7 Content Marketing Roles You Should Fill to Build a Greater Presence Each type of team member requires a specific set of skills. If you want to make the biggest impact with your campaigns, find specialists that match these positions.
By Aaron Agius Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs don't have the time it takes to do effective content marketing by themselves. It's a team effort, and if you lack a solid team, you'll be forced to forego a strong content presence.
Content comes in many shapes and sizes. It starts with foundational tactics such as blogs, social media, email marketing and guest blogging. But it also expands and transforms as your business continues to grow. You need a team to support each stage of the process. Without that support, you won't be able to reach the full potential of this marketing method.
Each type of team member requires a specific set of skills. If you want to make the biggest impact with your content campaigns, find specialists that match these positions.
Entrepreneurs on a budget often want to cut corners and combine roles. But I'd advise that you find individual specialists for each role. Not only will doing so give you a fresh set of eyes, but specialists will bring you a much higher return for your investment than generalists.
1. Strategist
The strategist lays the foundation for all your content marketing efforts, using methods such as competitive analysis, content auditing and industry standards to guide your efforts. Without a strategist, you're just publishing content for the sake of putting something out there. That leads to a content strategy failure.
If you don't have a clear cut strategy, you're just throwing random things out there and hoping they stick. That's no way to run a business or a content marketing team.
Related: How to Use Content to Gain Credibility in Sales
2. Managing editor
Managing editors keep everything running smoothly. They make sure things are getting published on schedule, on the right channel and with the best quality.
Your content production team may miss something along the way. Your editor serves as the second set of eyes on the project. He or she will help you with a bit of everything, from avoiding embarrassing spelling blunders to keeping the entire team on track.
If you want your content efforts to run like a well-oiled machine, hire a managing editor.
3. Creator
If you're just doing basic blogging, the content creator will be your writer. But there are other types of creators to consider as well. For example, if you're producing video content, you'll need to have a different set of people creating that content.
Regardless of the type of creator you hire, you'll want to find one with a great track record in his or her specialty. Many business owners will want to save money and hire a cheaper, more inexperienced person. But, essentially, you're trusting this person with the success of your campaign. The value they bring directly correlates with the value you'll deliver to customers.
Find the right person that aligns with your goals and can communicate in a manner that's consistent with your brand.
4. Designer
Regardless of the type of content you create, you'll need the assistance of a designer. This person should understand how to capture the essence of your brand in your design work. It's important that you find designers that are willing to accept feedback and adjust their work accordingly (a quality you'll want from every person on your team).
The designer will set the tone for your brand, as well as for the content itself. Make sure he or she is up to the task of communicating these important aspects in designs.
Related: How to Develop a Plan of Attack for Your Content-Marketing Strategy
5. Curator
A curator finds valuable content that others in your industry have already published. Your content curator will be a skilled researcher that loves spending his or her time digging through blog archives, social media posts and RSS feeds. He or she will know how to spot great content -- the kind your audience will really respond to -- among the noise.
This person is particularly important if you're creating weekly roundups or curated resource lists.
6. Promoter
The promoter loves to spend his or her time making new connections and building relationships. It's important to conduct outreach to get the word out about your new content, and your promoter will help you do it.
Hate sending out emails to influencers about your content? Promoters don't. They thrive off of making new connections. They're great at making friends and creating valuable connections with influencers, bloggers and competitors in your industry.
7. Analyst
And finally, there's your analyst. This person runs on numbers. He or she can look at hoards of data, pull out the important metrics and translate it all into actionable advice. You'll find the strategist and analyst working close together as you get deeper into your content efforts.
The analyst will evaluate the success of your campaigns based on the tracking systems that he or she has implemented. If you really want to invest in strategic content marketing, don't overlook this vital person on your team.
It takes a special kind of person to understand data. Find that person, hire him or her and always be appreciative of the value he or she brings.
Does your content team lack any of these key players? If so, make preparations to get fully staffed as soon as possible. Making content marketing work means investing in the right people to make it happen.
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