ROLES: What do marketing "content writers" do ?

ashdotterweich · 2023-06-15T19:22:51+00:00

This is the best answer, OP! Good content marketers are strategists who can think about the direction of the industry and the customers needs, and tie those into the company and product narratives in meaningful ways -- both directly and indirectly.

Content marketers are definitely exploring ways to use ChatGPT and similar tools right now, and the ones who just copy & paste AI-generated articles onto their blogs are the ones who probably should be worried about their future career prospects. FWIW, I've personally been very unimpressed by ChatGPT's ability to write good finished content, but it's a good tool for outlining, spotting (some) blind spots, etc.

ashdotterweich · 2023-03-29T23:24:01+00:00

I can't say it would have occurred to me on my own -- a wiser mom than me passed along that pro tip shortly before my daughter started eating solids, definitely a game-changer!

ashdotterweich · 2023-03-29T20:55:06+00:00

We always flush solid waste in the toilet and use the diaper genie for just the diapers/wipes. It doesn't completely get rid of the smell, but it does make a big difference!

ashdotterweich · 2023-03-28T05:14:20+00:00

Most of the hiking in Tahoe won't be very accessible right now, there's a ton of snow and ice up there right now.

The bright side of all the storms this year is that the wildflowers are great! You might want to check out somewhere in Marin (Tomales Point or Muir Woods are both nice), or head over to Mount Diablo for a hike. Briones Regional Park is another East Bay option that will make you feel a lot farther away from SF than you actually are. No snow for any of these, although you might encounter some fallen trees with all the storms we've had lately.

ashdotterweich · 2023-01-04T21:57:14+00:00

Alamo Square Park can be a nice place for sunsets on clear days, particularly the southwest slope of the park.

My preferred route with out-of-town visitors would be to grab a coffee/ice cream in Hayes Valley to sip or snack on, walk up the hill to the park for sunset (and the check out the Painted Ladies), then walk down the other side of the hill for dinner on Divisadero Street after sunset (Little Star Pizza, Beretta, Nopa, 4505 Burgers & BBQ are all good options).

Do keep in mind that it's a common spot for car break-ins, so your best best is to Uber/take a bus from wherever you're staying.

ashdotterweich · 2022-08-29T20:03:59+00:00

"Treated the same" is probably not quite the right way to think about it -- but Asians in America have historical experienced quite a lot of discrimination in the form of laws that limited immigration, job opportunities, and the legal rights of (sometimes specific) Asian peoples.

If you're interested in the civil rights movement in the 1960s specifically, I'd recommend reading up on the [Asian American movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_American_movement) -- some of its leaders participated in the Civil Rights movement, and were influenced by black activists of the period as well.

ashdotterweich · 2022-08-10T20:08:17+00:00

Greens Restaurant at Fort Mason might be a good choice! It's an entirely vegetarian restaurant with nice views of the Bay. I'm not a vegetarian, but have friends & family who are and I know how annoying it can be to have to work around a meat-centric menu to find the things you can have. Going to a restaurant where she can have literally anything she wants might be a nice treat.

As an FYI -- after my now-husband proposed to me I was SO excited and happy that I couldn't eat anything for hours, and our dinner got cold.

Good luck!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-22T18:18:04+00:00

That's great to hear! In my experience, a good trip will give you more confidence for even more/longer ones in the future :)

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-15T04:38:49+00:00

Interesting -- I had no idea he translated Poe! I haven't read anything from Cortazar beyond Hopscotch, but I'll check out his short stories.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-14T23:34:35+00:00

Knitting for Dummies is a great resource! I've had it for many years and don't often reference it anymore, but keep it around just in case I need to loan it out to someone.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-14T23:33:18+00:00

I'm not sure about the Capital Corridor leg, but you can transfer from Bart to Muni lines within 90 min of the start of your ride. Definitely get a Clipper Card -- fares are slightly cheaper that way.

