Thread by @amandanat

I have years of marketing experience — B2B, DTC and B2C, with a focus in content, communications, events and product marketing.

But this is my second career.

Here's how I pivoted, and how others can learn too. 🧵

The truth is, I stumbled into marketing.

In my quarter-life crisis, I decided to leave tech news and enroll in culinary school. To gain credibility as food writer.

Turned out, there weren't a lot of food writing jobs at media publications. Womp womp.

But there was this new-ish thing called content marketing. Where you could run a blog somewhat like a newsroom. But for a company, publishing in their niche.

I was funemployed for several months, picking up social media and content freelance work while I applied for content marketing roles.

I ran social media accounts and wrote email copy for emerging startups and local restaurants.

While I built my portfolio, I also started a food blog. Mainly recipes, some restaurant reviews. This gave me some website/blog experience.

I also created and published a free iPad cookbook (which, last I checked, had over 12k downloads! But please don't look for it now. 😅)

I made a spreadsheet of food startups. Then I took note of which ones got funded. Gigaom, TechCrunch, Crunchbase and StrictlyVC were my sources.

I figured if a startup had money in the bank, they'd be hiring.

Then I cold emailed them.

My cold email was something like:

"Hi, I know you're not hiring, but I'm a journalist-turned-trained-chef and I'm looking for a marketing role at your company because <insert specific, genuine reason>.

I don't have proper marketing experience but here are my relevant skills."

Probably more than half of the companies I emailed didn't respond. But I thought a 30-40% response rate was pretty good.

The most promising response came from NatureBox, the DTC snack company.

The co-founders weren't hiring at the time, but they were impressed enough with my cold email that they wanted to stay in touch.

Meanwhile, I asked everyone in my professional network for help. I took people out for coffee, met friends-of-friends, asked for introductions.

Turned out I had a mutual friend with one of NatureBox's cofounders.

Almost 3 months after my first cold email, NatureBox reached back out. They were hiring!

The role was to run their blog, help with social media, create original recipes out of their snacks. An absolute dream job.

Within 2 weeks I was packing up my little LA apartment and moving up to SF.

That was the start of my marketing career.

And now, lots of advice:

1/ If you're looking to break into a new industry or niche, keep an eye on the landscape.

Check out which startups are well-funded and might be hiring. There are some great suggestions in the comments on this tweet by @hnshah.

https://twitter.com/hnshah/status/1414256986808471559

And check out @Wealthfront's annual list for ideas of which companies to keep up with.

blog.wealthfront.com/career-launchi…

2/ Get in touch with recruiters — especially in-house ones.

Tell them what you're looking for, ask for feedback on your resume, and stay in touch with them.

3/ Find mentors-from-afar: Well-known people in your desired industry who share their expertise publicly.

Read their blogs, newsletters, threads. Those are free resources.

4/ Send cold emails.

The only downside is that you don't get a response. The upside has no limit.

Just don't be a weirdo. Be succinct. Stand out because you're interesting and talented. Follow up 1-2 times.

5/ Don't underestimate your network.

You already have your contacts, but they also have their contacts, and so on.

Make it easy for people to help you. Have your resume ready. A conversational 70-word bio about yourself that someone can forward in email.

6/ Grow your network and set yourself up for serendipity.

Consider taking a cohort-based course. It's the best way to network virtually while learning a skill.

I took @david_perell's Write of Passage and loved it — and the next cohort starts Sept. 1!

writeofpassage.school

And now, some advice for people looking to pivot into marketing specifically...

7/ Pitch your local stores and restaurants for free or cheap work in exchange for testimonials.

Offer to help with an email newsletter or social media. Research DTC marketing and see how you can apply it to these clients.

Offering free/cheap marketing work can apply to any industry.

But brick-and-mortar stores typically don't have a marketing team. They're more likely to need the help.

Plus, you'd be boosting a mom-and-pop shop's business. Which is pretty cool.

8/ Create a digital presence so you can test ideas and projects.

Start a personal site. Grow a social media account. If nothing else, you'll hone your copywriting and basic design skills.

9/ Get better at copywriting.

Even if you're not a copywriter. Every marketer will benefit from this skill.

Go to @Julian's site and read his writing advice.

julian.com/guide/write/in…

Check out @kaleighf's site. She's incredibly generous with all the writing/freelancer resources she creates.

kaleighmoore.com

If you care even a little bit about distributing what you create, buy @stephsmithio's "Doing Content Right."

(At the moment, it's the only book about content that I recommend.)

doingcontentright.com

10/ Pick a marketing discipline and do some online courses and workshops.

There are a lot of excellent free resources — like this SEO course from @growthmachine__

growthmachine.com/course

Finally, take a look at the comments on this tweet. There are tons of great recommendations to help you learn marketing.

https://twitter.com/amandanat/status/1414742151624224795

That's all I got.

I publish weekly threads on marketing, content, and occasionally, food.

Smash that Follow button: @amandanat

And if you have marketing career advice or an excellent resource to share, leave a comment.