How to Hire a Content Marketer

Introduction

If you’re looking to grow your business, it may be time to hire a content marketer to support your operations and marketing strategy. These experts are key to reaching new prospective audiences with your marketing efforts, and continue to master new channels and forms of outreach–keeping your company’s finger on the pulse of what your clients need and want.

When you’re ready to hire a content marketer and strategist, it’s better to opt for a contract or freelance position. This helps you to remain as agile as possible while sustainably hiring, allowing you to reap the same benefits that you would get from a full time employee at a fractional cost and rate. 

Below, we’re covering the best strategies to use when hiring your next content marketer, and will be showing you the additional benefits of working with contract marketing specialists and freelance experts.

1. Understand why you need to hire a content marketer

Before you decide to hire a content marketer, you need to have a clear vision of what success will look like after hire, and what is prompting the hire in the first place. The clearer you can get with this, the easier your hiring experience will be. It can also help you to know exactly where to start with your specialist after the hire has taken place. 

If you aren’t sure where to start, consider asking yourself a few key questions: 

• Do you have clear KPIs or ideal outcomes that can inform your current strategy? 
• Have you clearly established and communicated your brand voice and offers? If so, how can you do that and what steps need to be taken? 
• What are your current barriers in this area of business? 

Taking every opportunity to interface and collaborate with your other team members can help you to build out exactly what you need, and turn those needs into actionable steps to delegate to your content marketer. 

As you go through this process, consider the average duration that it will take to see results. This can help you to do two things: set the expectation with your team members and content strategist, and inform your budgetary strategy going forward. Take the time to circle back after this amount of time has passed to determine the next part of your strategy to work (even more) efficiently.

2. Understand Content Marketing

Understanding the concepts and needed skills for content marketing can help you to make a better overall hire. We always recommend taking a freelance approach for this type of hire, as they will need to remain agile, adaptable, and receptive to industry changes to keep delivering for your business. 

Content marketers in long-time corporate roles do not have the same types of advantages, as they can be more at risk for stagnation or lack of development as their contract-level peers. Freelancing is a brutally competitive space, and if you hire a reputable marketer from that type of environment, you have a higher chance of walking away with a competent, competitive, and relevant expert for your business. 

(Plus, these attributes are massive themes in the industry of content marketing itself!) 

Content marketing uses a two-fold approach. Content marketers focus on creating marketing strategies that are designed to target your current and prospective customers, working to speak to them in new ways that propel them toward your end goal–bringing your business revenue. They also create content or oversee creation of relevant content for your brand, which will go out to any relevant marketing channels that you have a presence on. 

Your content marketer will also continue to assess and test the market to help them to determine the “next right step” for your business, identifying new trends, interests, and opportunities to take advantage of for your brand. 

To summarize, a content marketer and strategist will…

• Study user segments and create strategies to engage your prospects and current customers 
• Manage and oversee a team of creators and artists to bring strategies to life with tailored graphics and copy 
• Run reports to highlight company progress toward key KPIs and goals 
• Increase revenue by strategizing new ideas to amplify brand presence and perception, often collaborating with the other team members in the  internal marketing department 
• Create ongoing opportunities for growth by staying on top of the latest trends and platforms for your business’ presence. 

Want to learn more about what a content strategist can do for your business? Take a look at our recent post, What is a Content Marketer?

3. Understand who you want to hire

Now that you know why you’re hiring a content marketer and exactly what a content marketer does, it’s time to dig into what type of a person you want to hire for the content marketer role. 

Every content strategist has a different skill set or preferred area of specialty. Taking the time to walk through this step can help you to clearly define what you want to see in your hire: both personally and professionally. For example: Some content marketers have more experience with management and strategy, while others focus on present-moment trends and asset creation assistance. Ideally, you’ll want a unicorn who can do “both,” but in the case that you can’t have it all, you’ll need to prioritize in alignment with your business’ current needs. 

Questions to ask yourself in this step would include: 

• Do I need someone with a particular background? 
• What are the most pressing content challenges we face today, and what type of skills and experience will most likely help us address those challenges?
• Do I require a content marketer who has experience working with the same type of product that I’m selling? Or am I open to content marketers with diverse experiences? (e.g. SaaS, consumer, etc.)
• What’s my budget for this position?
• What are my first KPIs and goals that I’m going to give to this content marketer to achieve? 

On average, content strategies earn salaries between $102,000-$125,000 per year—and that doesn’t include perks like health insurance or a 401k plan. Make sure that whatever salary offer makes sense long-term for your budget before making an offer.

