Advancing Your Content Marketing Career: 5 Ways To Increase Your Skillset And Land Your Dream Job
We've all known that person who tries to give advice on a topic they know nothing about.
They can't give clear guidelines and expectations of what they are looking for.
They have no idea how long a project will take.
They are bluffing.
If you want to manage digital content or excel at content marketing you are going to need to know a little bit about a lot of things. You can't shrug someone off when they ask you about TikTok or Clubhouse because you don't know anything about them.
Know your weaknesses out of the 5 primary types of content (website, email, video, social media, and blogging) and train them up. Marketers are content creators. Period. At some point, you are going to have to level up your skillset in content creation in order to be viewed as professional.
1.The 20-Hour Rule and Learning New Skills
You are intimidated to start a new skill. I get it. You don't want your blog post to be riddled with errors. You don't want people to misunderstand your videos, or worse, laugh at them.
Here is the truth about learning new skills to advance your content marketing career.
You will suck at first.
And that, my friend, is okay.
When you learn a new skill, however, you will see exponential growth within the first 20 hours of focused practice. source
If you spent 20 hours learning to play an instrument you'll pull together a song by the end. If you have never edited a video in your life, you'll create something by the end of those 20 hours. You. Will. Improve.
2.The 4 stages of learning
Unconsciously Incompetent: This place is terrible. Here you don't even know you're not good at something. It's like smelling bad and being unaware, or having spinach stuck in your teeth as you smile for your family Christmas photo. If you know you're not good, rejoice, you aren't here.
Consciously Incompetent: Here, you are aware of your shortcomings. You know you have trouble spelling, you know you stutter when you're nervous. This is the first step to getting better at a skill. We usually seek out an e-course, book, or teacher in this stage.
Consciously Competent: When you focus really hard you can do something right. It took you 12 hours to shoot that 1-minute explainer video on your phone, but by God, you shot the thing. Now, you can do something right, even if it's only part of a bigger whole.
Unconsciously Competent: Now you don't even have to rely on spell check to know if you use through or threw. It comes naturally. You are an expert. It might have taken a while to get here but you made it. You know a skill like you know breathing. Awesome job.
We learn everything this way.
Walking.
Eating.
Marketing.
At some point, every marketer shudders at the word analytics, but after enough time and mistakes, they have come to rely on them to validate their strategy.
3.Supercharge your learning by Learning from experts
When you know your weaknesses you can seek out experts or influencers and save time by buying courses. I have spent thousands on courses that have given me a 10x return on my investment, and I have also spent thousands on my bachelor's in humanities and master’s in teaching that only put me in debt.
Good courses promise an outcome and you can learn a whole lot for free, too. Here are my top recommended courses to up your content marketing skillset.
1. Content Strategy: WriterAccess Academy and Content Marketing Conference. WriterAccess Academy is a free on-demand certification course run by top-notch content experts. When I first took this I couldn't believe it was free. What I like about this course compared to something like Hubspot Academy is that it has a singular focus that is easy to navigate.
Content Marketing Conference is similar but has the latest and greatest keynotes and walkthroughs and is constantly being updated. It offers some of the best marketing courses around.
2. Blog Writing and Analytics: Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media's blog and YouTube channel. Crestodina's blog is an incredible example of blogging best practices and he even gives deep dive walk-throughs on his YouTube channel for stuff like analytics and search engine optimization.
3. Web Design: Paige Brunton. Her blog is incredible and her paid Squarespace web design e-course is worth the money. I used the tools I learned in her course to earn up to 10 grand a month creating Squarespace websites and honed my graphic design skills along the way.
4. Branding and Marketing: Business Made Simple with Donald Miller. This is a great course to help people simplify and clarify their brand's message. I used the tactics I learned here to offer value-driven marketing consulting to multi-million dollar businesses with great results.
You'll learn everything from writing a mission statement to writing a press release. Also, check out the Business Made Simple podcast.
5. Video Shooting and Editing: Primal Video with Justin Brown. If you are just getting started in using video to amplify your brand's message this is the place to start. He has tons of information for free on his YouTube channel that can help you to start filming with your smartphone tomorrow.
He even has a membership course with more detailed info to help you get better results faster.
6. Sales: Gym Launch with Alex Hormozi. When I ran an online fitness business I had to call leads I gained from paid advertising. His scripts and process helped me to close tons of deals. When I channeled what I had learned into high ticket web design and consulting sales, the results were even better.
He has a great podcast, YouTube channel, and free book, and has an awesome e-course, too.
7. Copywriting: Copyhackers with Joanna Wiebe. She has tons of free content on her website and has an awesome copy school to help build your confidence in the written word. Whether you just want to up your writing skills or create better emails or ads, Copyhackers is your go-to place.
4.Getting The Interview With A Killer Resume
So now you have skills and you have some work to show for it, but if you don't have a strategy for actually finding your dream job and getting an interview it won't matter.
Let's make your resume stand out.
