Content marketing as a profession is becoming more and more popular every day, as the world starts to realize the power of the digital word.
When I talk about content marketers, I’m not talking about the conventional hair-in-a-bun, kurta-pajama, sling-bag-totting stereotype of writers that people have in their heads (although TBH, that’s actually my preferred work outfit).
I’m talking about marketers who understand that in a world where we are constantly assailed by a hailstorm of mediocre advertisements, promotions, sales pitches, and emails, the only way to be heard is by creating awesome content.
And to create awesome content, you first need to be an awesome content marketer.
Busting the Myth of Pseudo “Content Writers”
A lot of the self-proclaimed content writers in India have this misconception that merely having an average command over English is enough to become a content marketer.
Sadly, nothing could be farther from the truth.
During my stint as a content manager for a corporate company, I had the opportunity (misfortune?🤔) to analyze dozens of resumes and assignments sent by prospective content writers looking to be hired.
I kid you not, the acceptance rate was just 2%.
90% of these I rejected outright, thanks to their abysmal grammar. 5% used to pass the screening but bungled their assignments so spectacularly that I would wonder if they had even written their samples themselves. 5% used to make it to the final round and finally, after a lot of debate and compromise, we finally accepted approximately 2%.
And despite this, we never found a content writer who understood the spirit of marketing right from the get-go. Which is why I decided to address the burning question once and for all — what makes a great content marketer?
The 7 Qualities of Awesome Content Marketers
Before we begin with the main qualities, here are a few prerequisite skills that I’m assuming all aspiring content marketers already have.
- Great command over English
- Flawless grammar
Notice I said skills, not qualities. Having impeccable command over a language and its grammar is a necessary skill you need to absolutely have when it comes to content marketing. But this is by no means a quality. It’s just the prerequisite.
That’s like saying to prepare an excellent dish you first need ingredients. Of course, you need ingredients! They’re not an option, they’re a necessity! The quality here is the knowledge of the recipe and the dedication of the chef.
Having cleared that, let’s come to the meat of the matter. (Alright, I’m stopping with the food analogies now.)
1. Be a Research Ninja
When it comes to writing for B2B or B2C industries, customer research is the heart of every marketing campaign. As a content marketer, you should research every aspect of the customer and the buyer persona, gather as much data as possible related to the stages of your campaigns and triple-check your facts before you include them in your articles.
As a matter of fact, this is applicable to any piece of content you ever write. The reader is coming to you for information, make sure that it is worth the time s/he is spending in reading it.
Misleading information, falsified data, or assumptions stated as facts are only going to bring your brand value crashing to the ground, so avoid writing anything you cannot vouch for.
Some of the resources you can use to further your research include:
- Social media platforms related to your niche: Read threads on Quora, browse through subreddits, participate in Facebook groups, study Twitter feeds for related hashtags, etc.
- Whitepapers and publications on sites like Research Gate, Academia.edu, etc.
- Review mining on related platforms: Your client’s testimonials are a great place to start, but also study competitor platforms for the reviews they have received, the problems their customers might be facing, etc.
- Market reports for your niche: Read detailed market reports to obtain verified statistics that will boost your content’s credibility. Bonus points if you can draw your own conclusions from the data you have and present original research to the world.
- Questionnaires and surveys: These give you the most direct insight into the mind of your prospective customer, so make sure you include them in your initial research.
Pro-tip: Asking open-ended questions in surveys gives you an idea of the words you potential customers use, the core problems the face. If you make use of these in your content later, that’s going to give conversions a major boost.
The depth of research will, of course, depend on the niche for which you are writing. Nevertheless, doing the necessary research is a must if you want your content to stand out from the crowd
2. Be a storyteller
This is one of the traits that great content marketers borrow from writers — the art of storytelling.
Creating a beautiful sales page that converts is akin to writing a 1-page story, one that moves motivates, and mesmerizes your readers.
You might say that content marketing, by its very definition, is written to sell, while stories are for entertainment. But, while at first glance these two genres of writing might seem like water and wine, they have more in common than you think.
It is important to remember that we humans are emotional creatures at heart and the one thing that we can relate to, are stories.
Remember the fables we read as children? At first glance, they seemed like they were merely for entertainment, but were they really? Each fable instilled a virtue, sold you that concept in a way that you would remember forever. That’s the power of stories.
Content marketing leverages this power of stories to create an emotional connect with the product or service in the mind of the reader.
The skill of the true content marketer is tested here, when they can fuse storytelling with the sales pitch, without sounding like they are making a pitch!
Be bold, be imaginative, bring your own perspective to the table and create a story that unfolds through your content.
Having an active imagination can be a great asset in content marketing.
ou should be able to put yourself in the shoes of your readers, to understand their pains and pleasures, their motivations, and their emotional triggers.
However, this is a tangent towards understanding customer psychology to create content; we shall explore that another day.
For now, here’s the key takeaway —
Be an imaginative storyteller to create content that will resonate with your audience, without sounding fake or pretentious.
3. Be market-aware
A content marketer’s bread-and-butter depends on the turnings of the market. Understanding the new trends that are emerging in your niche, be it financial or social, is a must if you want to create relevant content for your audience.
