Are You Sabotaging Your Own Marketing Department?

Have you ever noticed that sometimes we (meaning the collective “we” - as in everyone) tend to forget to focus on the things that are most important, in favor of taking care of the less important fires that constantly pop up?

We do it in our personal lives—put off the workouts that keep us healthy and focused because we have to do laundry instead (even though the closet still has plenty of clean clothes)—and in our professional lives, where the latest “urgent” email from our boss takes priority over the meat-and-potatoes part of the job that makes a true impact on business success.

It happens in marketing all the time. While 72 percent of marketing, sales and business professionals told Ascend2 in 2015 that content creation is one of the most effective SEO tactics, and 46 percent said relevant content creation is one of the most difficult tasks, think about these two ways marketers sabotage their own efforts.

1. Assigning writing duties to the newest or inexperienced staff.

2. Not giving writers time to focus on writing.

Instead of getting in their way, find and enable great writers, and you will get great content.

And though I refer primarily to writing in this post, all of the same concepts can apply to those who handle other content creation duties, from graphic artists and web designers to video editors. Don’t make the mistake of sabotaging your content creators.

Mistake #1: Assigning writing duties to the newest or inexperienced staff.

Need a blog post written? Hand it off to the intern. That case study? Great way for the new hire to get an inside look at what the business does. Right?

While this type of delegation may be aimed at freeing the time of senior marketing department members for the “higher level” tasks of strategy or research, or at bringing new hires up to speed, it will only work out if those junior staffers are good writers to begin with.

If they aren’t, your department will either turn out sub-par content or waste time rewriting and editing it into something useable.

This mistake can also encompass the idea that the best person to write about your company is the person who knows it inside and out. Not true. Even if someone knows everything there is to know about your company and industry, they may not be good at writing about it.

A good writer, however, can research, find resources, and learn the essentials of just about anything in order to present quality content. It may take a few weeks for them to learn the specific intricacies that go with your business, but it is easier to correct a few details in strong writing than turn poor writing into good writing.

Solution: Find talented writers.

Mistake #2: Not giving writers time to focus on writing.

Not many marketing departments are overflowing with staff; most are struggling to find the resources to get everything done. And that means that even if you have great writers, they are likely expected to handle other duties as well. When your best writer is also logging hours as a designer, website editor, social media manager or account manager, there is little time left to focus on writing that creates quality content.

Does the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” ring a bell?

When content creation is handled by in-house staff, if at all possible, identify your best writer and let that person focus on writing. This allows them to maximize their time without the distraction of unrelated tasks, along with creating a consistency to the content being created.

Solution: Let your writers focus on what they do best.

We have a third solution: Hire an agency that does the screening of writers, and the editing, for you. Learn more about our JONES Content Creation Solution here.

Go more in-depth into choosing how to find the creative resources you need for implementing inbound marketing—from content creation to campaign implementation—in our free ebook: Resourcing Your Inbound Marketing Strategy. What choice is best for you: retraining existing staff, hiring new talent or turning to an agency? Tell us what has been successful for you.