How to Become a Content Strategist without Experience
A content strategist is responsible for planning, designing, and publishing content that meets business objectives and customer needs. The content strategist job description includes planning and developing content strategies, managing content marketing efforts, creating and publishing relevant content based on the company’s business objectives and users’ needs.
They work to create cohesive content strategies that align with the company’s brand voice and objectives, ensuring all content is engaging, relevant, and effective.
Their role includes conducting content audits, managing social media accounts, analyzing performance metrics, and managing the organization’s content management system.
Becoming a content strategist isn’t hard if you are a skilled content writer with experience in storytelling, search engine optimization & technical writing, and social media & digital marketing. But, the skills are not limited to the aforementioned ones.
In this article, we will provide a detailed guide on how to become a content strategist, along with some skills to help you grow your content strategist career.
How to Become a Content Strategist?
The very first thing that matters on the journey to becoming a content strategist is the qualifications. However, the content strategist role varies and sometimes experience and skills beat the qualifications. Still, it is necessary to acquire at least a bachelor’s degree or higher education.
In this article, we will cover the content strategist job description, including the necessary skills, qualifications, and career path in the content marketing industry. Conducting a content audit is crucial to evaluate and improve content performance.
We have provided a step-by-step guide to help you get a content strategist position. Also, know that the journey can be easier for some while daunting for others.
Confusing, right? By the end of this article, I hope you’ll have answers to all of your queries. Let’s jump right into the steps to become a content marketing strategist.
1. Acquire Necessary Qualifications
According to Zippia, 78.7% of content strategists have bachelor’s degrees. Although the skills and experience overcome qualifications in usual scenarios, still it is mandatory to acquire a bachelor’s degree.
In addition to that, 15.3% of content marketing strategist roles acquired master’s degrees, according to Zippia. This is necessary, especially if you want to rise to the rank of becoming a content marketing manager. From these stats, we can easily see that a minimum of a bachelor’s degree is a mandatory requirement for a content strategist.
On the other hand, you cannot acquire such a senior role with just your high degree or a diploma. However, there are some exceptions for skillful and experienced candidates.
As far as the majors are concerned, the majority of the content strategist’s roles have majors in Journalism, English, marketing, and management. Digital content creation is also a significant area of study.
On the other hand, acquiring a degree depends on a time frame. If you are in the early stages of your high school education, then we recommend you acquire at least a bachelor’s degree in the aforementioned majors. Otherwise, only mastering the skills would do.
However, keep in mind that a recruiter from the content marketing industry will always prefer a skillful candidate with a higher degree in comparison to a skillful candidate with no higher degree.
2. Develop the Skillset
The second major step to becoming a content strategist is to master the required skillset. Although the content strategy is itself a skill, various technical skills are required to call yourself a wizard.
One of the most basic skills for a content marketing strategist is the ability to plan and design content. Thus, you should be a creative planner with exceptional research and marketing skills to prepare well-like content. The skill that sets apart a digital content creator and a content strategist is the skill of designing and planning the content.
Content governance plays a crucial role in maintaining quality and consistency across all content efforts.
Conducting a content audit is essential to evaluate the performance of existing content and identify areas for improvement.
Practice makes a man perfect, thus the more you practice, the more skillful you’ll become.
A professional content marketing strategist should be well-versed in keyword research, search analysis skills, and creative writing. In addition to that, content marketing strategy and SEO should be at the fingertips of an experienced content strategist.
Scroll down to learn more about the skills to become a content marketing strategist.
3. Get Involved in Content Creation
It is undoubtedly correct that content writing skills, editing skills, and the ability to generate high-quality content are key to becoming a content strategist. Not just written skills, both verbal and communication skills are mandatory to have good content writing skills.
Using an editorial calendar can help you plan and organize your content creation efforts effectively.
Publishing and promoting content on various digital platforms is crucial for effective content marketing and reaching a wider audience.
Thus, mastering content creation is mandatory. You can do so by winning freelance content strategist jobs to gain experience in content creation. It is relatively easier to secure jobs by proposing a lower rate. This way, you can gain experience as well as get paid. You can also raise your prices with time when you develop your style.
You can also get experience in content creation voluntarily. So, look around and find opportunities. Work for people voluntarily to strengthen your style and skills. In addition to that, you can also grow your portfolio this way.
4. Learn the Process of Search Engine Optimization
Experienced content marketing strategists are well-versed in SEO know-how.
SEO allows content marketing strategists to promote their brands, services, and products in search engine results. In addition to that, experience in SEO allows you to generate content that is appealing both to readers and search engines.
Mastering on-page SEO techniques is crucial for optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic.
In other words, SEO means ranking the content among its competitors. Furthermore, the better you are at SEO, the good you are at content marketing and designing.
As content strategists are responsible for designing the content for digital marketing platforms, they must be aware of how to properly rank it in search engines for organic traffic. Because if there’s no traffic, there’s no use of content, no matter how good the content strategy is. Thus, mastering SEO is a mandatory skill for a content marketing strategist.
5. Master Content Editing Techniques
Content editing is a basic yet crucial skill for the success of your content. The more you edit and polish the content, the better its quality becomes. Implementing content governance ensures that all content meets quality standards and aligns with the overall strategy.