Now, people usually associate the word ‘trends’ with social media trends. However, that’s just one part of the picture. For instance, if you are in the construction industry, an idea to make buildings sustainable could be a trend you could talk about.
One word of advice — except for industries whose sole purpose is to keep creating viral content that has a short shelf life, like Buzzfeed, you should focus on trends that will have a long term impact.
It’s okay to pepper your blogs with immediate cultural references, but then you need to make sure that you update these articles when they become obsolete.
So much for the marketing platforms; you also need to be aware of the marketing-related software that are available in the market and the modifications they are going through.
From Google Analytics to keyword research tools, to page analysis software, you need to be aware of the new solutions that are being discovered.
4. Keep calm and write on
‘Writer’s block’ has become the most convenient excuse for a lot of content writers, because hey, writing is a creative process, right? You got to have your own space to write, without the pressure of a deadline hampering your creativity.
Well, tough break.
Deadlines are an expected and accepted part of being a content marketer. In an ideal world, every campaign would go as planned and every piece would be written well in time, calmly and coolly with no pressure whatsoever. Yay for the ideal world.
In our world, a calm frame of mind that’s perfect for writing is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Also, it happens once in a blue moon, unless you cultivate that ability with time and patience.
Great content marketers all have this one habit in common — they never face ‘writer’s block’ because they never wait for the ‘ideal’ moment to write.
They do not wait for inspiration to strike them like lightning. They don’t look at the assignment like it’s going to be the single piece of content that’s going to make them the next Shakespeare.
They look at it as a task. While that might sound the butchering of creativity, it is not. They know the secret that the best content is that which is edited well.
So, instead of driving yourself crazy while trying to come up with the perfect first draft and delaying it by telling yourself you have a block, just knuckle down and write it out.
Once you have this crinkly infant of a content piece in your hands, you can smooth out the kinks and iron out the wrinkles to polish it into a fine work of art.
But remember, to be a successful content marketer, learn to deal with pressure and don’t stop writing. No matter what happens, keep calm and write on.
5. Be able to accept criticism well
Back when I had just begun, there was this one time when I had written a long-form blog for one of my clients. It was a beautiful piece and I was really proud of it. I had put tons of hours of research, revised the thing three times, and even gone out of the way to create relevant graphics for the same.
When I submitted the final version, the feedback was — “The tone is fine, but you seem to have completely missed the point we want to make.”
!!!
I was devastated! As a content marketer, the last thing you want to hear is that the content is not reflecting the voice of the company. For a moment I wanted to argue and insist that it was perfectly in line with the requirements we’d discussed over calls and emails.
I was about to launch into a defensive speech when I thought, “Hey, let’s try and understand why I’ve received this feedback instead of simply trying to prove my point.”
So I sat down with the team again, but this time, I asked them about their intent for the campaign. What did they want to achieve, what were the factors that moved their audience, what was the customer research they had done and what was their perspective of looking at the problem?
Then I went back to the blog and made some significant changes to its structure and the presentation. And sure enough, they loved the new version!
I’m sure this is something you might have gone through as well.
Criticism is a part and parcel of being a content marketer. You can either accept it well and use it as a booster to create mind-blowing content, or you can turn bitter and defensive and make half-hearted revisions to submit a mediocre draft. The choice is yours.
One word of advice though — take criticism only from the experts in that field. Don’t listen to everyone’s remarks, only the ones that matter.
Understand their suggestions before reaching any conclusions and be open-minded about making changes to your work.
Criticism can be a stepping stone towards better content creation when taken well, but if someone irrelevant to the premise is giving it, you need to be ready to defend your content as well.
6. Be proud of your work
In the digital era, practically everyone is a writer, but real content marketers are few and far between. So, don’t hide your work away.
Be proud of your content, showcase it to the world (with due permission wherever required), create a portfolio of the impact your content has made. Get testimonials from your clients that talk about your work and display them proudly on your business profile.
Own your content, revel in its quality, and use the best pieces as starting points for the journey ahead.
Not only does this give you a sense of satisfaction at seeing how you’ve improved over the years, but it also helps build your persona as an influencer in the content marketing industry!
7. Be ready to explore
I always believe that writing and traveling are close cousins, they both take you on a journey. And if done right, they leave you with amazing memories along the way.
Every content marketer should always be ready to explore the forms and formats of content.
The entire world is online today, offering immense scope for the genres of content marketing.
There are hundreds of different platforms from where people consume content, giving you an unprecedented range to test out your talents.
You might or might not be good at all of these, but unless you try, you will never know. Besides, sticking to just a few limited formats can get you stuck in a rut, so exploring new formats can come as a refreshing experiment!
Not only does this give you a whole new audience to write for, but it also pushes you to approach the same subject in different ways!
Starting your journey in content marketing
Content has evolved from being merely a supporting marketing tool to become the heart of marketing strategy today. However, despite the exponential growth of this industry, there is a significant dearth of quality content marketers in the industry.
I hope this article helps all budding content marketers to understand what is expected of them and helps them create original, useful, and reader-friendly content that everybody — clients, people, and Google — loves!
What do you think about these qualities of content marketers? Are there any others you would recommend newbie writers have? Feel free to share your thoughts!
