Who Should Own Content Marketing In Your Organization?

Read enough industry opinion on content marketing, and you can start to determine each author’s professional background. If their point of view is focused on:

• Interactive: the author tends to be in digital marketing or may work with a digital agency;
• Creative: a traditional marketer might be chief storyteller, perhaps working with a creative agency;
• Editorial: the expert could come from public relations or might work with a PR agency;
• Media: someone with paid media background, who takes a media-neutral approach to building an audience or may be working with a digital agency.

Read Between the Lines
If I’d written this article just a few years ago, you could easily tell my roots are in public relations. By their name alone, my two personal blogs would confirm this assumption.

But over the last 10 years, my focus became more broadly focused in marketing. And in the last five years, I’ve witnessed content morph into a clear mix of editorial, design and development. My last four years at a media agency have further evolved my point of view.

Marketing’s True North
This experience has taught me that the focus should always be on the audience – regardless of your background. While this isn’t an epiphany or a deep thought, it’s critical to remind ourselves of this timeless rule. It tends to fade into the background when the marketing industry, inevitably, debates who in an organization should own a new practice area.

Content marketing can’t live anywhere in the building, but it does take a variety of stakeholders and skill sets to make it work. Regardless of where content marketing lives in your building, make sure the team has the skill sets needed for each phase of content marketing.

• Plan: The planning phase requires strategists with an a deep understanding of the brand and its audience as well as an appreciation of content and media.
• Publish: Publishing requires a mix of editorial, design and creative that taps technology to distribute and share the content as relevant.
• Promote: All content needs help being found. In addition to paid media expertise, analytics, search marketing and social media mindsets are required.
• Optimize: The key to sustainable success is constant, informed iteration of the entire process and the platform. A team capable of drawing insights from analytics and relevant search data is critical.

Story or Science?
Each member on a content marketing team, based on their background, will focus on the left- or right-brain aspects of content marketing. That’s understandable. The point is simply to make sure you’ve got the right mix of team skills and that the focus is, first and foremost, on the audience.

And if anyone asks who should own content marketing? The answer is: the audience.

Comments

[Claire]

Lots of great points in the ongoing who-owns-what-marketing-discipline debate here, Kevin. To build on this mindset, I'd love to see more posts in your series on how content marketing integrates with the brand's larger marketing mix. With all of the teams working together on content marketing, there could be many opportunities to apply key takeaways to their own expertise areas in digital, creative, PR, etc.

[Food Concessions]

Thanks for sharing!

[Tinku]

To build on this mindset, I'd love to see more posts in your series on how content marketing integrates with the brand's larger marketing mix. With all of the teams working together on content marketing, there could be many opportunities to apply key takeaways to their own expertise areas in digital, creative, PR, etc

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[Carmela @ Fax to Email Australia]

Concerning content marketing, it is simply the phrase of your day that remixes what all of us know-great stories pointed in the right demo wins your day.

[Samantha Hernandez]

I agree with the author's bottom line. The audience should determine or "own" the content that is being marketed to them. Without a thorough understanding of the audience, the marketing content is not likely to be appealing or successful.

[Joel]

Great post..

[kimberly]

I totally agree about the importance to know the audience. We should always focus on our customers because It is crucial to have the correct marketing team where can mix the skills to reach the right audience. In my opinion we need to know the audience perfectly, what inspire them to buy a specific product. It is very important to have a good content to get the loyalty. The correct and efficient communication is the key to success..

[kimberly]

Totally agree about the importance to know the audience. We should always focus on our customers because It is crucial to have the correct marketing team where can mix the skills to reach the right audience. In my opinion we need to know the audience perfectly, what inspire them to buy a specific product. It is very important to have a good content to get the loyalty. The correct and efficient communication is the key to success..
@Boop28Kim

[Maria Eduarda Orzes]

I completely agree with this article. To be a great marketer you have to have the mix of all these qualities so you can get to know your audience and " get the money out of their wallets". That is what Market is all about. I also believe it includes PR a lot. You have to know how to please your audience and get to know them. Great Article, congrats.

[Alex]

Hello Kevin,

I also like to engage the audience in writing the content (where is possible). People are happy when they are required to participate in a brand campaign if they identify themselves in its principles and values.