If you are on the journey to becoming a content marketing strategist, familiarize yourself with editing and proofreading the content.
Editing means polishing the content to remove any typos, grammatical and punctuation errors. Errors can not be tolerated whether it is in the content strategy or the content creation. Thus, remove the errors with editing and proofreading. This way, your output will become productive and fruitful with no errors or mistakes.
6. Design a Portfolio
No one is going to hire you if you don’t have proof of your words. On the journey to becoming a content marketing strategist, you must prepare a well-structured portfolio to exhibit your digital marketing and content samples. This way, the creative professionals showcase their talent to potential clients through portfolios.
There are multiple portfolio websites with different minimalistic and professional designs. You can look up those sources, and see which one you can use to develop your portfolio.
Include content performance metrics in your portfolio to demonstrate the impact of your work.
Now, you must be thinking about what you should include in your portfolio. Well, no worries. List the work you have done voluntarily for friends and relatives. Include any content strategy plans you have to showcase. Including content performance metrics can further highlight the effectiveness of your strategies.
In addition to that, list your awards and achievements too, so the viewer gets to know the success you can generate for them.
When you have a portfolio, you can secure more digital marketing jobs based on your solid copywriting skills.
7. Gain Experience
Again, company recruiters, who are creative professionals, do not hire a candidate with less or zero experience. To become a content marketing strategist, you should attain some experience.
Understanding the content lifecycle is crucial for managing content from creation to publication and beyond.
The first option is to opt for paid or unpaid internships. With internships, you can not just gain more experience, but also develop your portfolio. You get to explore more content strategies, thus your thinking broadens.
The next option is to work with startup companies like digital marketing agencies. This way, you can get to know the tactics of working in small businesses, and later, you can practice your skills in bigger organizations when you gain more experience.
If you do not have enough qualifications, know that experience matters the most after skills. Thus, this is one of the most mandatory requirements to fulfill on the journey of a content marketing strategist.
8. Acquire Certifications and Testimonials
This step is crucial for candidates with less education and experience. But, is not just limited to them. Certifications enable you to upskill your talent. In addition to that, online certifications from globally reputed institutes complement your resume and skills.
Obtaining a content marketing certification can enhance your credibility and demonstrate your expertise.
You can hunt for online courses offered by various social media managers and well-known content strategists. Know that certifications add up to your experience and know-how of your skills. Furthermore, these also build a client’s trust in you.
Apart from that, testimonials from a startup marketing agency and a digital content manager justify your skills. You can request your employers to provide you testimonials and then later include these in your resume when you apply for a content marketing job.
9. Hunt for the Right Role
Lastly, when you think you are experienced, have a deep understanding of content strategy, and are skillful enough to successfully work as a full-time content marketing strategist, then hunt for the right role.
Utilize content marketing job boards to find opportunities that match your skills and experience. Search for jobs relevant to your skills on social media platforms, search engines, and online resources.
Submit your content strategist job application after carefully reading the job description. Then, turn in the application along with your portfolio projects as your key performance indicators.
These are the necessary steps to follow your dream to become a content strategist. Follow the above step-by-step guide to land your dream content strategist job.
Content Monetization Skills
As a content strategist, you need to have content monetization skills to effectively generate revenue from the content you create. You should understand various monetization methods, such as advertising, subscription models, affiliate marketing, and sponsored content. By mastering these techniques, you can ensure that your content not only engages and retains your audience but also contributes to the financial goals of your organization. You can identify and implement strategies that align with your brand’s objectives, optimize content for profitability, and analyze performance metrics to refine and enhance monetization efforts continuously. Your proficiency in these areas is crucial for maximizing the return on investment in content creation and sustaining the financial health of your digital media initiatives.
Content Strategist’s Job Requirements
We have already provided a step-by-step guide to becoming a content strategist. But, that does not include the required skills to become a content strategist. Here are providing detailed insights into the skill you should master to become a content marketing strategist.
Understanding the content marketing funnel is essential for creating content that guides potential customers through their journey.
1. Search Intent Analysis and Keyword Research
Search intent analysis is a process of knowing the goal of users when they type in a question into the search engine. Thus, a content strategist must be skillful in search intent analysis, to understand the audience’s needs.
Conducting a content gap analysis helps identify opportunities for creating new content that meets user needs. Content strategists with the ability to conduct in-depth analysis are in high demand.
Similarly, keyword research is a similar term to search intent analysis. It is a process in which people type in a specific word in a search engine to inquire about their question.
So, both these skills are mandatory for you to learn to become a content strategist.
2. Content Promotion and Distribution
Content promotion is a process to promote the content to reach the company’s target audience. In addition to that, content promotion includes the promotion of content through paid as well as organic reach. Content amplification strategies can help extend the reach of your content through various channels.
On the other hand, content distribution involves distributing content through different distribution channels such as cold emails and social media marketing.
Both these techniques aim to acquire traffic on a content channel. Thus, the content can only be successful only if the content strategy is well-planned and designed. Hence, you must learn these skills to become a content strategist.
