Your Perfect Guide To Hiring The Right Content Marketing Manager

Are you looking to hire a content marketing manager? Well, that's great! A content marketing manager is highly necessary to your business' success, but do you know what to look for when hiring one? Here's your perfect guide to hiring the right content marketing manager on the first try.

What Do I Need To Consider When Hiring A Content Marketing Manager?

Hiring a content marketing manager can be expensive, especially if you're bringing a non-local one in. Training and supplies cost quite a bit of money, so you'll want to make sure you thoroughly evaluate each candidate based on these categories and subcategories.

Skills

Of course you want a content marketing manager that has all the right skill sets, but it's doubtful you'll be able to hire one in that knows everything right off the bat. However, there are some skills that are required in order for them to make the final cut:

• Content Marketing – Naturally, you'll want someone with experience in the field, but you can't ignore promising candidates that have the skills but no experience. Everyone has to start somewhere.
• Social Media – A working knowledge of marketing through this medium is a must. So much of promotional content and customer interaction is done through social media that you'll want someone who is proficient in a variety of social media tools (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
• Content Creation – Despite their role as a manager, your content marketing manager needs to know how to create and edit any type of content your marketing team creates. This knowledge is required for them to effectively lead the team and assist in the editing process if necessary.
• Search Engine Optimization – Organic search traffic is the best kind of traffic. Your rankings in search engines will need to be high for your niche if you want to grow your business. Make sure you hire a content marketing manager who is very familiar with optimizing content for search engines.

Other skills, such as experience in blogging, programs like Blogger or Wordpress, and at least some understanding of lead generation and analytics, are also desirable in a candidate.

Personality/Characteristics

Hiring a content marketing manager isn't just about a set of skills; there are also personality attributes that are necessary to make an effective manager. Even if your candidate has all the necessary skills and more, they won't have a successful employment with you if they don't have these characteristics:

• Leadership – This should be obvious, but it's not always evident that a candidate has leadership qualities. Look for confidence, problem-solving skills and good prior interpersonal relationships.
• Creativity – They'll be creating and managing content for you, so you'll want someone who has a unique flair and energetic mindset. Your content marketing manager should be able to think outside of the box to deliver interesting and engaging content your customers will want to see.
• Teamwork – Aside from being able to designate tasks, you also need a manager who consistently pulls their team together to deliver content on time. Projects will often have a set schedule for beginning and completion that needs to be followed.
• Organization – Anyone who doesn't have a handle on organization need not apply for the position. Look for a candidate who has their projects well in hand and who knows how to follow the company's vision.

You're looking for a natural leader, one with creativity, great interpersonal skills and organized project management. Analytical and tactical abilities are a bonus, but the qualities listed above will be your baseline for hiring the right content marketing manager.

I've Found The Right Candidate. What Else Do I Need?

There are two elements of hiring your prospective candidate that you should pay special attention to: training and salary.

Salary

Before you start the interview process, you should know your company's budget and the average salary of a content marketing manager in your area. Salaries vary from state to state, but you can use sites like Salary.com to figure out what the median is for a content marketing manager in your city. This salary can range anywhere from five to (lower) six figures depending on experience and company budget. As of January 2016, the highest salary was $114,159, while the lowest was $74,395.

Training

Once again, this depends on the candidate's skill level. Salaries and training requirements are generally divided up in to quartiles (four distinct ascending groups/numbers). Should you hire a content marketing manager from Quartile 4, training and certification won't be necessary. However, a content marketing manager from Quartiles 1, 2 and 3 will still need the proper training and certification based on their skill sets. Expect to use a good chunk of your hiring budget on training.

This Seems Like A Lot Of Work. What If We Don't Have The Budget?

Hiring a content marketing manager and training them in is very expensive, and it can be exhausting to go through the interview and hiring process. The good news is that there's an easy solution to your hiring woes. WT-Fox can create for you a custom digital marketing campaign that takes hiring a content marketing manager completely out of the equation. Our services are significantly more cost-effective and cheaper than hiring a content marketing manager. Click here to get started on your very own digital marketing campaign with us.