They Ask, You Answer, 2nd Edition

36 The Content Manager Qualities to Look for, How to Hire One, and More

I hope that by this point in the book you’re getting the message: “I need to do this.” And if that’s the impression you’re getting, great, you’re already on the way to becoming the most trusted voice and expert within your space.

But at the same time, to make it possible, it’s more than just having the right strategy or getting the buy-in of your sales team.

Embracing content marketing and the philosophies of They Ask, You Answer is a big task, and unless someone owns it, it’s very likely not going to work.

This “owner” can go by many names within an organization (especially based on how large the company is), such as:

• Chief content officer
• Content marketing manager
• Content manager
• Chief storyteller
• Brand journalist
• Inbound marketing manager
• And so on

Ultimately, though, the name doesn’t matter.

The thing that does matter, though, is that he or she exists within the organization.

Often, when speaking to a marketer or CEO about turning content marketing and They Ask, You Answer into a culture, I’ll have a conversation that sounds something like this:

MARKETING Person/CEO:

I know we should be doing content marketing and following They Ask, You Answer. But I’m simply wearing too many other hats, and there is no way I can make the time for this myself.

Me:

You need a content manager. Someone must own this effort and dedicate all his time to it, assuming you truly want to get exceptional results. (And for ...