

When your audience appreciates your content, they are more likely to buy products, stay engaged, and make repeat purchases. When you have built a relationship with your audience, calls-to-action (CTA) in your content are more effective. Customers are more likely to return to your website when they know they will find useful content. They will recommend your products on social media and help your business to grow.

Make Your Business an Industry Authority

High-quality content that shows expertise in a field and provides your audience with trustworthy answers to their questions builds a reputation and increases search rankings. The better your content, the more the audience’s trust will grow, and this could make your business more visible online. Your company could even become an industry authority in your niche.

How to Start Learning Content Marketing

When you are exploring the possibility of learning content marketing to switch careers, you can try to learn it on your own or sign up for a class. If you choose to take a class, you can take a traditional in-person class with an experienced instructor. These sessions meet according to a set schedule in a classroom setting. You can also choose live online training. These sessions are often held concurrently with in-person classes, but you attend through a video conferencing platform. Many people prefer an interactive classroom setting when learning a new subject, but with a live online class, you don’t have to commute. You can sign on from your home, office, or any other location with a stable internet connection. 

Another option for learning content marketing is to enroll in on-demand video classes. These are pre-recorded sessions that you can watch at your convenience wherever and whenever you decide. On-demand classes are available on different learning platforms, like Coursera, Udemy, or LinkedIn Learning. Although you have to pay for these classes, they tend to be less expensive than in-person or live online offerings, and many platforms offer a free trial before you need to pay for a subscription.

If you haven’t decided whether content marketing is for you, Noble Desktop has a free seminar called The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success. This course not only covers content marketing but many other aspects of digital marketing. You will learn the basics of SEO, data analytics, social media marketing, and website optimization, so you can decide if you want to move on to Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate. You can also find useful free resources on Noble’s Tech Blog. 

Read the full guide on how to learn content marketing.

Learn Content Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

You canlearn content marketing with hands-on classes at Noble Desktop. Taught by expert instructors, class sizes are small and give you ample opportunity to interact with the instructor and the other students. If you want to learn more about content marketing, sign up for Noble'sContent Marketing Bootcamp. This course covers an introduction to content marketing and techniques for content creation and promotion, including how to measure the success of your content marketing.

If you want to go a step further, try Noble'sDigital Marketing Certificate course. It covers email marketing, SEO, Google Analytics and Google Ads, and all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn Marketing. You also get a Streaming for Social Media course and a portfolio class. If you want, you can retake any class for free for up to a year. To find out more about content marketing and change careers, visit Noble Desktop's digital marketing page.

Key Insights

• Content marketing provides consumers with something of value to build a relationship that often turns into sales.
• The most common careers in content marketing include Copywriter, Copy Editor, Photographer, Illustrator, Videographer, Content Marketer, and Content Manager.
• When your audience appreciates your content, they are more likely to buy products, stay engaged, and make repeat purchases.
• You can receive comprehensive content marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.