How to Build Your Successful Content Marketing Team
Published by Linda Rolf on 10/9/2017 and updated 6/11/2021
Getting started with content marketing can seem like a simple matter of creating some great content, pushing it out to your target audience and waiting for the clicks / taps / applause / connections. All too often this approach is how content marketing begins. Expectations are high. The content is good. Why are the results so disappointing?
It's at this point of disappointment where organizations frequently abandon their content marketing efforts. Clearly, content marketing doesn't work, right? What if there was a better way to approach to building a successful, sustainable content marketing initiative in your organization?
Content marketing with all of its promise is a relatively new addition to an organization's customer growth toolkit. As this movement continues to evolve, creating the internal content marketing team to support and nurture the changing landscape is essential. Many organizations have shoehorned content marketing activities into existing teams and silos. The result is a series of disjointed activities without the guidance of strategic vision and continuity.
Collaboration Drives Creativity
Many years ago when Quest Technology Group was launched, we started with a small team of developers. We had all worked together at a previous company, and it was easy for us to continue the cadence from that experience. As we grew we found ourselves adding more familiar team cohorts. There was a collaborative rhythm that set our pace for innovation. Each new team member brought with him or her a unique set of experiences and perspectives that contributed to our cohesive spirit.
There was that single think-like-your-customer mindset that drove everything we did. As a result we were rewarded by our customers with
opportunities to explore and innovate on their behalf. None of the solutions we ultimately delivered would have come to life had it not been for a deep sense of respectful collaboration. These successful solutions were the result of joint internal team and customer creativity. Those early lessons in creative collaboration continue to drive our think-like-your-customer methods today.
Content Marketing Starts with a Content Team
To create a culture that embraces relationship-building through valuable content, the first step in launching content marketing isn't content at all but the creation of a solid team. The size of the organization might influence the number of team members, but
every organization needs a cohesive content marketing team.
Start small. We've all experienced painful examples of death by committee. The purpose of the content marketing team is to ensure that the strategic vision of the organization is consistently and clearly communicated every time.
The roles outlined here all represent functions that are essential to the success of every content marketing initiative. The focus should be less on formal job titles and more on the functional contributions of each role. It's likely that one person will assume multiple roles at least at first. That's completely appropriate and fits into the "keep it small and focused" model. The main goal is to build a highly cohesive team who will collaborate, communicate and execute in harmony every time.
Strategic Visionary
Let's start at the top.
We're all familiar with
Simon Sinek's Start With Why. All of the best content, tools, ideas and intentions are meaningless without a purposeful "why". The organization's CEO is the strategic visionary who creates the genuine think-like-your-customer culture throughout the organization. The organization's customer-centric purpose is continuously communicated to ensure that the content produced across all channels serves its valued customers.
Team Contributions
Clearly defines company vision, purpose and goals throughout the organization
Builds and supports the content marketing team
Establishes actionable, measurable goals for all content marketing projects
Gives the team permission to collaborate creatively
Acknowledges that every initiative might not be a success
Content Strategist
This role title is often used interchangeably with Content Marketing Strategist. While these both are focused on content strategy, the Content Strategist operates from a broader organizational perspective. This key team member ensures consistency in all content created, produced and delivered throughout the entire organization.
In many SMB companies, the role will likely be filled by the same person. It's important to understand the differences as you set expectations for team success.
Team Contributions
Published content inventory
Published content audits for project planning
Published content models
Published style guidelines
Voice and brand guidelines shared throughout the organization
Types of Content
External communications with customers
Product and service focused
Community communications
Content Marketing Strategist
The Content Marketing Strategist is different in her content focus. She is primarily dedicated to planning and delivering meaningful content to target audiences in each buyer journey stage. She adopts the content strategist's brand and messaging framework for the organization's content initiatives.
A steady flow of valuable content is a key element to a successful content marketing strategy. As we said at the beginning of this post, it's tempting to rush to content delivery. The pipeline needs to be continuously filled with quality content and strategically planned. The content marketing strategist works closely with all team members to maintain a productive delivery plan.
Regardless of team size, there needs to be a content marketing strategist. With a team of 2 or 3, this is even more important. With a small team juggling so many roles, having a carefully designed plan can make the difference between quality content delivery and reactive noise.
