Demand is on the rise for skilled content marketers in the SaaS space. But supply is scarce. We’ve chatted with lots of employers who report trouble filling content marketing headcount when doing their own recruiting. And with more and more companies investing in content marketing resources, there’s more and more competition for access to this limited talent pool. It’s up to employers to figure out how to make their companies and their offers irresistible to the ideal Content Marketing Manager.
But that’s easier said than done. Not everyone has a network of content marketers whose brains they can pick for insight into what they’re looking for. That’s why Betts, after interviewing countless job candidates looking for content marketing work, is in a rare position to shine a light on this issue. And it’s why we put together these tips for employers looking to bring in a content marketer that will keep the leads flowing, warm them up, and convert them to qualified status to support their sales teams.
Pro tip: For a detailed breakdown of what makes a great content marketer, what they bring to your team, and more, take a look at our overview.
So how can you make sure you’re offering content marketers what they’re looking for?
1. Give them a broad content canvas
The central pillar of your Content Marketing Manager’s job is to plan the content calendar for your marketing team. They’re often planners by nature – and you should give them lots of breathing room. Don’t confine them too much. It’s fine to have a pre-existing content marketing strategy, but it would be a mistake to ask your Content Marketing Manager to simply adhere to a content calendar that comes from the VP of Marketing and which they have no say in. If you insist on being the one to decide what content is going out when, and all you want is someone to execute on those plans, then we’ve got news for you: you are the Content Marketing Manager, and what you’re looking for is a copywriter.
2. Keep a balance between management and execution
With that said, most content marketers do, in fact, want the chance to do some of their own writing some of the time. A lot of the skill required for successful content marketing is managerial – see the note on calendar planning above – but content marketers tend to be naturally creative personalities, and they enjoy the chance to stretch out once in a while and write a blog post or case study instead of delegating it to a subordinate or a freelancer. After all, many Content Marketing Managers started their careers as copywriters – and they should have the chance to stay in touch with their roots.
3. Try not to clog the content engine
Don’t require your Content Marketing Manager to get signoff from you, or someone else on the team, on each eBook topic and every piece of copy. This type of micromanagement is counterproductive for plenty of reasons. First of all, neither you nor your lead gen engine has time to wait for an approval step on every blog post and email. Trust your content person. Once they’ve proven themselves (this shouldn’t take more than two weeks or so), let the buck stop with them when it comes to the copy in your collateral. Besides: without that trust, your Content Marketing Manager will feel marginalized, and inclined to take an offer from a company that will let them do their thing.
4. Consider team size
What kind of marketing team do you have, and what kind of Content Marketing Manager are you looking for? If you’re a smaller team, you may have more luck attracting a more senior candidate. Marketers who have been in the game for a while often enjoy a blank canvas and the chance to build a small team into a roaring engine. More junior candidates, on the other hand, tend to need more guidance. They may have experience developing content for existing nurture paths, but not strategizing around how to build one. If your marketing team is already well-established, you may find these candidates easier to recruit.
Content marketing is rapidly becoming an indispensable resource as marketing teams work to keep their audiences engaged and their leads warm. Keep these tips in mind when putting together job postings and offers for content roles, and give Betts a shout to see how we can help find you the Content Marketing Manager of your dreams.