3. Customer Personas
It is a mandatory duty of a content strategist to comprehend the customer experience. Because, if a content strategist is skillful at judging the customer personas, only then they can efficiently draft the content strategy of the brand, services, and products.
Audience segmentation allows you to tailor content to specific groups for more effective marketing.
In addition to that, a content strategist must know how to support new and existing customers and ultimately improve marketing and sales.
Thus, this is another mandatory skill a content marketing strategist must be experienced at.
4. Creative Vision
The creative vision of a content marketing strategist is an absolute mandatory skill. If you are not creative in planning and writing the content, we’re afraid content strategist is not the right role for you.
Content ideation is a crucial part of the creative process, helping to generate new and innovative content ideas.
The more creative a strategist is, the more unique and appealing content they generate. This does not mean that you should be a prior artist. This means that you should be skillful in envisioning such a content type that will be appealing to both the readers and search engines.
A content strategist decides the writing style and content tone thus you must be able to think from outside the box.
5. Strategic Planning and Thinking
A content strategist must have a creative strategy when planning the content. After all, this is truly the main duty and at the same time a mandatory skill for a content strategist.
Content pillars serve as foundational themes that guide your content strategy and ensure consistency.
Thus, when you are learning the skills to become a content marketer, then make sure you master these skills to truly fulfill the criteria to become a content strategist.
6. Analytical and Technical Skills
Content strategist typically spends in interpreting the stats, and numbers. Thus, becoming a content strategist requires good analytical and technical skills to judge the performance of a content strategy. Conducting content performance analysis helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your content and make data-driven decisions.
So, work on improving your technical and web analytics skills for better performance in planning your content strategies.
7. Content Management System
Experienced content strategists and digital creators are well-versed in using content management systems (CMS) and developing editorial calendars for content creation, governance, and management processes.
**A CMS is a software or tool that allows you to manage all the content, and share it with other teammates for collaboration. In addition to that, it allows you to put together all the marketing strategies of your content. This way you can efficiently manage the content. Implementing a content governance framework ensures that all content is managed and maintained consistently.
8. Content Strategy Tools
When it comes to the tool, a content strategist’s role is not just limited to using a CMS tool. There are several tools like analytics tools and research tools for keywords and content optimization tools.
A sound understanding and skills to use these tools are mandatory in the journey to be a content strategist.
Above, we have provided the basic skills that are necessary to become a content strategist. Follow the guide and master these skills to call yourself an experienced content marketing strategist.
Is a Content Strategist a Good Career?
Yes, it is indeed content strategist careers are rewarding, but also difficult. A content strategist salary is approximately $64k per year according to Payscale.
Hence, content strategists have a rewarding career in terms of financial figures. However, know that it is not easy to master this field completely. The skills are much technical and carry high expectations, this role can become challenging for some to fulfill the job duties fruitfully. But, for experienced and skillful content marketers, generating good results should not be a challenge.
In short, we would say that, if you have the mandatory skills, and are an experienced candidate, then a content strategist career is a good choice.
Conclusion
A content strategist is responsible for planning the strategy of content creation for the brand’s products and services.
Setting clear content marketing goals is essential for measuring success and guiding your strategy to ensure that it meets business goals.
If you want to become a content marketing strategist, then first work on improving your qualifications. A minimum bachelor’s degree is required for this role.
In addition to that, acquiring the qualifications is not enough. Skills are necessary, too. So, work on improving your skills to become a content strategist. Go through the skills sections to get an insight into what skills are required to become a content strategist.
Furthermore, gain experience through internships, working in digital marketing agencies, and freelance jobs. This way, you can diversify your thinking style and content creation approach. In addition to that, you can also improve your organizational skills. At the same time, you can draft an appealing portfolio to showcase your talent to potential clients.
Moreover, enroll in online courses that provide certificates. Certifications provide more value to your resume. Go through the above-written guide on how to become a content strategist.
When you master the basic skills, you can apply for jobs to pursue your career. In addition to that, being a content strategist is a good career choice. Good luck with your journey to becoming a content strategist.
FAQs
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about becoming a content strategist:
What educational qualifications are needed to become a content strategist?
To become a content strategist, a minimum of a bachelor’s degree is typically required. Common majors include Journalism, English, Marketing, and Management. While qualifications are important, relevant skills and experience such as experience with project management, content presentation skills, content delivery skills or data analytics can also be very useful.
What key skills are essential for a content strategist?
A content strategist role also includes content planning and design, SEO, creative writing, keyword research, content promotion and distribution, customer persona development, and proficiency in using content management systems (CMS) and content strategy tools. A content strategist should also be familiar with digital marketing channels.
What role does SEO play in content strategy?
SEO is crucial for content strategists as it helps in promoting content through search engine results, ensuring it reaches a wider audience. Mastering SEO techniques allows content strategists to generate content that appeals to both readers and search engines, driving organic traffic to digital platforms.
Is a career as a content strategist financially rewarding?
Yes, a career as a content strategist can be financially rewarding. On average, content strategists earn approximately $64,000 per year, according to Payscale. However, mastering the necessary skills and gaining experience is essential to succeed and achieve financial rewards in this field.
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