How to Build a Thriving Content Career with Chelsea Castle
Oct 31, 2023
auto_awesome
Chelsea Castle, content marketing expert, joins Justin to discuss working at large vs small companies, transitioning from contributor to content strategist, Lavender's collaborative content strategy, and advice for early career marketers.
Leveraging content in different organizational contexts can provide unique opportunities and challenges for content marketers.
Building a collaborative and fun work environment can foster the creation of high-quality and impactful content.
Deep dives
Balancing Content Marketing in Different Environments
In this podcast episode, Justin talks with Chelsea from Lavender about the use of content in different environments. They discuss the learnings and challenges of leveraging content in larger organizations versus scrappy startups. Chelsea shares her experiences from working in journalism, marketing agencies, and tech companies. She highlights the advantages of learning from experts in larger companies, such as cross-functional collaboration, while also mentioning the benefits of being part of a smaller team where she can wear multiple hats. Overall, the conversation explores how content strategies can vary depending on the organizational context.
Building a Collaborative and Unique Marketing Team
Chelsea discusses the collaborative and flat structure of the marketing team at Lavender. She explains that the team was carefully hand-picked to align with the brand's values and creative approach. The team members, including content creators and editors, work closely together to produce high-quality and unique content that resonates with their audience. Chelsea emphasizes the importance of fostering a positive and fun work environment, which allows for agile execution and idea exploration. The team's strategy incorporates both brand awareness and revenue impact, with a focus on inbound leads and building strong connections with the audience.
Balancing Long-Term Branding with Short-Term Revenue Goals
The podcast delves into the challenge of balancing long-term branding goals with short-term revenue objectives. Chelsea acknowledges the difficulty of embedding brand values and missions into the day-to-day operations of a company. She explains that Lavender maintains a strong brand identity by staying true to its ethos of being different, creative, and helpful without expecting immediate returns. While they continuously work on attribution models and data-driven decision-making, they rely on self-attribution methods, such as pop-up windows and form fields, to understand how their audience discovers them. Additionally, they gauge brand impact through in-person events and qualitative feedback.
Advice for Early Career Content Marketers
The podcast concludes with advice for early career content marketers. Chelsea highlights the importance of observing and learning from others, asking questions, and finding what aspects of content marketing they gravitate towards. She emphasizes the value of being a contrarian and not being afraid to challenge the status quo or offer differing opinions. Justin adds that staying curious and adaptable is crucial, as the content marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Both speakers believe that developing strong communication skills and staying connected with the industry are key to advancing in a content marketing career.
If you like distribution and repurposing playbooks, you'll love my weekly newsletter (it's free). Join 2,200+ subscribers here: https://news.justinsimon.co/
In this episode, Justin is joined by Chelsea Castle from Lavendar to discuss their experiences in content marketing at companies of all sizes. Both have worked at large enterprises as well as scrappy startups. And they shared their unique insights on both the opportunities and challenges of each environment.