Everyone knows that traditional marketing is dying by the day. That’s why most companies now stay away from it and try to align their marketing strategies with the newest trends in the industry.
One of them is content marketing – a new strategy that has been steadily developing over the last few years and that has now turned into one of the most effective ways to forge client relationships and increase sales.
Over the last decade, we’ve seen all the different ways technology has impacted marketing. We now have tons of marketing channels, all of which require a different set of skills. That’s why hiring a “marketing expert” has become increasingly more complex – there are not many people who understand all marketing channels. Instead, you have specialists who have the skills to develop a particular kind of marketing strategy.
In this article, we will be discussing the role of the content marketing manager and how it can benefit your business.
What is a Content Marketing Manager?
The role of the content marketing manager is to lead all content marketing initiatives in the company that are aimed at driving traffic, increasing engagement and leads, and retaining customers.
In order for a person to be successful in the role, he or she needs to have experience and knowledge in the industry to be able to create digital content strategies across a multitude of platforms.
Along with that, the content manager is responsible for researching, creating, editing, and posting content. These responsibilities tend to vary from one company to another, but the content manager still mainly manages content. Additionally, depending on the size of the business venture, some content managers are responsible for writing the actual content. In contrast, others lead a team of writers who each have a specific task.
You have to remember that a good content marketing manager has to be a creative person with leadership experience who can achieve business goals and craft a tone of voice for the brand through writing.
What Does a Content Marketing Manager Do?
You already know the basics of what a content manager has to do: create a content marketing strategy, plan future marketing initiatives, and manage daily content creation, along with its editing and publishing.
Now let’s take a look at what most companies expect a content marketing manager to do. According to job descriptions for the role that we managed to find on LinkedIn, we’ve seen that there are five common responsibilities that businesses think a content manager should have:
- Manage and build a content strategy that is able to attract an audience through a variety of channels and formats.
- Work closely with all other marketing departments so that the content stays true to the brand’s style and tone of voice.
- Maintain a content schedule and ensure that all content is SEO optimized.
- Measure and report the effectiveness of each campaign and use the lessons learned for future initiatives.
- Be able to lead a team of individuals and achieve the goals set out by the company.
Seeing that a lot of responsibilities fall under the content marketing manager, you have to know that often the best specialists in the field are very well paid. You may need to compete with other companies to secure top talent because currently there’s a massive demand for marketing professionals and the market is incredibly competitive.
If you decide to hire a content marketing manager, you have to be ready to pay well, especially if you’re looking to get someone with experience.
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What Traits Does a Successful Content Marketing Manager Have?
If you start looking to hire a content manager, you have to know precisely what characteristics to look for. Along with being great content writers and incredibly creative individuals, any good content manager should also be able to research new topics, stay up-to-date with industry trends and lead a team of marketing professionals.
Nowadays, the marketing industry changes very quickly, thanks to technology and the rising use of social media, which puts an even more considerable strain on content marketers.
Along with the traits listed above, a content manager should also have the following professional qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or relevant working experience
- Incredible writing skills
- Ability to analyze data and create reports
- Proficiency with Google Analytics, social media analytics, and WordPress
- Knowledge of SEO and content optimization
- Exceptional leadership skills
Why Do You Need a Content Manager on Your Team?
If you have tried your hand at marketing your business, you know that content creation requires time, effort, and dedication. Even if you have a small startup that can’t invest in hiring a specialist, you still can benefit from working with content marketing agencies so that you can get a sense of what you’re missing.
If you have the financial opportunity to hire a content marketing specialist, you need to do it. Even if your business is relatively small, dividing your attention between running a business and creating content is not the most incredible idea, as you might end up failing at both.
Nowadays, it’s impossible to create an effective content marketing strategy without spending a ton of time crafting and perfecting it. For it to be particularly outstanding, you need more than just copywriting skills. You need basic SEO understanding, the ability to plan content ahead of time, and extensive knowledge of content distribution. If you try to gather all that knowledge on your own while trying to grow your brand, you will soon have to drop one of the two, as there’s hardly a way to do both of these things simultaneously.
You may be thinking, “Well, can’t I just get some content marketing consulting when I need it, without having to hire someone full time?”
Technically, you can. However, there are some downsides to temporarily getting help from different people. First, you will have to rely on them quickly adapting to your business and its tone of voice. Second, you will not be able to form a long-term content strategy with different professionals because each will have his or her own views and ideas. It can become a mission impossible to align them all.
On the other hand, having someone who constantly manages your content marketing efforts will provide stability, an opportunity for development, and a clear idea of what you can do long-term to grow the brand even more. Furthermore, you will be able to establish clear responsibilities and internal processes so that all team members are aligned with their roles.
Overall, you have to remember that there’s a difference between a copywriter and a content manager. They’re not the same thing. Even if you’re good at writing copy and understand content marketing, that’s still not everything you will get from a good content marketing manager.
How Can a Content Marketing Manager Help Your Business Grow?
If you’re still not convinced that a content manager can help your business develop, then let me try to convince you one last time.
If you have a small business and you’re just starting to grow it, all of your efforts will likely be going to that mission. In order for you to do it effectively, you will need to put your entire focus on developing strategies to make your company even more successful. All of this takes a lot of time, and it’s incredibly draining.
If you try to do marketing as one more additional task, you will have to either relocate some of the time you spend on the growing side of things, or you will have to compromise your health and personal life, scrambling to do both marketing and running a company at the same time.
If you want to ensure that you have an effective, engaging content marketing strategy that helps to build your brand, its style, and tone of voice, then the best thing you can do is hire a specialist to deal with that side of the business. By finding a content marketing manager that’s competent, experienced, and creative, you will be able to take your mind off that side of the company and into what you’re really good at – taking it to the next level.
Along with that, by working with a seasoned professional, you will be able to create a unique style and tone of voice for your brand, which will help you earn customer loyalty and drive more sales.
Final Thoughts
Marketing is frequently changing and developing, thanks to rapid advancements in technology. In the last decade, all of this innovation has rendered traditional marketing strategies useless as now it’s all about digital everything.
This change from print and paper to the online world has made the marketing industry a lot more complex. It’s almost impossible to find a “marketing expert.” Currently, most people who work in the sector specialize in a particular area of marketing but do not have the skills to run a whole department on their own.
Along with that, with the growth of digital marketing, content has become king. That’s why content marketing has turned into an essential part of every business’s advertising efforts. If you want your business to have effective content marketing campaigns that genuinely lead to more sales, more brand awareness, and higher revenue, then you need to have a specialist at the helm that’s responsible for executing and analyzing them.