Freelance writing and blogging are terms you know and probably identify pretty strongly with.
But there’s another term you should feel equally close to, even if it sounds somewhat foreign and unrelated to your writing work. Content marketing could save our writing careers, yet far too many of us don’t really know what it is. Here’s what, and why, you need to know.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a marketing style that uses content (blog posts, infographics, e-books, videos, magazines, etc.) to engage potential customers, rather than directly sell a product or service to them.
If this sounds foreign to you, it shouldn’t. You’re more familiar with content marketing than you might think, and one of its earliest forms is something you certainly recognize: soap operas.
In the 1930s Procter and Gamble wanted to find a way to reach their target audience of housewives. So they hired a team of writers to create a radio drama series that stay-at-home women would tune into every week. Then they added commercials during the show to feature the products.
This may sound like advertising, but there is a difference between this and the traditional advertising you’re familiar with. In advertising, Procter and Gamble would pay a network to air their ad during a soap opera produced by a separate production company. Proctor and Gamble would only create the ad — not the content the audience is tuned into.
In content marketing, Proctor and Gamble would create the content that the audiences have chosen to watch.
What Does Content Marketing Have to Do with Blogging?
The point of the story is: companies that engage in content marketing need writers able to create content that audiences want to see.
And the demand for this type of writer is growing.
Content marketing is a major buzzword, and more and more companies are either incorporating or planning to incorporate this into their marketing plans.
Many of these companies are using online content, blogs, long-form content, infographics, and videos as major assets in their content marketing plans. So if you’re a blogger, you’re already halfway there. If you have or can learn other writing skills (such as infographic writing and script writing), you are even farther ahead of the game.
And you don’t need to be a marketer to get involved; you just need to be a good writer.
Content marketing is simply creating content that audiences want, so you don’t necessarily need to know anything about marketing to get into the content creation side of the process.
So How Do You Get Involved?
As I mentioned, content marketing could be the saving grace for writers, and I really believe it.
Following the demise of print, many writers were staring down a bleak future. First, there were a million online writing jobs that involved nothing more than cramming keywords onto a page.
Then came freelance blogging, a welcomed relief to keyword cramming and a return to the quality that was lost with print. But too often this was missing the payout that writers really needed.
And now there is online content marketing — an arena where writers can start to get the quality they lost with keywords and the payouts that used to accompany print work. Here’s how to break into this market:
- Find a niche or industry and become an expert in it. While any good writer should be able to write about anything, it’s better to have a specialty and build your main portfolio and presence around a specific industry.
- Start building up a social following in that space. This will give you added value as clients that purchase your work will also be paying for your influence. (Plus, it could help you score paid assignments down the road.)
- Get your name out there. Start contributing to big blogs and publishers in your industry. Do this for free at first so you can start to build a following.
- Start marketing your work to brands in your industry. If you are a fashion blogger, reach out to companies that offer products or services related to fashion. Ask to write a paid post for their blog and ask if they have any products that you could feature on your blog.
- Start marketing your content to publishers in your industry, and offer your premium content for a cost.
- Put yourself in a place to connect with clients and publishers. Find communities designed to connect creatives with marketers so they can collaborate to create awesome content marketing projects.
The most important thing for writers to remember is you are not just a blogger or a writer; you are a media company. Market yourself, not just your words.
Stop thinking like a blogger and start thinking like an entrepreneur. That’s how you’ll find bigger success in your blogging career.
Valerie says
I couldn’t agree more, Raubi! There’s never been a better time for freelance writers than starting now and learning content marketing is a valuable skill. Thanks for the great post!
Raubi Perilli says
Thanks Valerie! I hope more bloggers start becoming marketers too.
Valerie says
I totally agree Raubi. It’s absolutely essential for bloggers to learn and master marketing skills to be successful in their writing careers.
Katherine James says
I have only recently come across the term ‘content marketing’, but I love what it stands for (and what it can mean for bloggers today).
It seems like content marketing is the next natural step in article marketing; leaving behind the old keyword stuffed, content poor, bum-articles.
Raubi Perilli says
Yea, I wish I would have learned about content marketing sooner, so hopefully spreading the word will help other bloggers avoid that mistake!
Roy says
Nice distinction, Raubi. Message equally encouraging. Thanks!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Glad you enjoyed it, Roy! Always nice to read your comments.
Alicia Rades says
Excellent article, Raubi. I wish I had more to comment on, but I think you said it all perfectly.
Raubi Perilli says
Thanks Alicia!
Shauna L Bowling says
I particularly like item #4. I’m embarking upon marketing my skills to companies within my niche of environmental awareness and that’s exactly the tactic I plan to implement first. Great post and great advice!
Raubi Perilli says
Shauna, I’d love to see some of your work!
Shauna L Bowling says
Raubi, my web address is http://www.shaunalbowling.com I also have a blog tab within the site. In fact, I’m getting ready to work on my next post. Please feel free to look around the site. I’d love to hear your feedback. You can contact me thru the site with any questions or comments.
Thanks for your interest!
B E Macomber says
With forty-six years writing my patience with the dribble chugging out from the children of the cyber age is at an end. If your passion materializes with concepts and tales stay the hell away from the abyss of shoemakers. Content writing and content farms are not writing. Content marketing is selling soap at a convention of pimps and whores. The standard for literature has plummeted. Write who you are, not for some imaginary body of dumb and dumber. Take the shackles off your consciousness. If you mindlessly wade in a kiddy pool slurping and burbing inanities the craft of communication saying something meaningful has expired. Your loftiest accomplishment will be a moniker known as hack.
