Content Writing

barbarairvin

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Could earning a degree in Marketing help someone become a content writer? Just curious.

Barbara
 

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It's not a reasonable question. It might help. It might not. There are too many variables—including you—to answer.

That said, you don't need a marketing degree to write content, and you might do better to get a liberal arts degree or another degree that emphasizes analytic thinking and writing.

Finally, a career that is specifically one at writing "content" isn't going to be terribly practical. It's generally not salaried, it generally doesn't include benefits, and you're constantly going to have to hustle gigs. Content writing is increasingly farmed out to content mills, many of them overseas, and working for much less than .10/word.

It's not a terrible side job, but it's not a a career with much potential in and of itself.
 

barbarairvin

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Thanks. It is so difficult to know what is best when one is still trying to figure out what path to take.
 

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Thanks. It is so difficult to know what is best when one is still trying to figure out what path to take.

If you're planning on a career as a writer, it may be best to either have a day job with benefits, or find a day job where you write—and marketing is one path to that.

But especially now, a college degree and major may not guarantee a job.

If your long-term goals are to write, it may be best to get a degree in a subject you're interested in and have an aptitude for (and that includes business or marketing or even English) and to also concentrate on acquiring writing skill.

Writers outside of corporate writing jobs, writers working for themselves, often do not have health insurance or other benefits.
 

tiddlywinks

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Also, as a tip, don't get involved in one of those content writing mills. Having made the unfortunate mistake of getting suckered into hiring those once, their writers are clearly overworked and underpaid. And don't get me started on the final work product :/

My day job involves digital marketing. I do not have a degree in marketing - my background is English. So, as Lisa said, you don't need a degree in marketing to do content writing. But content writing at my job involves so much more than just writing content; you need to have an understanding of SEO best practices, the target audience you are marketing to, and frankly a good handle on the technical matter you are writing about. I feel like a broken record, but content writing is NOT keyword stuffing. It is about writing meaningful, thoughtful content that people will actually find useful and that hasn't been said by a thousand other people already.

My colleagues' backgrounds range from English to technical writing to business administration to marketing to journalists to <insert many other blanks>.

I'm wondering, though, whether content writing is what you're really after here. What do you want to do?
 

WeaselFire

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Could earning a degree in Marketing help someone become a content writer?

Sure. Any learning helps writers get background in specific subjects.

If your question is whether a marketing degree will get you work as a content writer, the answer is no.

Jeff
 

Melania_Devitt

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If you want to write more specific content in the marketing field, so you have to know what you write about for sure. It is not necessary to get a degree, but videos on YouTube can be helpful.