Content Marketing Prerequisites

If you love to write, take pictures, or shoot videos, you could turn that into a career in content marketing. You might worry that content marketing will take a lot of work to learn. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning content marketing and what you should study to make the learning process easier. If you practice creating content, learn to tell a good story, and feel comfortable learning new software tools, switching to a new career in content marketing will be easier. This way, you’ll be successful however you choose to apply your new skills.

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.

Is Content Marketing Easy to Learn?

If you enjoy creating content and are comfortable working with numbers and software tools, content marketing is easy to learn, especially if you give yourself a boost and sign up for a class. There are plenty of free tutorials to get you started, or you can choose a more in-depth approach like Noble Desktop’s Content Marketing Bootcamp.

What to Know Before Learning Content Marketing

There are no formal prerequisites you must have before you start learning content marketing, but a few prior skills will make your journey easier. Think about what kind of content you want to produce, practice storytelling techniques, and become comfortable with learning new software tools before you begin learning content marketing.

Choose Your Medium

Although some Content Marketers work with Content Creators, many fulfill both roles. If you want to change to a career as a Content Marketer, choose a medium and become proficient. If you like to write, focus on polishing your prose. You can offer your services on freelance sites like Upwork and Fiverr to write blog posts, product descriptions, and web pages. If you like making videos, take some classes in video production and editing. Build your photography skills and create a portfolio website to showcase your work. Putting in the effort to build your content creation skills will be a big plus when you start to learn content marketing.

Tell a Good Story

Communication skills and storytelling are crucial to the job of content marketing. Telling a good story through content your audience can relate to helps you make a connection and engage with them. Quality content builds a community of loyal customers who continue to support your business over time, and telling a good story is the bedrock of that commitment.

Learn Software Tools

In addition to writing, making videos, or taking pictures, Content Marketers must collect, analyze, and interpret data to make campaign decisions. They also need to use keyword research, engagement, and scheduling tools in their work. Content marketing classes help you learn what tools to choose and how to use them, but if you have some experience with learning to use different kinds of software, you will have an easier time learning content marketing.

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.

Key Insights

• Content marketing helps you connect with your audience, improve brand loyalty, generate leads, and increase conversions.

• If you have some proficiency in creating content, know how to tell a good story, and are comfortable learning new software tools, you will have an easier time learning content marketing.
• You can receive comprehensive content marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.