Content Marketing from A to Z. Part 4. How to assemble a team and organize work
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:52 am
So, the foundation is built. You understand why you need content marketing . You know how content works at each stage of the sales funnel . You have a strategy ready (or at least its outline). And now it's time to move on: let's figure out how to assemble a powerful team (even if it only has one person: you), how to choose a CMS and why you need analytics. The article was translated and adapted by 5 o'click together with MadCats .
How to select a team
Your main weapon is people. They are the ones who will determine whether you will achieve your goals. When creating a team, proceed from your needs and capabilities. And use the principles below as support.
The first thing you need to do is figure out who you need. Let's define the players.
Content Strategist
This is the core of your team. An analyst who will write a promotion scenario. Go through the existing content, conduct a large-scale audit, study past successes and failures, then put everything on the shelves. And develop japan mobile phone numbers database a strategy with a detailed action plan that will help achieve the necessary goals.
A content strategist will have to do some preliminary research: understand your audience, competitors, and your place in the market. We’ll tell you how to do this research in January, in a special memo from Moz.
You’ll also need to develop an editorial policy and a branding guide. Who will do this? Your content strategist. If you don’t have the right person, you can outsource the task and find someone who will do all the research and prepare the strategy.
Authors
This is your core strength. Your fighting force. The ones who will bring your wildest ideas to life and create powerful content that is both engaging and useful. The ones who can mine facts and turn facts into stories. The ones who can write in the language of your audience – and at the same time convey your company values.
You can't save on texts. The cheaper the author, the weaker he is. Do you need boring and bland texts, overloaded with bureaucratic jargon and heavy constructions, poorly structured texts, with incorrectly placed accents, with formulaic formulations, texts in which readers will get bogged down? Hardly.
Look for experienced commercial writers. Preferably, they should be knowledgeable about your subject matter.
When you search, think about who you need more: a broad specialist or a narrow one? A writer who knows how to correctly enter keywords and perfectly optimizes texts from the SEO point of view - or a virtuoso stylist?
A good writer (or editor, but more on that below) senses the nuances of language, knows how to work with rhythm, and chooses strong, precise wording that hits the mark and impacts the audience. You don’t need to know how it works — powerful writing speaks for itself. So, when choosing a writer, listen to yourself. If you find the portfolio boring and the writing seems bland and unconvincing, rest assured that the audience will find it that way, too.
To understand how to find a good author and what to pay attention to, read Maxim Ilyakhov's article on where and how to find a good editor . And to find out what awaits you and what kind of adventure it will turn into, read how Mosigra searched for copywriters using the hedgehog method . And what came of it.
Editors
An outside perspective is always needed: even strong writers make mistakes and allow blunders. If you can afford an editor who will polish and sharpen every phrase, find one. Why do you need one?
Writing and editing are two sides of the same process. It is convenient when one author writes, and another criticizes and edits. If your company constantly produces text, you can have two writers on staff who work in pairs and edit each other alternately. In most Internet companies, one person can handle this.
- Maxim Ilyakhov
There are editors of different profiles. Look for either a consulting editor or a production editor.
A consulting editor is someone who researches the market and studies the audience, and then helps authors develop an appropriate writing style and create a full-fledged product - structuring the text, formulating headings, choosing illustrations.
The editor-in-chief, in turn, is responsible for the quality of the final product. If the editor-consultant guides the authors, then the editor-in-chief corrects the texts himself. And he is responsible for ensuring that the text does not contain errors, typos, and weak constructions - that is, he combines the functions of both the editor and the proofreader.
There are generalists who can handle both tasks. But they are few. If you have to choose, stick with the managing editor — and the authors will figure out the research, ideas, and writing style themselves and help each other.
Coordinator
This is an extremely rare beast: even Ilyakhov admits that there are very few good editors, and complains about the acute shortage of normal people. The quality of the project depends on the coordinator: this is the person who monitors every detail - right down to whether there is an alternative text for each picture; the one who organizes the work of the authors, who selects freelancers, who manages the entire process.
How a simple author differs from a coordinator - read the same Ilyakhov about the professional growth of an editor : he explains this using a simple and understandable visual metaphor.