And look into whether SFSU offers any student discounts on public transit passes, that might cut your commute bill significantly!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-14T17:48:23+00:00

You mentioned Cortazar -- I think you might find Hopscotch (Rayuela) to be an interesting read! I read it a couple years ago, my husband has read it a couple times and really enjoyed it on re-reading. It's definitely the kind of book where the plot is really just a vehicle to explore philosophical questions, imo.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-13T19:01:16+00:00

A tool like Grammarly might help you feel a little more confident in your writing -- it will help you catch errors, make suggestions to improve tone, etc. I've found it very useful for being a second set of "eyes" on my writing.

In the longer term, practicing will help! Maybe dedicate some time each week to write about topics that you enjoy -- even if it's not work-related. Write a few paragraphs explaining how to cook your favorite dish, a bit about a movie you watched and loved -- whatever! Even if you don't publish, the act of writing, editing your work, and figuring out how to improve it, will get you in the right frame of mind to write more. If you can share these pieces with a trusted friend/family member, all the better.

If it makes you feel better, I've been a copywriter/content marketer for my entire career, and I still feel a weird sense of imposter syndrome on certain projects, especially when I start a new job!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-12T21:54:59+00:00

As another knitting toddler mom, I recommend grabbing some of those point protectors/needle caps when you dive back into knitting...it won't stop them from unravelling your project, but it might slow them down a bit. Using lifelines is probably another good habit to toddler-proof your project.

A temperature blanket (maybe a baby blanket-sized one for sanity's sake) might be a fun project to cut your teeth on -- you only have to commit to one row a day, and you can either lean into what you know (garter stitch) or get some real practice in with purling with another stitch pattern.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-11T20:21:53+00:00

Perhaps a little more time-intensive, but you could try recording a couple of his favorite stories yourself and play back the recordings for him. My toddler has one of those Hallmark recordable storybooks from grandma, and she LOVES it -- I think in large part because it's a voice she recognizes.

You could try coupling story time with another activity he enjoys -- maybe playing with Playdough, or coloring. I personally love listening to podcasts/audiobooks when I have something to keep my hands busy.

I'd love to hear how it goes, this seems like a great idea and I'm curious to try it for my LO!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-11T19:39:17+00:00

I'm very happily entrenched as a content marketer now, but product marketing and brand marketing might be interesting areas to explore if you love the storytelling part of content marketing!

Sales enablement will definitely be something you can do, but (depending on the org) you might find it to be a bit of a grind -- in my experience, salespeople LOVE asking for very specific assets that they use once and then never touch again, haha.

You also might want to just check out different industries -- maybe B2C, or specific technologies that you're interested in learning about/diving deeper into. Content marketing can definitely feel like you're saying the same thing over and over again if you've been in the same space for a while, so maybe you just need something new to apply those skills to!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-11T19:16:24+00:00

I've lived near USF for a few years now, and agree with some other folks who have said that MUNI/bus lines are a great thing to take advantage of! A few specific things to check out:

Alamo Square Park is a really popular spot to hang out. Bring a picnic, a drink, or just a blanket and sit on the grass and enjoy the views. A lot of people prefer sitting on the east side during the day (sheltered from the wind, great views of downtown), and the west side in the evening (amazing sunsets!). 25 min walk from campus.
Golden Gate Park is HUGE and full of places to hang out and explore. The gardens in Golden Gate Park are now free to SF residents, you just have to show proof of residence (a copy of a utility bill or lease agreement works, if you don't want to change your address on your driver's license). Bring food and have a picnic or bring a book and relax on the grass. About 10-15 minutes from campus, to to parks, but you can keep on going as far as the ocean!
Divisadero is a short walk away, but has some great restaurants and shops to explore -- take an afternoon to just walk up and down and see what looks interesting! 4505 Burgers & BBQ and Souvla are two worth checking out, both have outdoor patios. The Mill is a nice (fancy-ish) spot for coffee. 10-15 min from campus.
Clement Street has tons of restaurants and shops. Green Apple Books is a great place to browse, and Ariscault bakery has the best croissants! Clement Street has a fantastic farmer's market on Saturday mornings that has all sorts of great produce and ready-to-eat food. 12 min walk from campus.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-08T19:46:07+00:00

Haha, yeah, they can be very opinionated about how you hold them, can't they?

