How to make a career in marketing, and earn lots of monies 😝

There’s a simple career hack to make it big in marketing. Read on…

This piece is for anyone from 16–25 years old. If you’re reading this, i’m going to give you the single biggest advice to earn lots of money, and build a strong career in marketing. It’s so simple, straightforward, and yet only a fraction will excel at it — and that’s because it’s so simple 😔. Nonetheless, here’s a head-start to hack your career. What’s the advice, you ask?

Learn how to write.

No prizes there. 😂 As a brand marketer with 10+ years experience, it’s the only role I still struggle to hire for. And i’m not alone. From VC firms, to startups, to large orgs, everyone wants that rare unicorn — someone who knows how to write well. And yet, they’re as hard as they come.

Even recruitment teams can’t get this right because of how the current crop functions. The majority writers out there are your typical SEO writers — the ones who take a topic, research about it on the internet, ‘repurpose’ the article, and dump it into the depths of the darn internet. A digital marketer promotes the piece, gives it some eyeballs, and then that’s that.
Rinse. Repeat.

(Every org wants strong brand — i’ve written about this in depth. The difference between a $6 billion and a $53 billion valuation hinged on one aspect — storytelling. Companies are now warming up to it. But when the time comes to hire, good writers are far and few in between.)

If you’re a brand storyteller, and understand the trajectory of tech, you’re likely to be perpetually employable — and a highly lucrative asset for any org.

I suspect 99% of careers are stuck in this role. It’s what companies are doing from age immemorial, and nothing seems to have changed. This makes it hard to hire, even harder for folks to build out strong content careers. But here’s one way to escape this black hole:

Step 1: Research an industry

Pick any industry. Delve deep. Take foodtech. Read about the economics of foodtech. Understand the big players in each country. In China, this is Meituan. They’re a listed company. Pick their annual report, read it. Obsess over their Average Order Values, revenues, why these numbers matter. Read about the future of foodtech — substack, newsletters et al.

How does this help?
You’re reading a range of pieces from folks with domain expertise. The problem with most writers: they repurpose ‘content’, instead of delving deep on a domain. It’s hard to understand the domain, without researching it. When you do, you get intelligence and a breadth of knowledge others will lack.

Step 2: Tweet/write about it obsessively

As you’re researching and learning, put this information out to the public. Let your peers judge you, mock you, maybe some might correct you, help you learn more. Foolish for a day, wiser forever. Put your body of work on the internet, and you will end up learning more about it. Slow at first, faster eventually.

Bonus: Your writing improves. Your thinking improves manifold.

Step 3: Consistency compounds: predict patterns, form opinions

As you gain domain knowledge, you will be in a position to weigh-in, and form an opinion. Some of these will be backed by facts, some will be crystal ball gazing. Either way, you get sharper in your understanding of an industry, and knowledge about it. Ruthless prioritisation about that industry makes you a niche master at it.

Step 4: Pick a new industry

You’ve read about foodtech. You’ve written about foodtech. You’ve opinions and can engage with anyone on foodtech. Good. You’re now someone who has domain knowledge, and strong writing experience. Pick another industry. Credit cards in fintech. Gig economy. Passion economy. Crypto.

Read obsessively, write religiously.

Step 5: Reach out, apply

If you have a body of work that shows curiosity, you’re already among the top 1% of solid content writers. When I hire, I want to see how curious a candidate is. How much do they probe a story. Writing style can be edited, but the innate curiosity to fish a story out, simply can’t.

If you think you’re someone who satisfies all these steps, and still not getting a good job, reach out to me, I will hire you 😝 I’m on twitter — @ adadithya

🙏🏻 Good luck ☺️