Inside Every Content Writer is a Marketer Waiting to Bloom
It is said that every writer is a reader. You can’t obviously churn out story after story without replenishing yourself with more words. I haven’t seen a writer (yes, all kinds of writers) who isn’t a compulsive reader.
These days, I have come to find that every writer (especially a content writer) is a potential marketer too. Before you think this is too much of a stretch, ask yourself:
What is the purpose of content?
Whenever a content writer creates a piece of content, it always serves a fundamental purpose. The purpose of a content created can be to entertain, educate or even inspire. Most pieces of content you can think of often fall into one of these categories.
If you doubt the assertion, open an article on your favourite website. Read it to the end. Then categorise it. Did it entertain you? Did it inform or educate you about a topic? Did it inspire you to ask questions or to take an action?
See! Content is kinda all-powerful when you think about it!
And it’s not just writers who have this superpower. Creators of other kinds of content like Video, Comics, Art etc. are also imbued with this power. Now before we get bogged down with how Content Writers get to perform such “powerful magic”, let’s talk about how every content writer has a marketer trapped inside of them just waiting to burst out and bloom.
Another purpose content can serve is Persuasion.
Starting out as a content writer, I was enamoured of my ability to craft compelling content that educated, inspired and entertained. Adding a robust SEO skill to get people to actually see the content made a world of difference. In the 5 years I’ve been writing professionally, I’ve come to understand that it wasn’t much of stretch for me to move from just plain content writing into copywriting and marketing.
Until a content writer understands that their content can also serve to convince/persuade people to take an action, say: make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, sign a petition, view a brand favourably and more; they haven’t realised their full potential. Understanding tone, the specific audience to target and more are factors regular content writers understand and include when performing their duties. Same can be said for marketers and copywriters.
So why aren’t many content writers moving into marketing?
Because they haven’t discovered that they can. The same skills a content writer has can be channelled into copywriting and marketing with a deliberate rethink of how they apply such skills when crafting content. Adding a 4th option (Persuasion) to the purpose the content you’re creating serves will make the transition from content writer to marketer easier. And when you have created your enthralling copy, you have finally let your inner marketer out to grow and bloom!
As the field of content marketing grows, knowing how to convince/persuade an audience to take action with a piece of copy will become an invaluable skill. So, take some time to rethink how you craft content as a content writer and let your inner marketer take charge!
