What exactly makes a content marketer truly great? Are they born that way and simply destined for content marketing stardom? Or are they developed over time, forged into great content marketers through tough content ideation sessions, countless AB testing trials, endless rounds of edits, and a sheer determination to succeed at all costs. This may be up for debate, but I personally think it’s a mix of all of the above. We’re all born with a set of talents which help make certain aspects of marketing super easy while other tasks take a bit more effort and experience to effectively master.
If you’re charged with the opportunity to take your organization’s content marketing efforts to the next level, it helps to know the attributes that every great content marketer has. Over the years, my colleagues and I at Rock Content have had the privilege of working with hundreds of content marketers. During this time, we’ve discovered five qualities that every great content marketer has. Let’s take a closer look at the top five qualities of the very best content marketers.
1. Creativity
Original ideas, effective content strategies, and the creation of a compelling video, infographic, or whitepaper that resonates with your audience all require creativity. But creativity helps with more than just content. Creativity helps content marketers design better workflows and production schedules, as well as publish content at the right time and to the right audience.
Creativity also helps ensure content is being optimized on the right channels. Of the eBooks you create, which generate better leads and why? Is content syndication an effective tactic for the marketing team or does content shared through your owned marketing channels and other outbound efforts a better option? Sometimes it takes a little creativity to get the right mix and the best results.
Remember, creativity is not just something you’re born with. Creativity can come from asking the right questions, the pure determination to keep trying new things, and never being satisfied with mediocrity. Hightail offers some suggestions to boost creativity, such as limiting process, encouraging more risk-taking, and focusing on great storytelling.
2. Adaptability
Do you like change? Don’t worry – most people don’t. But the best content marketers exhibit a high degree of adaptability. Content or content asset types that worked extremely well last year may only produce average results today. Most industries today are characterized by rapid change and therefore the need for a continually evolving message. Great content marketers embrace this change and see it as an opportunity.
Additionally, content teams are getting bigger and more diverse, and new content tools, technologies, and platforms are continuing to emerge. The best content marketers are open to continuous learning and are always on the lookout for better ways to work in order to adapt.
3. Uniqueness
Some of the best content marketers approach every aspect of their job with a high level of uniqueness. Similar to creativity, but more refined and targeted, content marketers that possess this quality are bold and think outside the box. Their ideas are anything but normal, their content strategy does not align with the status quo, and their content is truly one of a kind.
Part art, part science, content marketers that exhibit the uniqueness trait are like AI-powered sponges, absorbing vast amounts of information on customers, prospects, buyer profiles, industry news, events, and competitive intel, making sense of it all, then releasing that which has never been seen before, be it a highly visual eBook or a video that ultimately goes viral.
4. Foresight
Also described as predictive thinking, content marketers that possess foresight can see the future and all that it holds. Well, not exactly. But their ability to foresee and act early in regard to industry trends, new insights or innovations helps them keep ahead of the curve, instead of always trailing behind. As a result, they usually have the first-mover advantage with a new idea or content asset and their content comes across as being fresh, relevant, and insightful. Foresight also helps from a planning and resource perspective. Does your team have the right tools and people power in place today as you scale up your content efforts next quarter?
5. Focus
While highly desirable in any profession, focus is extremely valuable to a content marketer. Your audience has never had a more limited attention span (which explains the rise of video as one of the most popular content assets) so the words or message you do use needs to be clear and concise. Focus also helps content marketers choose the right channels from the sea of choices, as well as the best goals and objectives for their content marketing program. Additionally, content marketers face requests for content from so many different teams. Content marketers with a keen sense of focus can filter out the noise, have a mechanism or process in place to deal with the distractions, and keep their team on track.
As you were reading the list, were you honest with yourself? Do you struggle in any one or two areas? I think continual self-improvement is a way of life today and this is very true for us as content marketers so it may well be worth the effort to take time to develop your skill set in any or all of these areas.
Want to learn more about building the perfect content marketing team? Check out our on-demand webinar
