Content Marketer

In this career guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about content marketing as a career, from roles and responsibilities, to work environment and roadmap to becoming a Content Marketer.

Who's a Content Marketer?

Do you spend a lot of time online? Would you describe yourself as a creative person? Would you enjoy coming up with ideas to promote content online? If so, consider a career in content marketing!

As a content marketer, you would reach out to and interact with your customers. For this, you must understand what kind of content your audience requires and enjoys, create that content for them and then come up with ways to distribute it to them.  While this may seem very straightforward, content marketing involves understanding your audience and finding that one thing that clicks with them. This involves a lot of research, analytics and creativity. You must attract customers by providing them with content that is useful and engaging. A classic example of this is Buzzfeed. They use witty listicles and video content to subtly push products and services to the right target audience.

What will you do?

Understanding your audience.

Before you even begin to come up with ideas and content, you must have a clear understanding of who you are marketing to. Without this information, most of your marketing efforts will go in vain. You can use tools like Google Analytics for this.

Example: You may have a great repository of blogs and send out regular emails to your customers, but if your customers prefer consuming video content and are more active on social media, your efforts will bear no fruit.

Planning your content.

Once you have understood what your customers want and how they want it, you must start planning for how to go about creating that content for them. You will decide on your medium of content – text, video, emails, etc. You must also keep in mind techniques like SEO and UX to ensure your content is easily accessible to your users.

Example: If you have great content, but it shows up on the 10th page of a search engine result, you have already lost the battle.

Creating content.

Content creation doesn’t just involve writing a blog or designing an image. When you create content, you need to keep your target audience in mind. You must create content that is relevant to them and relevant to your brand image as well.

Example: If you are a fintech company, people won’t come to your blog for news on a celebrity. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use a celebrity’s fame to reach out to your audience. You would just have to twist it around a little and do something like “Why So and So Decided to Invest in a Low Yield SIP”

Polishing content.

This part of your job will require the most creativity. While it matters what you say, it matters more how you say it. Catchy headlines, attractive illustrations, quirky videos, etc., are the language of the day. You must put in a lot of thought into your content.

Example: “Why My Cat Has a Savings Account” is a much more attractive headline than “Use Savings Accounts to Handle Your Money Better”.

Distributing content.

Once you have created relevant content, it is time to distribute it. Your content is of no use if no one is consuming it. You need to find ways to reach out to your users with your content. You would use social media channels, forums, Q&A sites, etc.

Example: If you have content on the best ways to remove ink stains, log onto forums and Q&A sites like Quora and post your content as an answer there. You can even end the answer with a link back to what your company does.

Optimising content.

In today’s digital age, content goes hand in hand with SEO and SEM. If your content is not accessible to search engines, no one is going to find it. You need to use keywords, backlinks, etc., to ensure your content is accessible.

Example: Most people maintain a healthy ratio in their blog posts between keywords and content to ensure visibility.

Measuring the success of content.

Once your content is live, you need to understand how it is performing with your users. Are they engaging with it, do they like it, etc. You can use measurement tools and tracking tools like Bit.ly for this.

Example: If you have put out a post on twitter, you need to see how many people saw your tweet, liked it, commented, or retweeted to understand whether your post was relevant or not.

Take the Mentoria career assessment test, to find out how well-suited you are as a Content Marketer.

Where will you work?

Agency

You could work at an agency where you will be involved with handling content marketing for more than one company at a time. You could also be assigned to just one.

Corporate/Startup

If you’re working at a particular organisation or company, you would only handle their online content and build their reach.

Anywhere

You could work as a consultant and either work from home. You could work on a freelance basis and visit their office from time-to-time.

How do you get there?

STEP 1: Class XI-XII/Junior College

Pursue arts in junior college if you’re interested in the creative part of content marketing. Focus on subjects like English and sociology as they will help you in building language and research skills.

STEP 2: Graduation

Pursue a three-year Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) from colleges like St. Stephen’s College (Delhi), St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai), Loyola College (Chennai). You can pick either journalism or advertising as your major. You will need at least 60% marks to get into this course.

Alternatively, pursue a three-year BA  in Communication or Journalism from colleges like Lady Sri Ram College (Delhi), XIC – Mumbai, Christ University (Bangalore), etc.

STEP 3: Internship

Internships are a no-brainer! Practical experience is always better than any degree or diploma. It helps you learn more about the industry and meet new people. You could also set up a few job prospects for the future by networking within the industry.

STEP 4: Land a Job

Now that you have graduated and gathered significant internship experience, you are ready to step into the world of content marketing. Most freshers start out in executive positions.

