Raleigh Portrait Photographer for Creative Small Businesses

What I do As a Content Marketing Manager

I've never worked in content marketing before my job at Blue Sky Papers. In fact, I actually applied for a different role in production at Blue Sky Papers, but the skills and experience I accumulated over the years made me a candidate for new job role at the company.

When you work for a small business, roles can sort of bleed over into other areas. While my title is content marketing, I do more than just market our products to new and established audiences.

// My Job Duties

  • Manage social accounts
  • Photograph & Edit Products
  • Photograph & Edit Lifestyle Photos 
  • Product Description Writing 
  • Keyword/SEO research per product, and for blog posts
  • Develop a Marketing & Content Calendar
  • Manage and Write for the Blog
  • Reach out to Bloggers (want to review/collaborate/contribute? Email me at christina@blueskypapers.com!)
  • Reach out to Advertisers & Manage Directories
  • Develop New Marketing Strategies
  • Ensures Brand Consistency

// My Personal work goals for 2015

  • Rebrand our blog to represent the business
  • Successfully coordinate and execute two styled shoots for our internal use
  • Network and collaborate with other small businesses in Atlanta
  • Experiment with video!
  • Hire an intern

// What I thought would be easy when I started

  • Pinning on Pinterest - When I started, I couldn't believe I was getting to paid to be on Pinterest. I remember making my employer laugh as I confessed the guilt I felt having Pinterest up on my browser. However, as I became more comfortable with my other job responsibilities, I started to discover that the demands of Pinterest get old. Fast. Not only do you need to continually pin and create boards, but there's all sorts of things you need to keep in mind regarding the things you pin in order to keep analytics happy.
  • Sending Email Newsletters - How hard is it to send a newsletter promoting your awesome products? Apparently, very hard. It often gets forgotten in the large pile of job responsibilities I already have. Timing, open rates, content, there's a lot that goes into it. Luckily, we're making some improvements on how we do newsletters that will make it more fun and easy to send them!
  • Writing Product Descriptions - I love the products we sell. LOVE. But when you have to keep keyword research and SEO practices in mind, it makes it very difficult. Sometimes it can take an entire day trying to name and write for a specific product. You don't want keywords and descriptions from one product competing with another product, so when two products are really similar, you have to get reeeeally creative.

// What I thought would be hard when i started

  • Marketing our Products - I don't know if I'm successful at it, but I enjoy trying to convince others to love our products or see the value in them. Maybe it's the English major in me, but I just get so dang excited about new journals and photo albums the girls in the studio make! I though this would be hard since it's my first job in a marketing role, but I really enjoy learning about marketing and I love experimenting with new ways to make our products appealing. 

  • Engaging on Twitter - This is still hard for me. Can someone hold my hand with this twitter business? 

  • Working from Home on Friday - My employer generously lets me control my schedule as long as I put a 40 hour work week in. This means I get to work at 7:30 and leave at 4:00 PM, and work from home on Fridays. The catch? I live in Atlanta and work about 45 minutes away (on a light traffic day). The commute is brutal, especially on Friday, so the work from home option is such a great benefit. I thought the comforts at home would make it hard to focus. I thought I'd get distracted with the dog, or running errands, but I actually love using Fridays for researching new things my employer wants me to look into and getting some writing and planning done. In the office, it's easy to get interrupted by co-workers, meetings, and other projects, which isn't bad as it's still work, but on Fridays, I enter the 'zone' and at 4PM I don't have to brace myself for Atlanta traffic.

// Blue Sky Papers

Blue Sky Papers is a small book bindery (there's only 9 of us!) specializing in handmade and custom/personalized guest books, photo albums, and journals.