Remember–you can hire a content strategist without the hassle of bringing on a full time employee. Marketplaces like GrowthMatch make it incredibly simple to hire a growth marketer who has the exact skills and experience you need, and you can hire them on a contract, freelance or fractional basis. 

This makes it super easy to solve your most pressing content challenges, and helps you to strategize new ways to avoid future roadblocks later on. 

YOU CAN STOP HERE if you’re going to consider hiring a contract or freelance growth marketer! There’s no need to write a job post or recruit candidates at all. You can simply submit a few details about what you need, and GrowthMatch will automatically match you to the top 2-3 pre-vetted growth marketers who match your need. Presto! 

(However, if you’re still considering hiring traditionally for a full time role, there’s a few more things that you should know. Read on to help make your first hire a success.)

4. Write a killer job post

A great job post is clear, concise and detailed. It should be tailored to the role and candidate. It should also be tailored to the company you’re hiring for, accurately reflecting the workplace culture and current needs. 

You want a candidate that’s going to fill in all of their strengths as well as their weaknesses into your business model and make it work better than ever before. Those kinds of candidates will be more empowered to apply when the post speaks to their goals, is well written, and gives them insight into your unique and authentic business culture. Investing the time to clearly outline what that looks like via your five-star job post will help to save their time (and yours!) and connect you with the highest quality candidates available. 

Finally, keep in mind that the industry you operate in can affect your hiring process—so it’s important to know what’s going on in the wider world around you.

5. Get your first few candidates

Post your job description on online job boards, and don’t be afraid to pay a little extra to access premium marketplaces. After all, Most high-quality job boards will require you to pay to post your job, which can cost (many) hundreds of dollars. 

Reminder: you can skip the expense of posting your job if you instead hire a contract growth marketer on GrowthMatch 🙂

6. Narrow the playing field

You should only hire the best people for your company. Set aside time to go through your pool of candidates and thoroughly vet their submissions to determine who would be a strong organizational fit.  

The screening process will be organization-specific, so be sure to take time to get clear on the steps that both you and your candidates will need to take to make the hire a success. However, it should generally involve multiple rounds: including screening, multiple interviews, assessments (if appropriate), and other steps. 

Reminder: you can skip the massive amount of time you and your team will spend interviewing candidates, if you instead hire a contract Growth Marketer on GrowthMatch 🙂

7. Ask for feedback from previous clients

Throughout the hiring process, you can also require letters of reference or summative feedback from their peers and previous managers.

References, testimonials, and case studies from their previous employers are all valuable tools that can help to inform your final hiring decision. You can use these to assess your candidate’s strengths, and learn how to support them in weaknesses that they may have. This is one of the most important parts of the hiring experience, and you can leverage it to help you find success with your first hire. 

Reminder: you’ll spend far less time vetting candidates if you hire from the pre-vetted talent pool on GrowthMatch 🙂

8. Do a work style assessment

Take the time to know your new hire at a deeper level, and study their work style to learn about how you can maximize the experience for both of you.  Ongoing evaluation can help you to determine how they work in your organization, and what their overall “style” is. 

Hold space for the adjustment periods, and remain flexible with your expectations to get the most out of your onboarding and training experience. 

Remember! Content strategy and management is very subjective. Be sure to communicate your needs effectively and give constructive feedback to keep your new hire in alignment with your business goals.

9. Check in on their quantitative skills

If you want to hire a content marketer that will help to take your organization to the next level, you need to understand how they manage their metrics. 

You can do this at a variety of points between the interview process and the first few weeks of hire. Recommended areas of evaluation include: 

• Targeted questions during the interview experience(s)
• Upon hire/during the probationary period 
• At set intervals for semi-annual performance reviews 
• At regularly scheduled report presentations or periods 

This key step can help you to determine if you’re seeing accurate data and subsequent results.

Get out there and hire a content marketer!

In the end, hiring the right content marketer can result in growth and new opportunities for your company. That’s why it’s so important to refine your hiring process and choose high-performing candidates at every step. We hope we’ve provided some clarity around how to hire the right growth marketer for your company with this how-to hire guide. 

Remember: Your process will never be “perfect.” Continuing to iterate and develop your process to appeal to present-day hires is key to remaining competitive in today’s job market.

Or, skip the whole process outlined above and jump straight to reviewing pre-vetted content marketer candidates!

If you’d like quick access to the top 2-3 content marketers who match the skills and experience you need, simply tap the “Hire a Specialist” button on GrowthMatch, submit a few details, and we’ll get you matched right away!