Team Contributions
Active learner and reader
Creates and maintains the editorial calendar
Provides a steady flow of useful content across all channels, buyer personas and buyer stages consistent with the strategic goals
Keeps designers, writers, editors and web content creators on schedule
Works with the technical leader on web content timelines and deliverables
Continually looks for opportunities for process, quality and delivery improvements
Forgoes traditional thinking to bring innovative delivery ideas to the organization
Continually gathers ideas and organizes them into a central content library for future project deliverables
Fosters a collaborative atmosphere to deliver unique content rather than copying the competition
Knowledge of audience segmentation
Knowledge of buyer journey stages and related content types
Applies a creative customer-first mindset when planning useful content
Communicates from an educational and informative perspective rather than company sales
Types of Content
Blog posts
eBooks
Whitepapers
Podcasts
Webinars
Social media posts
Videos
Case studies
Research
How-to guides
Educational
Creative Leader
This essential role is usually the CEO or CMO. He ensures the consistent quality, visual, messaging and relevance defined in the strategic vision. Every team member regardless of team size brings his and her creative talents to each project. It is important to foster individual creativity within the organization's single vision.
Team Contributions
Collaborative leadership that encourages individual contributions to achieve strategic goals
Understands how people respond to visual, written and spoken messaging
Active learner and reader
Creative thinker who connects ideas in unique ways
Continuously observes trends and opportunities for leading rather than following the market
Understands buyer personas
Understands audience segmentation
Identifies creative methods to gain buyer attention
Applies a creative customer-first mindset when designing relevant content
Tactical Leader
The hands-on project leader is responsible for getting things done on time, on budget and in line with the overall strategic performance goals.
Team Contributions
Project management leader
Effective team communicator to build ongoing consensus
Continuously keeps stakeholders informed
Informs team about goals and KPIs
Works closely with all team players to ensure ongoing compliance with requirements
Continually researches, learns and identifies opportunities for process improvements
Identifies tools and technologies to support content delivery improvements
Technical Leader
Regular web content updates are an integral part of the content marketing strategy. The organization's website is a living, breathing engagement tool. Quite often we see editorial calendars with the usual social media content channels planned, but the website is nowhere to be found. IT frequently exists in its own silo creating a divide between marketing and technologies that can afford real added value.
Team Contributions
Champions the lean methodology for web development
Communicates the strategic goals and success metrics to web developers
Continually helps developers think like customers
Works with developers to identify best approaches to meet customer and internal requirements for web content
Keeps development on time and on budget
Communicates content strategy to web developers to ensure consistency in messaging and presentation
Works closely with the creative leader to determine the most effective and efficient approach to delivering requirements
Identifies and communicates opportunities for improvements in technologies, tools, processes and methods
Works closely with the editorial leader to ensure web development is in line with the content calendar
Customer Experience
Customer experience (CX) is the customer's feeling about his collective interactions and relationship with a company. Customer service is often considered customer experience when in fact customer service is just one aspect of the overall experience. As customers' interactions with a company have become more complex and less predictable, the need for a customer experience program has become more critical.
While the design of an effective customer experience program is the topic for another post, customer experience leadership is a essential role in the content marketing team.
Team Contributions
Brings a visionary, connect-the-dots perspective to the team
Uses internal tracking data, reports, disparate data, heatmap data to continuously evaluate and assess customer interactions with the people, processes and systems
Leads a CX team in journey mapping sessions to identify areas of friction and opportunities for improved experiences
Conduct surveys and observations as measures of satisfaction
Communicates customer experience results throughout the organization to continuously champion the think like your customer mindset
User Experience
While customer experience is the collective interactions with an organization, user experience (UX) deals with customers' interactions with a web site, product or app. User experience has a direct bearing on customer experience so both are critical to overall customer satisfaction.
Team Contributions
Gathers requirements by listening and observing
Thinks logically with a "what happens next" approach to product design
Continuously encourages empathy and customer-centric thinking
Possesses solid experience with web development and the technologies that support product and services creation
Translates and communicates requirements to the technical leader and web developer
Participates in usability reviews prior to delivery
Content Writer
It goes without saying that there can be no content marketing without writers. Creating content that clearly and effectively communicates the organization's message is a talent that might already exist within the organization. If you need to look outside the organization for writing skills, then actively include these resources in your team. Experienced writers who are willing to quickly learn and understand your organization can be valuable additions to the team.
Team Contributions
Experienced in creating content in the buyer's voice
Experienced researcher using trusted sources
Uses storytelling to build engagement
Develops uniquely engaging stories that are not just copycat materials
Creates content in a voice, style and content model defined in the content strategy
Understands the audience and speaks to it
Discovers creative ways to deliver engaging content in industries that might not be considered exciting
Delivers informative and educational content that is clear and readable without fluff
Understands delivery timelines
Content Editor
All content creators regardless of talent and experience benefit from the editor's review. If you do not have an experienced editor in your organization, you will likely find a resource ready to assume this role. This team member can function as an editor who has broader input into content or a copy editor who focuses on structure and wordsmithing. Regardless of the scope of duties, the important thing is to fill this role to ensure top quality content.