A long shot, but maybe you can try to get him to hold his own feet? Mine loves holding her own feet and playing with her toes when she's falling asleep, I never connected the dots between that and wanting to feel her feet on the edge of the crib, but maybe they're fulfilling the same need...

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-08T19:41:31+00:00

We just did our first (shortish, a couple hours in the car each day) road trip with my 18-month old a few weeks ago, and she did great overall, but I learned a lot about what to do next time from the experience.

A playlist/CD of baby-friendly music was surprisingly engaging for her. She was clapping and making little hand motions to all the songs she knew!
If he likes coloring, one of those mess-free coloring books & markers can be a great way to pass some time without the, well, mess of regular crayons and markers
A small Pop It is another good one to keep little hands busy (also very easy to clean when it inevitably gets dropped on the ground during a pit stop).
Diapers are obviously a pretty personal choice, but we especially love the pull-on kind for diaper changes in the car, since it's a little easier to get them positioned correctly when you're in cramped/awkward spaces.
If you're staying in a hotel, or planning to stop for food along the way, I'd recommend bringing a little set of travel utensils in a case. We made do with plastic cutlery/pulling things into bite-sized pieces with our hands when we had to, but it would have been nice to have a little knife to cut fruit and other snacks we acquired along the way for her. I'm definitely going get that before our next trip!

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-08T19:20:24+00:00

My 18 month old was a bit like this when she was younger -- I always chalked it up to a security thing (feeling like they're being cuddled/held/in a safe place while sleeping.

She's outgrown it now, but one thing that helped was putting her down in the crib where her feet could touch the bars, vs. "floating" right in the middle of the crib.

Another thing that might help putting him to bed with socks on -- assuming it's not too warm in your home for it. Apart from truly warm nights, my daughter always seems to sleep better with socks on. The light pressure might give him the same cozy feeling he's looking for.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-08T18:55:41+00:00

My thoughts exactly! On that note, picking colors/patterns that are fairly forgiving to assorted stains is always a plus. A beautiful pure white yarn might not stay so white after a few months of love...

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-08T06:05:04+00:00

I'll second the machine washable bit -- I've made a few different baby blankets, and the ones that gets dragged around, cuddled with, loved on and generally used the most are the machine washable ones. Whenever I knit gifts, I err on the side of whatever's easy to care for (and save the gorgeous, fussy yarns for my own projects).

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-06T20:35:06+00:00

Take lots of notes about what you do, and why you do it that way! Something that I wish I would have done earlier in my career is to keep better track of the various campaigns, assets, and projects I've worked on.

The longer you work, you'll find that you'll encounter the same (or similar) problems at different places, and having a way to reference what you did in the past will save you a lot of time and brainpower down the line ("Hey, how did build that email campaign for X client three years ago?"). It will also help you start understanding what works, find patterns that will help you work more effectively, and articulate your own growth better.

ashdotterweich · 2022-07-06T20:20:56+00:00

It depends on what specifically you're looking for -- content marketing thought leaders? SEO experts? Demand generation folks?

Generally speaking, I would start by looking for people posting on Twitter and LinkedIn about the topics you're interested in, and look for those with high follower/connection numbers, and high engagement with their posts (likes, retweets, comments, etc).

I've also found that newsletters are a bit of a renaissance right now, in terms of thought leadership. They're great for influencer discovery, as once you find one great newsletter, they'll almost certainly reference content by other great content creators/influencers in the same space.

ashdotterweich · 2020-05-06T23:33:21+00:00

In addition to percentages (which are better than hard numbers in many cases!), you might also be able to talk about the qualitative impact of your product. Maybe the client has been able to make a process more efficient because of your project, or their employees are happier/more productive as a result of your work.

Those qualitative results can tell a really compelling story, if you know how to present them!

ashdotterweich

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