# Writing for Brands: Freelancing in the Age of Content Marketing - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/writing-for-brands-freelancing-in-the-age-of-content-marketing/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Writing · Quick win · Rated 6 /10 # Writing for Brands: Freelancing in the Age of Content Marketing By Gareth B. Davies · Updated July 2026 Brian Maehl · Development Manager, Creative Network Beginner · 31 min A crisp 31-minute primer on pitching brands, taught by a Contently insider who vets freelancer portfolios for a living. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fwriting-for-brands-freelancing-in-the-age-of-content-marketing%2F1109486316) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## What it actually covers Brian Maehl, a talent development manager at Contently, uses this half-hour class to explain how branded content differs from traditional publishing and how a freelancer should approach it. The course opens by defining content marketing against native advertising, using the Marriott Traveler magazine and a Netflix-sponsored New York Times piece as reference points. From there it moves into the practical mechanics: researching a brand's existing coverage before pitching, understanding that brand content is tied to business goals like lead generation rather than pure reporting, and recognizing that the people commissioning the work may come from a marketing background rather than an editorial one. The back half is where the course earns its keep. Maehl walks through narrowing a freelancer's expertise to two or three subjects, building a personal website and LinkedIn presence, and then constructing an actual pitch: a lead paragraph, a list of sources already contacted, the intended audience, and a couple of suggested headlines. He references a real accepted pitch from Contently's freelancer network to show what that structure looks like in practice, which is the most concrete, usable moment in the class. ## Where it thins out The ethics section, covering plagiarism, source attribution, and disclosure when pitching multiple clients, is compressed into a few minutes near the end and functions more as a reminder than instruction. Similarly, the discussion of working with brands, revision cycles, shifting points of contact, the value of a signed contract, is useful but delivered as a list of things to be aware of rather than a repeatable process. Nothing here is wrong, but a viewer looking for templates, scripts, or a worksheet will not find one beyond a mention of a style-guide resource. The course also leans on Contently's own frame of reference throughout. Maehl cites Contently's internal freelancer surveys, Contently's zero-tolerance plagiarism policy, and examples drawn from writers in Contently's network. That is not a flaw exactly, since he is speaking from direct experience vetting portfolios, but it means the advice is filtered through one platform's practices rather than the industry broadly. ## Who benefits This is not a class that teaches someone to write. It assumes a working writer, likely with prior publication or journalism experience, who wants to redirect that skill toward branded content. The value is entirely in positioning and business development: how to find brands worth pitching, how to research their content strategy, and how to frame a pitch so it reads as informed rather than speculative. A writer with an existing portfolio and a specific area of expertise, say finance, health, or technology, will get the most out of the advice to match that expertise to brands already publishing in that space. Someone starting from zero, without clips or a defined subject area, will find the marketing-yourself and pitch-crafting sections premature, since they depend on having something to market in the first place. The 31-minute runtime keeps the pacing tight, but it also means depth is sacrificed for breadth. As an orientation to how branded content pitching works and why it differs from pitching a magazine, it succeeds. As a full toolkit for landing paid work, it leaves the harder parts, contract negotiation, rate-setting, ongoing client management, largely untouched. The standout The pitch-structure breakdown, which walks through a real freelancer's accepted pitch line by line, from opening lead to pre-confirmed sources. ## What you will learn - · How to distinguish content marketing from native advertising and sponsored content - · How to research a brand's existing blog, campaigns, and style guide before pitching - · How to narrow personal expertise into two or three pitchable specialties - · How to structure a written pitch: lead, sources, audience, and suggested headlines - · How to build a freelance presence through a personal website and LinkedIn/Twitter - · How to navigate revision cycles, contracts, and ethics specific to branded content Best for: Freelance writers or journalists who already have clips and want a clear, practical entry point into branded content work. Skip it if: Complete beginners with no writing portfolio or clips, since the course assumes you already know how to write and just need positioning and pitching tactics. Clarity of Instruction Engaging Teacher Audio & Video Quality Organization of Lessons [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fwriting-for-brands-freelancing-in-the-age-of-content-marketing%2F1109486316)