Neglect the Resume; Use Content material Advertising and marketing To Discover a Job | Solo Tech

It is a difficult time for entrepreneurs. Each day appears to deliver information of layoffs from one other notable tech firm.

I do know a number of individuals who have been laid off from content material jobs just lately. I additionally understand how daunting and aggravating it feels.

In November 2008, I learn a weblog put up by David Meerman Scott known as Diminished? Fired? These are the brand new guidelines for locating a job. A month later, I used to be laid off (together with over 10% of the corporate) on account of the 2008 monetary disaster.

Once I acquired residence that day, I instantly reread David’s put up.

I can sum up takeout in two sentences:

Do you need to discover a new job? Cease pondering like a product advertiser and begin pondering like a writer.

Looking for a job? Think like a publisher, not a product advertiser, advises @DMScott via @DShiao @CMIContent. click to tweet

David instructed the story of Heather Hamilton, then a recruiting government at Microsoft. She didn’t use standard strategies to seek for and rent candidates. As an alternative, he searched the online for potential workers. As David concluded, “So if you happen to’re not publishing, Microsoft will not discover you.”

Due to this fact, I began turning my job loss right into a content material advertising journey to create a private model.

weblog launch

Previous to the layoff, I helped plan and execute digital occasions for the tech business. I’ve labored with purchasers like HP, Oracle, and CA Applied sciences on large-scale occasions that drew hundreds of attendees. These corporations noticed digital occasions as the following period of on-line lead technology.

The day after I used to be fired, I created a weblog on WordPress: The whole lot is digital. My first put up was 2009: The Yr We Go Digital.

The day after @DShiao was fired in 2008, he started a blog about his industry. @CMIContent #PersonalBrand click to tweet

Fortunately, I discovered a brand new job straight away. A vendor from my earlier employer employed me as a customer support government to work on their purchasers’ digital occasions and function an business evangelist.

making an affect

I emailed my new boss with a hyperlink to that first put up. He replied: “Dennis, I shared this with our crew. We knew you had expertise with digital occasions, however we did not know you knew that a lot. We’re very impressed.”

I stored running a blog. In the course of the first few months, a reader requested to speak. On the decision, he stated: “You realize, within the put up final week, you shared some concepts about digital occasions that basically acquired me pondering.”

My interior voice stated, “Wow! He not solely learn my put up, but additionally helped him plan digital occasions at his firm.”

The constructive reinforcement gave me the inspiration and the will to maintain writing.

I discovered {that a} constant posting schedule for my weblog was important. I revealed one put up per week between 2009 and 2012. I wrote the put up in a Microsoft Phrase doc, organized it in WordPress, and scheduled it to go dwell the following morning. In parallel, I wrote weblog articles about digital occasions on my employer’s web site.

Creating a consistent posting schedule for a #blog is essential, says @DShiao via @CMIContent. #Personal brand click to tweet

The weekly posting cadence helped set up me as an knowledgeable in digital occasions. I used to be invited to jot down visitor articles and communicate at business conferences. I’ve put collectively posts in PDF guides and even revealed a e book, Generate Gross sales Leads With Digital Occasions.

I used to be in a position to see the fruition of David Meerman Scott’s recommendation to be an “info writer.”

What I might have finished in a different way after I began the non-public weblog:

Taking to social media

Throughout my time as a digital occasion blogger, I found a group of occasion planners and assembly professionals on Twitter. We adopted one another and used Twitter to share concepts and content material.

Twitter was as soon as a very powerful social community for my private model. I used to speak advertising there commonly, and the conversations with different entrepreneurs raised my private model.

Because the administration of Twitter modified on the finish of 2022, I tweet so much much less. My account stays lively, however I plan to spend extra time on LinkedIn. (I am additionally prioritizing old school social media: assembly folks to speak in individual over espresso.)

However you may adapt the method I adopted to construct my Twitter model to different platforms.

Begin with a mission assertion

I developed a mission assertion for my Twitter presence:

I wanna share attention-grabbing advertising content material whereas displaying people who I do not take life too significantly. I would like folks to think about me as Helpful Y engaging. My final objective is meet new folks and discover attention-grabbing content material.

Here is a template I developed from that mission assertion:

I wanna [ACTIVITY] climate [BALANCED BY]. I would like folks to think about me as [ADJECTIVE] Y [ADJECTIVE]. My final objective is [GOAL].

Be a part of the dialog

Within the early days, I considered Twitter as a distribution channel, a spot to share my newest weblog put up.

I’ve developed my method to deal with Twitter as an always-on world dialog: It is extra rewarding to work together with others on social media than simply sharing hyperlinks.

I additionally shunned selling my firm and my content material an excessive amount of. You earn extra respect and appreciation by generously sharing different folks’s content material.

