Your B2B content marketing team is a game changer!

As you are aware, your best customers and clients are the ones who need and want your content on their ways to making purchase decisions that make them feel good. That’s right . . . feel good.

You’ve made some recent hire decisions and they are all probably working out on some level and some measures of effectiveness. I hope that’s the case.

You have really good visualization skills so it just takes a fraction of your time to picture how you and they are doing as a team. And your metrics are validating the value of each team member.

Or perhaps there is a struggle going on?

Creating and deploying high-impact/high conversion B2B content marketing can help establish your company as a trusted resource—keeping you top-of-mind when it’s decision-making time. Furthermore, value-added content enables you to teach your customers how to buy from you by providing useful information at each step of their buying process.

Sounds great. But taking B2B content marketing from theory to reality can prove complex, time- and resource-prohibitive, and, when not done well, ineffective.

That’s why, when you’re developing a new content marketing initiative, your first step is to build your team. Or, if you’re refreshing an existing program, start by assessing your key players.

Here are our current thoughts on structuring your team and what they do for immense success in 2016. And to move this story forward, we come to that struggle.

Easy for you to say Joe Slade.

Hire skill sets or hire talent that fits your company culture and then quickly nurture that person and his or her ability to apply the skills it takes to strategize, create and deploy high-value content that resonates with prospects and your best current customers?

1. You – the Chief Content officer (CCO) or CMO owns your content marketing initiative. You are responsible for developing strategy, setting goals, defining direction, and establishing a mission statement for your content initiative.

The CCO also manages the company-wide integration of your content initiative and stays engaged throughout the content development and distribution process to ensure the initiative stays on track.

2. Content Creators – these are the folks who develop the raw content that is then refined by the team. They do not have to be trained writers; they could be subject-matter experts, customer service reps, C-level execs, even customers (think testimonials and user-generated content). Or they may be skilled writers—staffers or freelancers. In some companies, the content creator position is blended with the content curator.

3. Analyst- this person reviews and analyzes your content-related data, such as page views, downloads, bounce rates, conversion rates, in-bound contacts, information requests, and so on. The analyst also provides interpretations and recommendations based on the analysis.

Your CCO and development team can then use all that information to gauge your program success, evaluate progress toward goals, and enhance your content efforts.

4. Alternates & agency partners – there is no one correct way to build your content team. I consider the six roles described here as essential, but you may need to make adjustments to accommodate your company structure or corporate culture.

Some companies even expand their teams to include a variety of other positions, from director of audience to channel master, lead trainer, and return-on-objective chief.

The important thing is to make sure the primary responsibilities are covered. If you cannot get the right person who fits your culture, talent requirements and clear passion for winning, then be smart and engage an outsourced partner and/or role players for the interim.

You avoid all of the “churn and burn”, drama and knowledge losses that come with the skilled employee who is only committed for the short term. You can do better!

Subscribe to our upcoming posts on the details of B2B content marketing and media working together for small and middle-market business leaders and their content marketing teams.

We can keep you on the B2B content marketing effectiveness and sustainability best practices path. Or get you on it. And the right data to analyze.  We get you there with a measurable ROI.

Email us – info@sladegroup.com or call us – 512 799 4676. You’ll be glad you did!

You may also like this;

http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/29774/four-tools-for-endless-content-ideas