I've hired on Indeed, and I've been hired on Indeed. When I changed a few things about my resume I went from getting zero interviews to having my calendar booked and landing my dream job. I treated my resume like the landing page of a website and got amazing results using just a couple of tools — and most of them are free. Here is how I did it.
Brand your resume and add some color
Employers look at black and white resumes all day. Adding some color makes yours stand out. This is the first step to catching an employer’s attention. Add this around the border. Make your name a logo and put it at the top right. This is like dog-earing your raffle ticket; it definitely gives you an edge.
Have a video embedded in your pdf
Having a video thumbnail automatically allows employers to make a human connection with you. Put a play button on the thumbnail to ensure folks know that your image is a video. Hyperlink that image to an unlisted YouTube video that introduces yourself and explains how you can solve their company’s problems.
I broke down my high-performing video into ten steps that you can apply to your own industry.
1. State your name and the desire your target company is looking for.
“My name is Clint Mally and I know you want to reach more customers online.”
2. State the things the company needs to achieve the goal.
“In order to do that you need a clear website, smart social media management, and ads that convert.”
3. State their social, emotional, and philosophical pain point.
“The problem is you don’t currently have a candidate who can solve ALL of these problems, and who will require little to no oversight or training. This can make you feel frustrated and tired of reviewing application after application.”
4. State your overarching belief in solution format.
“I believe you deserve a candidate, me, who can create marketing solutions for your business, instead of being just another employee for you to manage.”
5. Revisit their pain point and offer your solution.
“I understand your time is limited, which is why I am your one-stop-shop marketing department for all of your business’s needs.”
6. Give three steps or factors you can offer the employer.
“Here is how I do it: I create smart customized content to promote on social media channels and clarify your brand's message, I create one-of-a-kind websites in just 2 weeks that save you time and grow your business, and I make unique and thoughtful advertising that converts leads into customers.”
7. Talk about additional complementary skills.
“In addition to social media management, website design, and advertising, I have a host of other complementary skills that will be a great asset to your business, including video editing, SEO, sales of all kinds, software integration and automation to save you time, and copywriting for email, text sales, nurture campaigns, brand scripts, press releases, and more.”
8. Now talk about you and why you are a great employee based on your experience.
“Furthermore, I am a great team player! I have worked on projects with people from diverse backgrounds and varying experience levels for large and small businesses alike. My experience as an educator and my Master of Arts in Teaching has allowed me to communicate in a clear and interesting way to any audience. I love breaking down complex tasks into simple step-by-step solutions to increase productivity and growth. I have worked with industries of all kinds, including property management groups, tech companies, musicians and authors, restaurants, and a host of others. “
9. Give them a call to action.
“Here is what to do next: Schedule an in-person or Zoom interview with me by clicking the link below and while you wait take a look at the rest of my resume and review my work.”
10. Revisit their pain point and allow them to visualize what success will look like with you as an employee.
“Don’t settle for an employee that causes more work than they complete. Instead, invest in me, and I’ll save your business time, help you grow, and get you results!”
Using a video this way is awesome because you can also track views to see how many employers are viewing your video even if they haven't scheduled with you yet.
Have a schedule call-to-action button on each page
Make it easy for employers to schedule a time with you by creating a button and linking it to a free Acuity or Calendly schedule page. It sucks to go back and forth on what time works for them and where the Zoom link is. Take care of it yourself.
If you want to be really gangster, set up Zapier triggers and automated emails to remind the employers of the meeting and even to drop links to testimonial videos or work that you have done.
Put this button right under your video and at the bottom of every page of your resume.
Have a clickable email and phone number on every page, too
Make your email address clickable so that no matter what page of your resume they are on it is easy for them to reach out. I originally only had my email at the top, but when multiple employers told me that they wished I included my email on my resume, I knew it was because they expected it to be on every page, not in just one space.
Include tons of links and images of your work.
Again, color works here, too. Have a website? Have a YouTube channel? Link to them, or better yet if you have space include images of your work on your resume.
Just like any user experience project you work on, you want to make it as easy as possible for your target audience to do business with you. If you can hook them with your resume, you have already validated your content marketing skills.
5. Make your LinkedIn profile perfect
Many online applications require you to give your LinkedIn URL and even if you don't they will definitely check it before hiring you.
Treat this like a webpage. Use a professional headshot with a neutral background and clearly state what you do and the benefit you bring to your field of work. It's also helpful to have a body of work such as videos or articles that you feature on your page as well.
Furthermore, if you don't have a personal website with high domain authority there is a chance that when someone googles your name your LinkedIn profile will appear first. Yet another reason to make sure it's ready for employers.
Summing It All Up
Content marketers need to have a written and simple content strategy, a body of work, and measured results of that work.
Oftentimes, this means that we must build up our weaknesses to become a linchpin that fits into many roles and has knowledge about a variety of subjects.
Take courses and lean into the 20-hour rule to stack your skills and grow your expertise.
Market yourself with a compelling resume that enlightens people about what you do and how you can help.
Hey, I'm Clint.
I love to create content that helps businesses and agencies get better results faster