There’s more to content marketing than creating content.
After all, your work doesn’t end when you hit the publish button.
To create a successful content marketing strategy for your business, you have to continue to develop new content, measure the results of your work, and adapt what you’ve done in an ongoing cycle of optimization.
If you want your content marketing efforts to succeed, you need an individual or team to oversee the work to ensure it receives the attention it deserves. Not having a group in place with clearly defined roles is a recipe for unfulfilled desires.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building a content marketing team.
Whether you’re a solopreneur, run a small business, or direct the marketing efforts for an international company, you’ll want to build a team that fits your needs.
Now, regardless of what type of team you put together, there are vital roles you’ll need to fill. Again, depending on your needs, some of the functions listed below may be full-time positions, whereas other jobs you can outsource to a trusted freelancer or agency.
As you think through your content marketing needs, here are seven positions you’ll need to fill:
A content strategist is someone who can build your content marketing strategy. He or she will be able to help you clarify your objectives, clearly see the competitive landscape, and create a winning plan for your business.
If the scope of your work is significant, then having a strategist on staff will be necessary. If you run a small business, you may be able to get by with hiring a consultant to provide direction or an individual or agency you retain on a part-time basis.
To create your written content, you need writers who can produce high-quality content. Content that resonates with your audience and compels them to action.
At a minimum, you need a wordsmith or journalist who can flat out write. Fight the temptation to write everything yourself or find someone on your team to do the work just for the sake of getting it done. You’ll need a writer who’s adept at storytelling, can write for the web, and knows how to compel people to action.
What is more, your writer should be someone who knows his or her way around SEO. However, writers can acquire these this skill and others fairly easily, and it’s more challenging to ask someone to write who doesn’t understand the craft.
If you decide to build a team of freelancers, make sure all of them are on the same page. For example, you will want to make sure your strategist and writer regularly communicate and move forward with the same plan.
It’s arguably impossible for any writer to catch all of his or her mistakes. You can use proofreading checklists and follow all of the best editing practices, but it’s difficult for writers to self-edit their work.
To double-check the content you publish for the public to consume, you’ll need an editor who can check for typos and grammatical errors, or someone such as a developmental editor who can enhance your writing to make sure it’s hitting its mark.
When it comes to the creative side of things, there are several things you’ll need to consider.
Do you need to infuse a creative flair in your work?
Do you have someone on your team who’s advocating for your brand to ensure everything you produce is consistent in style and tone?
Or, do you need one-off graphic images or infographics?
For your business, you may need to designate someone on your team who will provide creative direction, oversee quality assurance, and make sure your company’s brand is portrayed clearly.
For this role, you may need the help of a graphic designer who can provide you with creative support when you need it.
Video is an essential part of any content marketing strategy; it’s here to stay and will continue to take on precedence in the future.
From using Facebook Live or purchasing b-roll to create your videos, to hiring a team to shoot new footage, you can spend as much or as little as you like.
Don’t have the financial bandwidth to create a video?
No sweat.
Consider taking a blog post, podcast, or another piece of content and repurposing it into a video you can publish on YouTube. For this video, you can use your phone, computer, or camera to record. Afterward, you can find a free or relatively inexpensive video editing software to place the finishing touches on what you filmed.
Promoting content is easier said than done, and this is the part many businesses fail to deliver.
To effectively promote your content, you’ll need to have someone on your team responsible for spreading the word or you can outsource this work.
Now, if you don’t have the financial bandwidth to pay someone to promote your content, consider creating fewer pieces of content so that you can spend time promoting your message.
What you create may be discovered over time, but you can help your work get the attention it deserves by sharing it with others.
The goal of any marketing effort is to produce results for a business or organization. Whether it’s generating new leads, increasing traffic to your website, or enhancing your thought leadership in the marketplace, you’ll need to define your business objectives and content marketing goals to keep track of your progress.
Someone with an analytics skillset will be able to tell you if you’re making progress and provide data-driven feedback to infuse into your future content creation and promotional efforts.
Be patient when building your content marketing team.
As you can see, there are many pieces involved, and it takes time to put together a cohesive team.