I sometimes feel like the term “content agency” is actually an oxymoron, considering the way content marketers commonly 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 given the agency to make authoritative decisions on the fly.
Content marketers oftentimes don’t get the credit they deserve for making fast choices. Plans change in any field, and editorial is no different. It should be expected when they have to manage different roles to write, check, and publish complex technical articles.
This can saddle content marketers with a lot of undue pressure. Especially in smaller tech companies, where the hustle can be intense.
Junior-level content marketers feel this even more: constraint to meet tedious demands and rarely with the seniority to make split-second decisions without being questioned about it.
𝖤𝗑𝖺𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖾: 𝟦 𝖡𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗌; 𝟦 𝖣𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌
You’re trying to keep a blog pipeline going for your SaaS startup, but the people that you need to get things checked and published are dragging their feet. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 do you do?
First, let’s go over who we are managing:
1. The writer
2. The engineer that checks the work
3. 𝐘𝐨𝐮
All three of you could become the wrench in the gears.
— Is a writer behind schedule?
— Is a software engineer not getting to it fast enough?
— Are *you* overwhelmed just getting to the edits?
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬.
You 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 control the schedules of three people. Things come up. As such, you might have to think on your feet and improvise.
𝖲𝗁𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖴𝗉 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖲𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖽𝗎𝗅𝖾.
If you are juggling and aren’t sure you can hit all the deadlines AS IS, then consider which blog can be finished the fastest.
Let’s say you have four blogs at different stages. 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 of which is currently scheduled to be finished or published first, do the following:
1. Rank each blog by how far along they are.
2. Rank each by how technical they are.
3. Finally, consider how much time it would take to complete each of those blogs based on their individual needs.
Now, reorder your priorities.
Move the one with the least amount of time needed to the front, the 2nd least afterwards, etc.
This is the management part of content. It’s what makes it a bigger role than just a writer.
𝖲𝖾𝗂𝗓𝖾 𝖸𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖠𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖼𝗒.
For marketers who often 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 empowered to make decisions or get chewed out for switching blogs close to deadline because one writer or engineer couldn’t finish their task on time, 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 let unfair criticism get you down.
𝑫𝒐𝒏’𝒕 let those pressures stop you from making the right changes when 𝒚𝒐𝒖 need to make them in order to do 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 job like the professional you are.
…and if a manager thinks ill of it, then the 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟 is wrong.
Feel 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 to get your job done and to get it done well. Enjoy the 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 that other roles get to think on your feet. The readers that get their content will appreciate your 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦.