Digital marketing is a growing industry, and there are tons of career moves you could make within this sphere. In particular, you might help with a business’s content strategy to reach its goals and connect with its target audience. A content marketing consultant is one of the best jobs that you can work from home while helping other businesses to grow.
Does that sound like something that might interest you in growing your career?
Here is what you need to know about being a content marketing consultant, where you can get training, and how much you can earn.
A content marketing consultant is responsible for helping businesses with their content creation. More than just search engine optimization, content marketing consulting services help businesses consider what types of content they should make and where their current content falls flat.
It requires detailed analysis and knowledge of the inner workings of a content strategy.
Once a content strategy is in place, it is up to you to start creating content that will resonate with new customers and existing ones. You might work in both B2C and B2B roles, so brush up on your marketing skills for each target audience.
The important thing to note here is that business goals will be individual to each company you work for. This also means that the metrics for the success of your content strategy will be unique. Some will want to get more likes on their Facebook page, close more sales, get more leads, or solve other problems.
Be flexible and adapt your content marketing strategy accordingly.
If that sounds like a career path that might interest you, here are a few things that content marketing consultants do on a daily basis for their clients.
The only way people will stumble upon your content is if it is tailored to the search engines. Marketing efforts should always be made with Google in mind, which means you need to understand how people think and what they’re really searching for.
For example, you might give a detailed analysis of what high-volume, low-competition keywords a brand should use to grow. You might also take the opportunity to evaluate their current content strategies, make notes for improving them, and specialize in both paid and unpaid traffic sources.
You can use tools like Surfer SEO for help.
Without SEO, you will never be able to move someone through the desired customer journey.
With an SEO content strategy in place, it is time to consider what you need to do to create content. What keywords do you need to target on this particular page to tap into your target audiences?
This stage of content creation is the best opportunity to share in-depth knowledge with your site visitors.
The goal of content creation should always be lead generation or moving people one step further into the sales funnel while providing them with valuable resources. You want them to view this site as the answer to their problems, a robust solution that speaks to their pain points.
When planning content, you will think about every avenue you need: social media platforms, blogs, landing pages, and more.
How is the marketing team of a given business doing when it comes to lead generation and reaching its target audiences? One of the keys to implementing content marketing strategies is to know where the current methods are falling flat (and where they are succeeding).
You can use free tools like Google Analytics to keep tabs on a content marketing strategy.
The point here is not to spend a bunch of money trying to get information and insight into the current strategy. Instead, it is to identify areas of potential growth and to flesh out the picture of the business you will be working with before you start to plan content.
With some of this research in mind, you have a much clearer picture for your content marketing consulting. Work with the business to determine what their goals are: optimized content for better rankings, the ability to generate leads, gaining followers on social media, and collecting client testimonials are all great goals for online content.
Before you start promoting content, you should have an idea of the marketing goals related to generating leads for the business.
You should know how to set achievable marketing goals that can be measured for long-term success. Monitor how the business is growing and changing due to the content planning you undertook. With the desired outcomes in mind, you can adapt certain aspects of your content calendar to meet these needs.
Of course, most businesses already have some type of content calendar in place, have some of their own content, and might be making headway with organic traffic. However, they are coming to you because they know they need a more effective content strategy.
In other words, you have the deep understanding they need.
Many businesses will want you to audit their existing content to see where they can increase traffic. This gets the ball rolling on setting a clear direction for their upcoming content calendar. A content marketing consultant provides a much-needed outside perspective that can shape the strategy and deliver results.
Don’t be afraid to let a business know where their current strategy is falling short. This can help them stay ahead of the latest trends.
How much can you earn from your thought leadership when it comes to being a content marketing consultant? If you have a strategic mind for planning content, it could pay off big time. It’s often a flexible position that you can even work from home.
According to Zip Recruiter, you could earn about $60,000 per year or $29 per hour.
Glassdoor estimates that you might make even more than this. Their range stretches from $64,000 to $107,000 annually.
Unfortunately, there is no single content marketing institute you can attend to get ahead in this field. You may have to piece together your knowledge of website traffic, search engine optimization, and content marketing to become top of your field. Here are a few courses that can help.
If you want to get serious about your marketing efforts, Hubspot is a great place to start. Their Content Marketing Certification Course is completely free.
In this course, you will learn:
The content creation framework
Creating a long-term content strategy
How to generate ideas
Alternative methods of growing traffic (video marketing, guest blogging, etc.)
Content promotion
Despite being a free option, this is an extremely robust certification course that will really bolster your skills. It comes with almost eight hours of video content to teach you what you need to know to plan and write effective content for lead generation.
Ahrefs is another place you can turn to find tips for content marketing consultants. Their free course isn’t as thorough or detailed as Hubspot’s, but the Content Marketing Course is still a helpful and free tool to add to your toolbox. If you have some time to spare, shore up your knowledge with this course.
It’s the perfect course for a content marketing consultant who needs to improve content creation skills. You’ll learn strategies, gain checklists, learn how to compete with other businesses, and even how to conduct a thorough content audit.
Best of all, the video lessons are relatively short and easily digestible, so you can get what you need without feeling overwhelmed.
Once you have moved through some of this content marketing strategy, you will want to dive into the Semrush Advanced Content Marketing course. Content marketing consultants who attend this class will learn:
Tips for rapid blog growth and generating content ideas
Templates for content creation
Content hub and annual content guides for more traffic
Content and blog campaigns
Conversions and popups
Launching a product successfully
Like the Ahrefs course, this is short and digestible. The longest video is just 17 minutes, ensuring that you can squeeze this training into a busy schedule whenever you have a free moment.
Content marketing consulting is a great gig, but where can you find your very first client? This is often the hangup for many people who would love to hand out their business card advertising that they are officially a content marketing consultant. Get your first client with one of these strategies.
Perhaps the easiest place to start searching for content marketing gigs is to go where clients hire their freelancers. Content creation, planning, and strategy positions are all abundant on job boards like Upwork, Fiverr, and FlexJobs. This is an inexpensive and targeted way to land your very first gig as a content marketing consultant.
Clients come here searching for top talent, ensuring that you are reaching out to people who have a real intent to hire. You’ll find an abundance of job descriptions that align with the skills you have to offer.
On the other hand, you might want to leverage your content marketing talent to grow your own website traffic. As your traffic grows, more people will be able to find you when searching for content marketing consultants.
This proves that you know exactly what to do and how to grow a page.
Clients who come to you via this route are often already serious about hiring you and won’t waste your time going through endless interviewing. Preserve your time because time is money. Work on growing your own website as proof of your talent and skills.
Some people would prefer to make a difference in their local community. There are tons of chances for a content marketing consultant to cut their teeth with small businesses in their area. If you don’t mind cold calling and setting up meetings with business owners or marketing managers, local networking is a valuable source of growth.
Once you help one business find the sweet spot with its content marketing strategies, they are likely to recommend you to friends and other businesses. This word-of-mouth advertising might be your most effective marketing tool.
A content marketing consultant is a highly skilled professional who can take an existing website and transform it to create more leads and more sales. They help more people come to a given website, engage with their content, and ultimately convert that traffic into dollars and cents. Plus, they may be invited to help create that content.
If this describes your ideal job, these courses and tips will help you launch your career and earn a decent living as a content marketing consultant!
Check out our article on how to start a consultant business for a guide on the next steps.
