How Difficult is it to Learn Content Marketing?

Are you curious about learning content marketing but worried it might be too hard? Of course, the difficulty that comes with learning a new skill is somewhat subjective. How challenging it will be to learn content marketing depends on factors likewhether you like to write and have some idea of how to use software tools. You can learn content marketing to help grow your small business or to start a new career.

No matter your current schedule or comfort level with content marketing, plenty of tools are available to help make learning more manageable than you might think.

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.

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Content Marketing?

If you make an effort, it isn’t difficult to learn content marketing. The process gets easier if you have some prior knowledge of search engines, data analytics, or content scheduling. If not, learning content marketing can be a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you are trying to learn on your own. If this is the case, you might consider signing up for a class to make the process easier.

The first challenge for learning content marketing is creating engaging content. It’s important to identify your target audience and learn how to assess if you are reaching your target audience. This leads to data analytics.

Suppose you have lots of writing experience but have yet to use data analytics tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, or Moz. This can be a hurdle, but reading and practicing can simplify it. Once you begin to grasp the basics of using data analytics tools, you will be well on your way to learning content marketing. Signing up for classes can make this step much easier.

You can waste a lot of time watching YouTube videos to try and figure out content marketing. An advantage of taking classes is that you have an instructor familiar with the ever-evolving field of content marketing. Instead of trying to figure things out on your own, an experienced instructor can steer you in the right direction. Having an expert to lean on saves you a lot of time.

How Does Learning Content Marketing Compare to Other Fields?

A comparable field to content marketing might be social media marketing. Social Media Marketers use content to connect with followers and form a relationship. The eventual goal is to convince the target audience to go to the company website and take action. Social Media Marketers interact with followers on different platforms. They need to know which platforms fit their audience best and monitor audience reaction. Storytelling ability is just as important for social media marketing as content marketing because it helps build and maintain a community audience. Social Media Marketers also need to develop and implement a publishing schedule using data to decide the best for publishing posts for audience engagement.

Another field similar to content marketing is search engine optimization. Content Marketers use search engine optimization (SEO) to improve content performance, and help websites rank higher in organic results. Web Optimization Specialists also need to choose the right keywords, keep tabs on how a website performs, and develop improvement strategies. To become a Web Optimization Specialist, you will need to learn to use data analysis tools, create marketing strategies, and keep on top of the constantly changing world of SEO.

Getting Started with Content Marketing

If you want to learn content marketing so you can change careers, two ways to do that are by starting a blog and teaching yourself or by signing up for classes. The method you choose depends on how much time you have available for learning content marketing and how comfortable you are with teaching yourself new material.

Start a Blog

One way to get started with content marketing is to start a blog. Before you sit down on the keyboard, think about what your blog topic will cover. Find a niche that you can use to create a target audience.

Pick a Name

The next step is to pick a domain name for your blog. A few considerations when picking a name: think about your readers, think about your brand, pay attention to keywords and SEO, and pick a unique name. Choose a name that is easy to remember and spell so users can find you again. Avoid numbers in your name or register two forms, the name with the numeral and another with the number spelled out. Pick a name that reflects well on your brand. Your name needs to make a good first impression, and it should let users know what you do. Give thought to SEO when you choose a name. Do some keyword research on your choices to see what ranks best. Finally, ensure no one else has this name before registering your domain name. In the best case, it could cause confusion; at worst, you could get sued for copyright infringement.

Find Your Niche

The next step is to decide where you will post your blog. WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world. Others you might consider are Wix, Squarespace, LinkedIn, and Medium.

Add Content

After you have set up your blog, you are ready to post but don’t hit that ‘publish’ button yet. Line up several posts to make sure you can keep the content coming. Publish two or three posts to begin with, and have another five or more lined up as drafts. At this point, you will also want to put together a publishing schedule and look into automation software like HootSuite to send out your posts according to your schedule.

Market Your Content

After you’ve started publishing your blog, you want to make sure you are reaching your target audience. Use analytics tools to track views and other actions users take. Start an email list and collect reader addresses. Choose the right social media platforms for your content. Each platform has a slightly different focus and demographic, so pick the ones that fit best. Interact with your audience to help plan future content. Keep up with how your blog is performing and create a content marketing strategy with data analytics. 

Enroll in Training Classes

Learning content marketing on your own can be frustrating, lonely, and take a long time. Many people feel it is worth the money to sign up for classes to learn content marketing. You can choose a bootcamp class, an in-depth look at content marketing, or go on for a complete digital marketing certificate course.

If you choose to take live online classes, you can do it from anywhere in the world with a set-up similar to in-person instruction. A real-time, remote instructor can answer questions and help you prepare a portfolio for a job search. You get the same level of attention as in in-person classes. When you complete the course, you will receive a verified digital certificate of completion licensed by the New York State Department of Education. 

Other online content marketing classes include on-demand courses from HubSpot Academy, the Content Marketing Institute, and LinkedIn Learning. These sessions feature pre-recorded content, so there is no instructor, but they tend to cost less than live online classes.

Learn Content Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

You can learn 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's Content 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's Digital 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.