Congratulations, you are now officially a content marketer!

STEP 5: Post-graduation

You can always hone your skills and increase your knowledge as you move ahead in your career. Pursue a post-graduate degree in digital marketing or mass communication. It will help you advance academically as well as professionally.

Alternatively, you can also look at taking online certification on Udemy, SEMrush, Google Garage, etc.

Thinking of a career as a Content Marketer? Take the Mentoria assessment test & talk to our career counsellors to get personalized step-by-step guidance for your future career path.

STEP 1: Class XI-XII/Junior College

Pursue commerce in junior college if you’re interested in subjects like accounting, finance and business studies.

STEP 2: Graduation

Pursue a three-year Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) from colleges like St. Stephen’s College (Delhi), St. Xavier’s College Mumbai, Loyola College (Chennai). You can pick either journalism or advertising as your major depending on which part of social media you want to get into. You will need at least 60% marks to get into this course.

STEP 3: Internship

Internships are a no-brainer! Practical experience is always better than any degree or diploma. It helps you learn more about the industry and meet new people. You could also set up a few job prospects for the future by networking within the industry.

STEP 4: Land a Job

Now that you have graduated and gathered significant internship experience, you are ready to step into the world of content marketing. Most freshers start out in executive positions.

Congratulations, you are now officially a content marketer!

STEP 5: Post-graduation

You can always hone your skills and increase your knowledge as you move ahead in your career. Pursue a post-graduate degree in digital marketing or mass communication. It will help you advance academically as well as professionally.

Alternatively, you can also look at taking online certification on Udemy, SEMrush, Google Garage, etc.

Thinking of a career as a Content Marketer? Take the Mentoria assessment test & talk to our career counsellors to get personalized step-by-step guidance for your future career path.

STEP 1: Class XI-XII/Junior College

Pursue science in junior college if you are interested in the technical part of content marketing. Make sure to pick IT as one of your subjects.

STEP 2: Graduation

Pursue a three-year Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BScIT) from colleges like St. Xavier’s College (Mumbai), Lovely Professional University, etc. This course will give you a thorough understanding of how software work which will help you build your technical skills in the field and aid you to better use analytics and measurement tools. You will need at least 60% marks to get into this course.

STEP 3: Internship

Internships are a no-brainer! Practical experience is always better than any degree or diploma. It helps you learn more about the industry and meet new people. You could also set up a few job prospects for the future by networking within the industry.

STEP 4: Land a Job

Now that you have graduated and gathered significant internship experience, you are ready to step into the world of content marketing. Most freshers start out in executive positions.

Congratulations, you are now officially a content marketer!

STEP 5: Post-graduation

You can always hone your skills and increase your knowledge as you move ahead in your career. Pursue a post-graduate degree in digital marketing or mass communication. It will help you advance academically as well as professionally.

Alternatively, you can also look at taking online certification on Udemy, SEMrush, Google Garage, etc.

Thinking of a career as a Content Marketer? Take the Mentoria assessment test & talk to our career counsellors to get personalized step-by-step guidance for your future career path.

What skills would you need?

Research

Research

Research is the systematic process of collecting, analysing, and interpreting information to increase understanding of a particular topic or issue. It involves identifying a question or problem, gathering relevant data, and evaluating sources to draw meaningful conclusions. Research can take various forms, including qualitative studies (which explore perceptions and experiences) and quantitative studies (which focus on numerical data and statistics). Strong research skills will enable you to find reliable information, assess the credibility of sources, and synthesise findings to support decision-making or further exploration. This skill is crucial in many fields, such as academia, business, healthcare, and technology, where informed decisions rely on thorough investigation and analysis. build this skill
Adaptability

Adaptability

If you have adaptability as a skill, you can easily adjust to new situations, roles, or challenges without losing focus or productivity. You’re able to embrace change, whether it’s a new technology, a shift in team dynamics, or a sudden project requirement. This skill allows you to remain composed during transitions, learn quickly in evolving environments, and stay effective when facing unexpected problems or shifting priorities.
Communication Skills

Communication Skills

Communication skills are the ability to clearly express ideas, information, and feelings, both verbally and in writing, so others can easily understand. This includes listening effectively, using the right tone, and being aware of non-verbal cues like body language. These skills help you explain your thoughts clearly, build relationships, and work better in teams. Good communication is important in almost every job, from customer service to leadership roles, because it ensures that tasks are understood and done correctly, and it helps prevent misunderstandings. build this skill
Creative Skills

Creative Skills

Creative skills involve the ability to think outside the box, generate new ideas, and find innovative solutions to problems. These skills include imagination, design thinking, artistic abilities, and the capacity to develop fresh concepts or approaches in different fields, from writing and art to problem-solving in business. Creative skills help you come up with original ideas, improve processes, and develop unique solutions in the workplace. In roles like marketing, design, or product development, creativity is essential for staying competitive and bringing new perspectives to projects or challenges. build this skill

How do you make it to the top ranks?

