Although it’s a relatively new discipline in marketing, the landscape of content marketing has quickly evolved. As content marketing recruiters, we often find many organizations have difficulty in finding professionals that possess the qualities of experienced yet innovative content marketers.
The world of marketing is constantly changing, which means content marketers need to have the ability to adopt new skills and acquire certain qualities to be successful.
Content marketing is such a crowded, confusing space…How do you pick the right person to handle all of your content needs?
Exceptional Content Marketing Today Is More Than Just Being Creative
According to Demand Gen Report, 96% of B2B buyers want content with more input from industry thought leaders and influencers. So we’ve asked Michael Brenner, content marketing guru and CEO of Marketing Insider Group, for his input on what businesses and their content marketing recruiters should be looking for in new hires.
Brenner focuses heavily on creating comprehensive content marketing strategies for brands and has extensive knowledge on what companies should be looking for when recruiting content marketers. Here’s his take on the key qualities and skills employers should be looking for in today’s modern content marketer:
MarketPro: What should businesses be looking for now in content marketers that’s different from a couple years ago?
Brenner: Content marketers have always been creators – people that are familiar with the ability to create anything from articles to videos to compelling images. What’s changed so much is because of the sheer volume of content being created, content marketers now need to understand analytics and how to measure the success of the effectiveness and engagement of various pieces of content.
Today’s top content marketers today should have a basic background and skillset in analytics. Many content marketers are creative people that struggle with the desire to be analytical but today’s content marketers have to be both creative and analytically-minded.
MarketPro: What is the hardest part about finding a good content marketer in 2017?
Brenner: Most people today understand the need to measure performance. What is really rare and a unique quality in content marketers that brands are struggling to find is finding those that are experienced with content marketing and those who know how to successfully measure performance.
A good content marketer in 2017 is someone who can stand in a room with other executives around the organization and really deliver the business case and make a pitch for why content marketing is so important. These are somethings companies should really be looking for.
MarketPro: What technical skills are most valuable for today’s modern content marketer?
Brenner: Understanding analytics and having knowledge working with simple report building and Google analytics are basic requirements of today’s modern content marketer.
One thing that really sets a marketer apart is having the ability to make coding changes. This includes being able to go in and change the HTML of a website to include a new piece of creative or understanding the design elements of a website and being able to go in and code some changes. A high level of technical skills such as coding using PHP or at least basic HTML skills are what sets content marketers apart from others.
MarketPro: What are some things or traits you might see in a content marketing professional that would make you think twice about hiring them?
Brenner: Something that may make me think twice about hiring a content marketer is someone who’s solely focused on the creative side and lacks any technical skills. When I speak to colleges about the emergence of content marketing as a trend in marketing, I discuss how everyone knows how to create content for friends on Facebook and Instagram but the real skill lies in how to create content for complete strangers. Being able to measure the results of that and building that into a systematic and scalable process is what stands out.
Someone who says they just create content and has 15,000 Instagram followers would slightly scare me away – the superficial kind of follower counts, using hashtags, and telling jokes on social media just isn’t enough to get ahead in the business world today.
For even more help finding top content marketing talent, read on:
- Checklist: 8 Interview Questions You MUST Ask Your Next Content Marketer
- The 5 Fundamental Talent Pillars Needed to Support a Great Content Marketing Team
- What’s the ROI Difference Between A and A+ Marketing Talent?
