Content marketing: a guide for pros
What customers ask, how to win the job, and what to put on your profile.
Offering content marketing
You plan and produce articles, videos, guides and posts that attract a client's target audience and build trust. Your value is useful content that matches the client's goals and the questions their customers ask.
What customers ask
- What should I write about to get customers?
- How long will it take before the content helps my business?
- Will you write in my voice?
- How do you know the facts are right?
- Can you update old posts as well as write new ones?
How to win the job
- On the first call, ask for the business goals, the services, the customer questions, the existing content and the approval contact, then confirm them in writing.
- Collect the questions the client's customers ask in person, on calls and in messages, and use them as the first list of topics.
- Send a content plan with the topics, the purpose of each piece and the calendar for approval before writing.
- Write an outline for each piece and get the client's agreement on it before the full draft.
- Check every fact against a named source, and send the source list with the draft.
- Report the pages and posts published, the traffic and the actions taken, and recommend the next pieces based on what the data shows.
What to put on your profile
- Post samples of articles or guides with client details removed and permission given.
- List the topics and industries you have written about, in general terms.
- Describe your research and fact check process in plain steps.
Follow-up that helps the customer
- Offer to update the top performing pieces each year.
- Suggest a series of posts that answers a set of related customer questions.
- Recommend a review of the content with the client's staff, to check that the answers match what customers hear.
Licenses and permits
Content marketing is usually not licensed. Keep your business registration current; check the rules that apply to the client's industry for claims in the content, such as regulated services or products, and keep your sources on file.
Questions
Do I need a license to write about regulated services?
Writing content is usually not licensed, but advice given in the content may be regulated in some fields. Check the rules for the client's industry and recommend review by a licensed professional where needed.
What if the client wants me to copy a competitor's article?
Decline in writing. Copying another site's content can break copyright. Offer to write an original piece on the same topic with your own research.
How do I handle a client who wants every post to sell?
Explain the role of each piece in the plan. Some content builds trust and some answers questions before a purchase, and the measures should reflect that.
Pro reviewers
Pros who offer content marketing remotely can improve this guide, like Wikipedia. We check every edit before it goes live. Every approved edit is credited in the edit history and on the pro's profile.
Edit history
- Oct 29, 2026: Drafted by infinibell to our content guidelines.
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