In short, a coordinator (or, in Ilyakhov's terminology, an editor) does not just write texts. He creates projects. He dives into new areas, is strong in editing, has negotiating skills, knows how to manage other people, understands the basics of design and layout, and knows how to create full-fledged products. If you meet such a person, take him immediately: you may not find a second coordinator.
How to select a team
Your main weapon is people. They are the ones who will determine whether you will achieve your goals. When creating a team, proceed from your needs and capabilities. And use the principles below as support.
The first thing you need to do is figure out who you need. Let's define the players.
Content Strategist
This is the core of your team. An analyst who will write a promotion scenario. Go through the existing content, conduct a large-scale audit, study past successes and failures, then put everything on the shelves. And develop japan mobile phone numbers database a strategy with a detailed action plan that will help achieve the necessary goals.
A content strategist will have to do some preliminary research: understand your audience, competitors, and your place in the market. We’ll tell you how to do this research in January, in a special memo from Moz.
You’ll also need to develop an editorial policy and a branding guide. Who will do this? Your content strategist. If you don’t have the right person, you can outsource the task and find someone who will do all the research and prepare the strategy.
Authors
This is your core strength. Your fighting force. The ones who will bring your wildest ideas to life and create powerful content that is both engaging and useful. The ones who can mine facts and turn facts into stories. The ones who can write in the language of your audience – and at the same time convey your company values.
You can't save on texts. The cheaper the author, the weaker he is. Do you need boring and bland texts, overloaded with bureaucratic jargon and heavy constructions, poorly structured texts, with incorrectly placed accents, with formulaic formulations, texts in which readers will get bogged down? Hardly.
Look for experienced commercial writers. Preferably, they should be knowledgeable about your subject matter.
When you search, think about who you need more: a broad specialist or a narrow one? A writer who knows how to correctly enter keywords and perfectly optimizes texts from the SEO point of view - or a virtuoso stylist?
A good writer (or editor, but more on that below) senses the nuances of language, knows how to work with rhythm, and chooses strong, precise wording that hits the mark and impacts the audience. You don’t need to know how it works — powerful writing speaks for itself. So, when choosing a writer, listen to yourself. If you find the portfolio boring and the writing seems bland and unconvincing, rest assured that the audience will find it that way, too.
To understand how to find a good author and what to pay attention to, read Maxim Ilyakhov's article on where and how to find a good editor . And to find out what awaits you and what kind of adventure it will turn into, read how Mosigra searched for copywriters using the hedgehog method . And what came of it.
Editors
An outside perspective is always needed: even strong writers make mistakes and allow blunders. If you can afford an editor who will polish and sharpen every phrase, find one. Why do you need one?
Writing and editing are two sides of the same process. It is convenient when one author writes, and another criticizes and edits. If your company constantly produces text, you can have two writers on staff who work in pairs and edit each other alternately. In most Internet companies, one person can handle this.
- Maxim Ilyakhov
There are editors of different profiles. Look for either a consulting editor or a production editor.
A consulting editor is someone who researches the market and studies the audience, and then helps authors develop an appropriate writing style and create a full-fledged product - structuring the text, formulating headings, choosing illustrations.
The editor-in-chief, in turn, is responsible for the quality of the final product. If the editor-consultant guides the authors, then the editor-in-chief corrects the texts himself. And he is responsible for ensuring that the text does not contain errors, typos, and weak constructions - that is, he combines the functions of both the editor and the proofreader.
There are generalists who can handle both tasks. But they are few. If you have to choose, stick with the managing editor — and the authors will figure out the research, ideas, and writing style themselves and help each other.
Coordinator
This is an extremely rare beast: even Ilyakhov admits that there are very few good editors, and complains about the acute shortage of normal people. The quality of the project depends on the coordinator: this is the person who monitors every detail - right down to whether there is an alternative text for each picture; the one who organizes the work of the authors, who selects freelancers, who manages the entire process.
How a simple author differs from a coordinator - read the same Ilyakhov about the professional growth of an editor : he explains this using a simple and understandable visual metaphor.
In short, a coordinator (or, in Ilyakhov's terminology, an editor) does not just write texts. He creates projects. He dives into new areas, is strong in editing, has negotiating skills, knows how to manage other people, understands the basics of design and layout, and knows how to create full-fledged products. If you meet such a person, take him immediately: you may not find a second coordinator.