How to get a job in Content Marketing

I worked in content marketing for the last 10 months. It was fun and I learnt a lot, but yesterday it ended. I quit.

I am moving to France to learn the language. Its highly likely that I'll, once again, be behind a bar rather than a screen. 

Since I no longer have a stake in the industry, I thought I would share the secret of how I got into the world of blogs, keywords, infographics, 'outreach' and linkbait. This is the story of how, and why, I used a video application to get a job in content marketing.

Leaving university

At university I studied magazine publishing and wrote a dissertation about customer magazines (a form of content marketing.)

After finishing I got a job with a small magazine in Gibraltar. I got fired within 3 days, but I'd seen enough to know that the magazine was going nowhere. It was a hyperlocal-monthly-print-publication that used the free model: its only revenue coming from the sale of adverts. It competed against a few other similar endeavors; all chasing the limit advertising budgets of local companies (restaurants and cosmetic surgeries).

After looking for similar jobs in Spain, on other magazines and newspapers, I realised what a small and shrinking industry print was. It was time to embrace the future and go digital. 

Out of necessity I returned to London to look for jobs. I decided I would help brands create their own media: articles, videos etc. So instead of placing adverts next to interesting editorial the brands themselves would provide the audience with editorial of value.

To find companies to apply to, I didn't look in a telephone directory or anything like that, I just Googled 'content marketing London'.

Using a video cover letter

I wanted to get into video production as I'd recently made a short documentary and believed that video offered the most holistic form of communication. So I applied using a video cover letter. 

Quad Digital (an agency with offices on a boat) was the third company I contacted. They replied within 10 minutes, and following a face-to-face interview, I'd landed a job. The whole process took less than two weeks.

Here is the video:

I re-recorded the narration for each application, tailoring it to each individual company.