Sophie Lizard says
Crikey. I’m curious about “the abyss of shoemakers” and “selling soap at a convention of pimps and whores” — can you break those down for me? That’s the trouble with being literary: it leaves your message open to infinite interpretation. 🙂
Bree Brouwer says
I’d like to know this, too! I would also like to ask B.E. how she thinks companies in this day and age could stay in business if they wrote with no shackles. Even before the “children of the cyber age” came onto the scene, I’m pretty sure there were still “dumb and dumber” audiences that companies had to cater to.
There’s a reason that high literature is separated from most of business/marketing writing, which means that one should NOT be held to the other’s standards or that one is less important than the other.
Lauren says
Thank you for this article. I’ve been struggling with how to grow my blog/writing business. I also attended a recent webinar on marketing that Sophie had promoted on her blog. Thank you, Sophie.
It’s hard to maintain the writer/blogger balance. I also write short stories and essays. Sometimes I feel like I’m all over the place — I am! — I’m on the Internet!
Raubi Perilli says
I feel your pain Lauren. It’s a hard balance between blogging for business and writing for pleasure. The best way to find balance is to be able to blog for a business that brings you pleasure! Hopefully you are in a niche market that you love and that will bring joy to your work.
Karol says
I have to agree on the point that writers are essentially media companies.
I’d even risk saying that our ability to market ourselves is more important than our ability to write.
Raubi Perilli says
I totally agree Karol. Being a good writer is obviously an essential part of being a successful writer, but so is being a hard worker, smart marketer, and creative thinker. It’s not always about constructing beautiful strings of words.
Jackson Anderson says
Spot on post and I think we have a lot to learn from that last and very powerful line – “Stop thinking like a blogger and start thinking like an entrepreneur. That’s how you’ll find bigger success in your blogging career.”
As time goes on I truly believe that is the key to success in this online world, it truly changes your mindset and the dynamic of your approach.
Thanks again for a solid post!
Raubi Perilli says
I’m glad you enjoyed the post Jackson. Far too often writers box themselves in to the term “blogger” and forget that they can do far more with their talents! How are you achieving your goal of being a creative entrepreneur?
Bree Brouwer says
Love this, Raubi. I was once told by a pro freelance writer that there was no way I could understand the complex system that was content marketing, so I shied away from it. But no more! As you pointed out, I just need to know who the audience is, what kind of content they want, and how to write it/make it.
Raubi Perilli says
Don’t let anyone scare you away from content marketing. It’s the perfect place for writers to find more opportunities. If you are looking for more info on it, check out Community.CopyPress.com. Our goal is to help writers find success in not just freelancing, but marketing as well. Thanks for the comment!
Emelia says
Thanks for the informative article, Raubi. I’ve come across the concept of content marketing many times and was curious to learn about it. However, many content marketers make it sound like “rocket science” and this made me want to stay away from it. Your Proctor and Gamble example made it clear and simple for me to understand. Thanks!
Raubi Perilli says
Glad I could break it down for you Emelia. I too had something click when I first heard that Proctor and Gamble explanation. Glad it worked for you too!
Rob McNelis says
Great article on the basics! You could even do a follow up post on next level monitization tactics. Like building a course. I’d read that. 🙂
Raubi Perilli says
I Rob, I love your suggestion, and I am working on creating more guides to help writers build a better business. I’ll be sharing more tips here but I also share info on CopyPress Community if you are looking for more. Thanks again for the comment!
Jenn Flynn-Shon says
Thanks for this article Raubi! You’ve got some great advice here for ways to break into it. Never would have thought of soap operas and content marketing in the same breath but what a perfect analogy. I started offering content marketing services about 6 months ago and its been a lot of fun. I agree with Rob, a follow-up on the next level would be a great read as well!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
So glad you enjoyed the article, Jenn. 🙂
And anytime Raubi wants to pitch us another article is fine by me! I wouldn’t mind seeing a follow-up myself. 😉
Thanks for commenting!
Margaret McGriff says
Awesome article!! I never really understood what content marketing was until I started freelancing full time. Not only do you have to write well, what you write has to fit into your client’s market and ultimately help them sell their products/services.
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Too true, Margaret!
We actually have a guest post coming up at the end of March, if I remember correctly, that has to do with finding your CLIENT’s voice… So be sure to keep an eye out for that!
Raubi Perilli says
Thanks so much for all of the positive feedback. I now see that really is a strong interest in introducing writers to content marketing. For those of you looking for more info on the subject, please check out community.copypress.com for more info. And thanks to Sophie for allowing me to spread my message via her awesome site.
francesca belluomini says
Raubi, such a resonant piece. I have just finished a MOOC on content strategy and, although I have learned a great deal of insight on the mastery of content creation, the best piece of advice I have red is: “The most important thing for writers to remember is you are not just a blogger or a writer; you are a media company.”
Thank you.
(on a different note, there are various classes of shoemakers and there has only been one Salvatore Ferragamo in the world)
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Helper says
Glad you liked the article, Francesca!
Francesca B. says
and ‘red’ instead of ‘read’ is evidently a **proof editing** skills fail!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Manager says
Shhh. Just pretend that you highlight every important piece of information you read with a red highlighter. Makes perfect sense! 😉