When you’re job hunting, you’re probably cruising Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and job boards and following your favorite companies on social media looking for a job posting that calls your name. But what about roles that don’t currently exist?
Content marketing has been around for more than a century, and it’s evolved quite a bit since its early days. Now, organizations across nearly every industry use content marketing as part of their marketing strategies, and it’s estimated that the industry will be worth $412 billion by 2021.
That’s a big market, and it’s one that you can be a part of, whether you can find a role for yourself in the industry just yet or not. Because that’s the thing about dynamic, growing industries — even if a certain role doesn’t exist quite yet doesn’t mean it won’t soon, or that you can’t make it happen with the right experience.
Here are three specialty jobs in content that will be in demand among high-performing marketing teams before you know it — and how to land them when they do exist:
1. Content Distribution Expert
Every company creating content also needs to distribute it, and marketers are learning that simply sharing links to their content on Twitter is not enough. That’s where the distribution expert comes in.
There are many ways to reach audiences online, and this person knows them all. She understands multiple social media networks, the audiences unique to each, and how to best promote content on each one. She stays up-to-date on the latest platforms, and she’s familiar with the programs to measure her approach and strengthen her team’s online communities.
How to Land It: Become an expert in all things social media. Join and be active on diverse platforms, and keep your eye out for up-and-coming networks. Study what makes content successful on each platform and how brands — not just individual users — use it to reach certain audiences. Then, get ready for your interview by preparing examples and ideas of how you can tailor that company’s content and grow its presence.
2. Director of Freelancing
More and more companies are outsourcing content creation, and freelancers are picking up a lot of that work. Because they’re not employees inside the company, though, marketing teams may worry freelancers will struggle to create content that fits the brand’s voice.
That’s where the director of freelancing steps in. He manages freelancers and any other outsourced content partners to ensure that everything aligns with the brand voice and strategy. This person makes sure that his team is able to consistently publish effective content, no matter who produces it.
How to Land It: There are two keys to preparing for this role. The first is being part of the freelance community. Learn about managing the relationship between a company and a freelancer by working as a freelancer yourself.
Second, become deeply familiar with the company’s voice. Know it so well you hear it in your sleep — that’s how well you should know it. That sense is going to be tremendously important in a director of freelancing role.
3. Audience Advocate
All marketing teams connect their brand to their audience. To do that, they need to know who their audience truly is — and that’s where the audience advocate shines.
Better than anyone, this person understands her brand’s audience. Through continuous research, she understands the audience’s needs, struggles, and passions, and she’s able to help her team speak to those audience members in ways that effectively drive them to take action. She’s always looking out for her audience’s needs, and she’s able to use her knowledge to help measurably grow her company’s following.
How to Land It: Skills in analytics and empathy will be equally important to landing this role. Analytics will help you understand the data behind customer behavior, and empathy will give you the tools you need to communicate in ways that resonate with others and drive desired behavior. As always, do your research on the company before an interview and learn what you can about its target audience. Then, come prepared with ideas for messaging, offers, or campaigns that can help it build deeper relationships with the members of that audience.
Marketing is always evolving, and content presents lots of opportunities for growth. These are just three jobs that will exist on content marketing teams in the future, but there will be many, many more. If you’re interested in getting involved in content marketing, start learning today, and you’ll be the perfect fit for your dream job of the future.
