Growth 
SEO 
Lead Generation 
952 views
Ginny Dwyer 
November 21, 2024
5 min read
Share Behind every strong content marketing team is a content strategist with exceptional skills—someone who is the driving force behind strategy for audience targeting, SEO, and promotion and is instrumental in achieving specific business goals.
Identifying a highly successful content strategist with unique traits and skills that distinguish them in their field is challenging. Finding the right candidate for the job takes work, but the results can be game-changing when you do.
This blog post discusses the 11 key skills to look for when hiring a highly successful content strategist. These skills are crucial for the strategist to drive content marketing strategies and effectively achieve business goals.
Content marketing, a powerful form of inbound marketing, delivers significant value to your audience through educational and informative content. It’s not about promotion but about engaging your target audience and making them an integral part of your marketing strategy.
Content marketing is a strategy for attracting, engaging, and retaining an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, social posts, videos, and more.
Everyone can write and publish articles, but can every business write with their audience in mind and the search intent behind the content? Understanding search intent, which refers to the reason behind a user’s search query, is crucial. It’s not just about the keywords they use, but the underlying motivation for their search.
For example, someone searching for ‘best content marketing agency’ might be looking to purchase services, while someone searching for ‘how to choose the right content marketing agency,’ might be looking for information. This knowledge empowers you to create content that meets their needs and earns Google’s respect, leading to higher rankings on the SERPs.
If you find yourself drowning in content but not seeing any conversion from your visitors, or if Google has buried your article so deep in the SERPs (let’s face it, if you’re on page 2, you might as well be on page 102), it’s time to consider bringing in a content strategist or a team. These professionals can breathe new life into your content, set specific goals, understand your audience, and align your content with your business goals, potentially turning your content marketing efforts around.
A stellar content marketing strategist typically possesses strong analytical skills, creativity, and excellent communication abilities. They should be adept at understanding audience needs and market trends, allowing them to create engaging and relevant content.
Additionally, a successful strategist is often data-driven, using metrics to refine strategies and measure success, while also being adaptable to changes in the digital landscape.
Take a look at some of the traits you should look for in an agency or a strategist . . .
Creative thinking is not just a plus; it’s a must for marketing roles. It’s the spark that ignites unique approaches, setting a company apart from its competitors. As a content marketing strategist, your creative ideas can shape the future of your brand.
Content marketing strategists use analytic tools to track content performance and make data-driven decisions. They can interpret the data to make informed decisions about future content creation.
Using Google Analytics, strategists can get insights into website traffic and user behavior. A tool like Ahrefs focuses on keyword research and content analysis. Both tools help optimize website performance and increase visibility.
Content marketing isn’t just about creating content; it’s about crafting the right content for the right audience at the right time. This demands strategic planning, a deep understanding of the buyer persona, and a keen awareness of best channels to reach them. As a content marketing strategist, your strategic decisions can be the difference between your brand’s success and failure.
Keyword research and optimization are foundational to SEO. It ensures the content aligns with what your audience is searching for. Strategists know the ins and outs of SEO, using keyword research and optimization techniques to increase visibility and organic reach.
A customer-centric mindset prioritizes the needs, preferences, and customer experiences. They understand the audience’s pain points and tailor the content accordingly. This approach emphasizes empathy and personalization which builds loyalty and trust with your audience.
Project management and organizational skills are essential for success. These skills involve managing timelines and coordinating with both internal and external team members to ensure that content aligns with project’s goals and objectives and is completed on time. Without effective project management, projects may face delays, and nobody is held accountable.
Content marketing strategists need to be flexible with client timelines and agile regarding changing market shifts, platform algorithm changes and audience behavior.
Content marketing strategists work closely with writers, designers, and other marketers, so they need to communicate clearly and foster a collaborative environment. We understand the importance of clear communication and its role in building a confident and reassured team.
We pride ourselves on using our app, shown partly below, for consistent collaboration. The team and client are not just passive observers but active participants in every step of the process. Here’s an example of what it looks like to have an article or blog post in production . . .
Client relationship skills are important for building and maintaining strong relationships with clients, which can lead to business growth. These skills are important to build trust and include active listening, problem-solving, and reliability and responsiveness.
Writing and editing are essential skills for creating quality short and long-form content for businesses. Good writing adapts to the audience’s needs and the purpose of the content. Editing will polish the content to improve readability and accuracy.
Measurement and optimization are essential skills for a content strategist to gauge the success of campaigns and refine them for better performance. Measurement involves tracking and analyzing data to understand performance. Optimization can be ongoing and includes improving user experience such as mobile responsiveness or calls to action to boost engagement.
Other SEO adjustments could include updating essential keywords, refining meta descriptions, or adding improved internal linking.
Content is an essential part of all marketing strategies.
Responsify understands that even the best content marketing efforts can fall flat without a strong content growth strategy. We are not just one strategist but a team that collaborates on the full spectrum of inbound and everything that entails.
Responsify helps B2B organizations grow by creating educational and engaging content for their audience to drive traffic, generate leads faster, and rank higher. With Responsify, you’ll immediately have an entire team of dependable and cost-effective talent at your fingertips. We’d love to understand your challenges and help you explore new opportunities. Get an assessment now. Invest in marketing talent to close gaps in your content strategy.
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