To earn more respect on @Twitter, refrain from overpromoting your company and #content, says @DShiao via @CMIContent. #Personal brand click to tweet

I additionally participated in Twitter chats, a scheduled time the place the viewers comes collectively and follows the identical hashtag. Some have visitor audio system. Others have a subject or query round which the chat is constructed. Both means, they provide the likelihood to share your experience in entrance of a captive viewers.

In content material advertising, two widespread chats are Erika Heald’s #ContentChat (Monday) and CMI’s #CMWorld (first Tuesday of the month).

What I might have finished in a different way in my early days on Twitter:

• I adopted others as they adopted me.
• Much less centered on sharing hyperlinks to content material
• Extra dedicated to customers
• Much less obsessive about the stream of tweets on my profile
• I had extra enjoyable

Beginning a advertising assembly

In 2015, I launched a advertising assembly. My objective was easy: deliver entrepreneurs collectively to study from one another. I went to Meetup.com and created the San Mateo B2B Bloggers Meetup.

On the time, I used to be working for a B2B software program firm, and my boss allowed me to make use of the workplace after hours to arrange the assembly.

Primarily based on member enter, I’ve expanded our mission and altered the identify to the Bay Space Content material Advertising and marketing Gathering. In-person conferences comply with the identical format: half-hour of networking and pizza, adopted by a 60-minute knowledgeable presentation.

In March 2020, we switched to 30-minute on-line conferences by way of Zoom (co-organizer Wealthy Schwerin dubbed them “Zooms at Midday”). We have now held greater than 90 on-line conferences since then, attracting attendees from around the globe.

We have featured in-person presenters from Marketo, Demandbase, VMware, SiriusDecisions, and Flipboard. We have had particular visits from Congresswoman Jackie Speier and the founding father of the Content material Advertising and marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi.

Whereas our members benefit from the studying alternatives, the connections and group are what they recognize most. I’ve seen folks discover new jobs, get new purchasers and develop shut friendships. And I attribute 9 of my 20 consulting purchasers on the assembly.

What I want I had finished after I began a gathering:

• I requested for assist earlier than: at first I did the whole lot alone
• He requested the presenters to advertise the assembly on their networks.
• Experimented extra with paid promoting
• Gained extra monetary flexibility by promoting extra sponsorships

Sending a e-newsletter by e-mail

Once I thought I’d expertise a second layoff, I launched an e-mail e-newsletter. I appreciated the concept of ​​creating an e-mail record, an viewers with whom I may share my ideas and expertise.

I additionally wished to additional promote our upcoming conferences. The Meetup platform permits me to ship a message to the group; nevertheless, the system doesn’t present me with e-mail addresses. I created a free Mailchimp account and known as my e-newsletter Content material Nook. I requested assembly members in the event that they wished to subscribe and manually added them to the record.

The e-newsletter comes out each different Friday and contains these sections:

• Introduction
• Simply across the nook (curated content material)
• Subsequent assembly
• Twitter Nook (a Twitter person characteristic)
• podcast nook
• In Your Nook (an attention-grabbing non-marketing article)

I actually take pleasure in discovering attention-grabbing articles that others would discover invaluable. I’ve develop into fairly selective. As an alternative of posting an extended record of content material, Across the Nook has only one or two alternatives. For every choice, I write a number of paragraphs to convey why I included it.

Whereas designed to tell, educate, and typically entertain my subscribers, the Content material Nook e-newsletter additionally options many elements of my model, from my writing and perspective to my style and expertise.

It is a fabulous automobile to amplify my private greatest. When a consumer was pondering of hiring me, this ezine sealed the deal. I’ve helped just a few purchasers create e-mail newsletters. Seeing my private e-newsletter in motion helped them perceive how I may assist.

What I might have finished in a different way after I began the e-newsletter:

• Give attention to high quality over amount with curated content material
• Employed a graphic designer to assist with the brand and HTML template.
• I discovered extra methods to develop my subscriber record

It is time to work in your private model

Within the 14 years since then, I’ve actively and purposefully managed my private model. It is not a one-time spring cleansing. For me, it is ingrained in virtually the whole lot I do on-line: posting articles, internet hosting conferences, tweeting with others, sending out my e-mail e-newsletter, and so on.

Managing your personal brand is not a one-time spring cleaning, says @DShiao via @CMIContent. #Personal brand click to tweet

In my full-time roles, my private branding gave me extra visibility in my business and made me more practical at work. Now that I am a advertising advisor, my private model makes it simple for brand spanking new purchasers to seek out me. It is content material advertising for me, and it really works.

Up to date on January 23, 2023

Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising and marketing Institute