Team Contributions
Experienced in creating content in the buyer's voice
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Collaborative team member who respects the work of the content writers
Communicates effectively with team members
Understands project timelines and the editorial calendar
Prioritizes recommendations for changes
Contributes to the ongoing content idea inventory
Actively reads and explores the work of partners as well as competitors
Web Developer
Since we recognize that the organizations website is an integral part of the customer engagement strategy, the web developer is a collaborative content marketing team member. Developers often think from a largely technical perspective. Shifting that mindset to an outside in view can at times be challenging. The technical leader's role includes continuous nurturing to this attitude shift.
Team Contributions
Experienced in a wide range of industry-accepted web technologies
Experienced in web architecture including database design, reusable structures, maintainability, extensibility
Ability to focus on deliverables defined by the creative team members
Adopts the value-driven solutions methodology approach to all deliverables
Understands project timelines and the editorial calendar
Understands the buyer personas and target market segments
Collaborates with the user experience and customer experience team members to continuously improve interactions and reduce friction
Seeks input from the creative and strategic team to ensure technology and vision are always in alignment
Continually offers recommendations for improvements in tools, technologies, methods and processes
Social Media
The ongoing growth in social media channels creates seemingly endless opportunities for customer engagement. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of trying to be in all places at one time. Unless you are a very large organization with extensive team depth, being everywhere is simply not a practical approach. Your buyer personas are your guiding star in focusing on the social media channels that are right for your organization. Don't be afraid to stay focused.
Team Contributions
Understands your buyer personas and target markets
Experienced in speaking the voice of the customer on your chosen channels
Continuously listens on all channels to ensure you are in the right place with the right message
Explores new channels and trends to continually grow the organization's reach
Understands the techniques, tools, technologies and data provided on each channel
Effectively communicates verbally and visually
Collaborates with team members to achieve strategic goals
Contributes ideas and suggestions for new initiatives
Monitors competitors social media activities
Active learner always exploring new techniques and opportunities for improvements
SEM and Analytics
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are often used interchangeably. According to
Wikipedia "Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimization and advertising." SEM includes SEO tactics, as well as several other search marketing tactics. These tactics include such things as pay-per-click (PPC) and social media marketing (SMM).
The approach selected for your organization is largely determined by your strategy, audience and where you are currently in your digital marketing presence. This is a separate discussion that we'll explore in another detailed post. For our purposes here it's important to consider how this role contributes to the content marketing initiatives.
Team Contributions
Experience with SEO, PPC and SEM tactics
Experienced in data analytics tools, technologies and methods
Understands your buyer personas and target markets
Ability to look at data creatively
Identifies trends and anticipates opportunities for change
Contributes to the digital marketing strategy by recommending the appropriate SEM tactics to meet strategic goals
Continuously monitors all activities and results against established goals for each deliverable
Communicates results in non-technical terms to all stakeholders and team leaders
What's Next
If you've gotten to the end of this post, you may be thinking "Way too complicated. We should just get on with publishing content and see what happens." Here's how you can get started building a content marketing team that is not only less complicated than it seems but also delivers a more sustainable content marketing strategy.
Start with a success mindset. "We're ready to create even more value for our customers."
Start at the top of the team member circle. Who is the strategic visionary in your organization?
Work your way around the circle, and you'll notice something interesting. Every role has some very similar characteristics. Other roles fit into logical groups. As you begin connecting the dots, your team begins to take shape.
When you come to a role that leaves you with a big question mark, just keep moving.
If you aren't sure about a particular right fit, that's okay too. Leave it for now.
It's natural to be thinking "But she is already doing x and y and z. How can she do a and b too?" While these are ultimately the considerations that will help shape your content marketing strategy, they will also provide you with opportunities to look at your organization from different angles.
Remember "collaboration drives creativity"? If you don't have a best fit team member in house, think about that perfect person you know. Can you build a collaborative partnership with him?
The great thing about relationships with people outside your walls is their unique perspectives and experiences. Some amazing results can be achieved through creative collaboration.
Free Resources
Build Your Content Marketing Team Template
Content Marketing One-Page Plan Template
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Linda Rolf is a lifelong curious learner. She is fueled by discovering the unexpected connections among technology, data, information, people and process. For more than four decades, Linda and Quest Technology Group have been their clients' trusted advisor and strategic partner. They actively contribute to each client's success through mutual collaboration, thoughtful business analysis, enterprise software development, technology integration, database design and management, opportunity discovery, business growth strategy, and marketing initiatives.
They believe that lasting value and trust are created through continuously listening, sharing knowledge freely and delivering more than their clients even know they need. As the CIO of their first startup client said, "The value that Quest brings to Cotton States is far greater than the software they develop."
