Life as a Content Marketing Strategist

Hello everyone! 👋 I’m Jon.

Welcome to the next entry in our “Meet a Brellaneer” series. I’m excited to give you a sneak-peak into the coolest team at Brella - Marketing!

Could you tell us about yourself and what you do at Brella?

I’m the Content Marketing Strategist here at Brella. If it’s content, and if it’s marketing, then I’m there. Almost like a lame superhero.

From our website, to our downloadable guides, to blog posts like this one, I have a hand in it, often throughout the entire process. From brainstorming, to production, to staging and launching it, there’s a lot to keep me occupied day to day.

Outside of work, I keep it chill. I enjoy putting pen to paper, putting nose to book (not literally), and other introverted things. During the pandemic I peered down the board game rabbit hole, and have been slowly growing my collection. Terraforming Mars, Scythe, and most recently Gloomhaven have been on my tabletop. (BTW, if you’re looking for a timesink, Gloomhaven is 100% what you need 😅)

Hello! 👋

By the way, you should really take a look at the lives my fellow Brellaneers lead. Our amazing Technical Support Lead (now Integrations Manager!) and EMEA Sales Team Lead wrote about life in other teams. I strongly recommend you give them a read!

But enough about them. Back to the cool team.

Tell me about what a typical work day looks like for you at Brella?

Finally, I get to use that all-encompassing answer: it depends 😅 

But really, every day is different. Sometimes we have multiple blog posts to produce, or interviews with our amazing clients for success stories, or then we’re researching and preparing a brief for a new guide.

There are even some bigger, highly confidential projects that I can’t talk about yet. However, I am thrilled to share one project we just launched - our very own Brella Academy! 🤩

And full disclosure: I'm not an industry expert. But I'll tell you a secret: You don’t need to be an industry expert to work in content. (Although it certainly helps.)

Why? Well, because subject matter experts exist, that's why!

Meeting with your friendly neighbourhood SME is the best way to boost content production and quality. Instead of spending hours Googling some obscure topic, I’ll sit down with one of our industry experts for 30-45 minutes and have more info nuggets than I know what to do with. It’s free real estate research!

I also work closely with the rest of the amazing marketing team to collab on other important projects, like storyboarding and scriptwriting videos with our Marketing Artist, brainstorming future content within our content team, or planning our marketing strategy with our Product Marketing Manager and Marketing Lead. I work with damn good people, and they make my job a whole lot easier.

Everyone here is so friendly too....almost weirdly so. What are they hiding? I’ve been here four years, and still haven’t gotten to the bottom of it. 🔍

These people are def hiding something... I wonder what they're talking about?

How did you end up working as a Content Marketing Strategist?

In December 2017 I joined this plucky little startup called Brella as a Copywriting Intern, and… well, that was that 😅 Having some minor experience in copywriting, and in the final stages of my Bachelor’s degree, I wrote a few blog posts for their blog, which then turned into a few more, then a few more, then there was something about websites and case studies and research reports and… 😲

If you’ve ever worked in a startup, then you know about the hats. So while I had the copywriting hat on, I also wore other hats from time to time - like UX writing for the product, or editing content on our website, or even participating in some events here and there!

As Brella grew, so did our team, and we produced… a lot 😁 It was a natural shift to focus more on content marketing.

The pandemic was a crazy time - all of the rules were up in the air. Our platform needed to pivot quickly, and so did our content. There was a ton of content that was simply... irrelevant. Just like that. 💀

Eventually I stepped into the role of Content Marketing Strategist, and here I remain!

What are the most rewarding and challenging things about your work?

There are many rewarding things! But I think one of the most rewarding feelings is always sending something out into the world. It still is a nerve-wracking experience to get a content piece ready to go and ship it. Not sure that will ever get old.

What’s challenging? Well, to be honest, the events industry is incredibly diverse, deep, and intriguing, but it's changing all the time. You really gotta focus to stay on top of all the changes and developments. Plus, it’s a highly competitive environment, both for us and the events themselves.

And having been involved in the industry both pre- and post-pandemic, I can say that it’s like night and day. Sure, the basic concept is the same - bring people together for a good time and conduct some business along the way. But a lot of old concepts got tossed out the window, even as we return to in-person events. And we need to be the experts, so we can educate our audience on the best ways to host amazing events!

How would you describe Brella's culture and your colleagues in your own words?

Simply the best. I joined as Employee #11, and have watched us grow into nearly 70. And even though we’ve grown fast, the culture is still as friendly, professional, and safe as when I started four years ago.

Everyone here is so encouraging and heartfelt. They’re true team players, from the founders to the new arrivals and everyone in-between. 

This is a place to bring your A-game and get rewarded for it. You can work with real professionals who are happy to share their knowledge and expertise with you. Everyone is friendly as hell, and always has a kind word to say. Brella is a true #goodvibesonly workplace 😁

I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you get bonus points if you like golf.

Any tips you would give to someone who is starting in your field? 

#1 Consume content and practice your craft. Whether it’s video, imagery, writing, audio - devour it and learn from everything. Follow people and companies from other industries who interest the hell out of you, as you won’t make the best ideas doing what has been done in your industry before. It’s how you find the new angles that make people go “wow!”

#2 Connect with other professionals. A strong network is a powerful thing!

#3 Find your own way to silence your imposter. Impostor syndrome is not unique to the creative fields, but I’d argue it’s a fairly common occurrence - and that’s totally normal! But instead of letting it dictate your actions, wrangle that pesky being into submission and let your best work shine 😎

This last tip is extra pro - git gud at asking questions. Find those SMEs and ask them about the subject matter at hand. Instead of pretending you know what you’re talking about, find someone who does and leverage their expertise. It will make your life SO MUCH EASIER.

Anything else you’d like to share or any greetings? 

Nah. Greetings, and thanks for reading this far! If you have any questions about working at Brella, working in content, book recommendations, or any question at all, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn - I’d be happy to help!

We’re also growing super quickly (new faces are coming in all the time 😍) - maybe you’ll be our newest team member? You can subscribe here to get notified when new postings are live, so you won't miss out!

(PS: We also have our very own #pet-love-spam channel on Slack… and there are some damn cute pets there 🐶 If that doesn't convince you to connect with us, well, nothing will.)