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Intern

It’s best to get a head start in your career by interning while you pursue your graduation. At this level, you will learn how content aids a project and work on basic campaigns with many other departments.

Content Executive

At the first stage of your job, you will be creating content alongside SEO, keyword search for content creation, proofreading, editing, generating ideas, developing campaigns, etc.

Content Developer

By this stage, you will develop the habit to create content around keywords. You will have to pay keen attention to the tone of your content and ensure it matches the tone of the brand.

 

Content Strategist

As a strategist, you will create a content strategy, check it with regards to the SEO parameters, lay down the guidelines of content, etc.

Senior Content Associate

By this stage, your role involves monitoring the quality of content and supervising the efforts of the junior content creators. Any content that goes live requires your stamp of approval.

Content Marketing Manager

As a manager, your job is to manage and coordinate the entire content marketing team. You will set targets for all the members of your team and guide them to achieve their goals. You have the overall responsibility of content creation, promotion, and all other marketing activities.

 

Pursuing your career locally VS abroad

With the digital revolution, many organisations are struggling to make their online presence noteworthy. Thus, contact marketers are highly in demand since they are a crucial element in building the SEO of a website, blog, or web page. As per Naukri.com, there are about 24000 to 26000 jobs for content marketers posted each day by employers in various sectors. While most of them prefer candidates with a background in content writing, there are plenty of individuals who apply for these jobs just because they have a flair for writing. Candidates with a degree in Mass Media have the upper hand here as they have studied subjects that cater to marketing and advertising. The cost of a BMM degree ranges from INR 5000 to INR 8,00,000.

 

It’s much harder to look for a job as a writer abroad with an Indian degree, mostly because countries like the US and UK often look for native English speaking candidates. However, you can pursue a creative writing course abroad that would cost you anywhere between INR 10,00,000 and INR 45,00,000, depending on the college you apply to. From there, you could move on to a specialisation in content writing, digital writing or content marketing either through a certification course or online classes. If you have studied here and wish to apply abroad, you might have to pass some competitive exams like NPAT, DSAT, and PESSAT at the undergraduate level and CAT, CMAT, and SNAP at the post-graduate level. You could even work with international clients by working with top marketing and digital agencies in India, thus building your network and reputation in order to apply for jobs abroad.

 

How much would you get paid?

Your salary completely depends on your experience, location, organisation and various other factors. However, we can give you a general idea of how much you could make as a content marketer. 


What are your career options?

Digital Marketing

As businesses move to the digital platform, this role is expected to gain a lot more prominence in the content marketing sector with the demand for digital marketers. You will create strategies and campaigns to drive more traffic to the website, blog or page through digital activities beyond social media as well as improve the website constantly with the latest updates in the market. The starting salary of a digital marketing consultant is INR 5,00,000 and upwards.

Social Media Marketing

Jobs in social media go beyond just posting tweets and Facebook updates. Social media management is one of them. As a social media manager, you must manage social campaigns, post and comment on other relevant pages and blogs, engage in conversations with users, respond to queries and feedback, increase a brand’s presence on social networking sites, and build a network of influencers to add more value to the brand. The starting salary of a social media manager is INR 4,00,000 and upwards.

Search Engine Optimisation

It does not matter how well-designed the website is or how great and engaging the content is as long as it is not promoted to the right target audience with the help of SEO guidelines. As an SEO executive, you are responsible for bringing traffic to the website, blog, or page, ensuring that the content appears in top searches, building sitemaps, conducting keyword searches, and creating content around it. The starting salary of an SEO executive is INR 4,00,000 and upwards.

 

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketers are required to bombard users with advertisements that they might find a tad irritating but mostly useful. You use these ads to generate leads for the company by managing keywords, refining landing pages, splitting ad groups, generating reports, and providing suggestions for the copies and creatives that go into these ads. The starting salary of SEM managers is INR 5,00,000 and upwards.

 

Email Marketing

Email marketers must identify the target audience for the brand and build their email list. Your responsibilities here would include designing and executing direct marketing campaigns, proofreading emails to ensure they match the brand guidelines, implementing mobile-friendly templates, writing newsletters, and upgrading templates at regular intervals. Sometimes, you may work in the customer relationship department. The starting salary of these professionals is INR 4,00,000 and upwards.

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