How to Hire a Content Marketer

As a business owner, hiring a content marketer is one of the biggest decisions you'll make once you've realized that you need help with your content marketing. So, how do you hire the right content marketer? In this article, we’ll explain why it’s important and how to hire the best one for the job.

What does a content marketer do?

An effective content marketer has a specialized skill set and is responsible for a number of things. Content marketers must simultaneously create relevant content strategies and do market research; they also have to drive conversion with proper content promotion. Let’s take a look at each of these skills in context.

Content strategy and market research

First and foremost, every competent content marketer must be able to develop a content strategy. A content strategy is the vehicle a business uses to drive traffic with its online presence. Generally speaking, content strategies focus on building an audience, addressing customer pain points, and developing a unique selling point (USP).

Content marketers must also be able to properly conduct market research. This means they must have an intimate understanding of the needs and wants of a business’s customer base. Customer research often involves outreach through in-person or online surveys, questionnaires, and email campaigns.

Ultimately, content marketers take the most important information from their market research and turn it into a content strategy that attracts new customers to the business.

Content promotion and conversion

After putting a content strategy into action, content marketers must also be able to properly promote a business’s content and convert promotion into new leads. Content promotion can look like paid advertisements, guest posts, and shout-outs from relevant influencers. Marketers will properly use these tactics and more to expand the reach of a business. Not all social media platforms will be relevant or effective for content promotion—something content marketers must understand beforehand when developing a promotion strategy.

On top of getting new eyes on a business, content marketers must also convert those eyes into new business. To do this, they use data tools such as Google Analytics, Semrush, and HubSpot to determine how effective their promotion strategies are. High conversion rates mean prospective customers are interested in the content a business is promoting. Low conversion rates mean an adjustment in either content or promotion strategies needs to be made.

When do I need to hire a content marketer?

You have a measure of flexibility when it comes to hiring content marketers, because they come in many forms. So you don’t have to wait until your business is a certain size, for example. The question of when to hire a content marketer comes down to the needs of your business.

If your business is struggling to attract new leads with content, then it’s a good idea to consider hiring a marketing freelancer. Is your content strategy lacking, or worse, non-existent? Would your business benefit from a stronger social media presence? In scenarios like these, hiring a competent content marketing specialist can transform your content into a powerful lead magnet.

For more information on when to hire content marketers, check out our in-depth article on outsourcing and in-house hiring.

What are the steps to hire a content marketer?

Based on what we described above, you already know what skills you need a content marketer to have. But how do you go about acquiring the talent? Let’s take a look at what goes into hiring a content marketer.

Step 1: Assess your needs

Before you start your search for a content marketer, you should determine how much help you need: Are you looking for a part-time freelancer or a full-time employee? While most content marketers work as full-time employees, a good number of them also work as freelancers. This means they’re often working for more than one employer at a time and are not looking to be committed to just one. Depending on your business needs, this distinction can make all the difference in the world.

For example, if budget is a concern, it might make more sense to hire a few content marketing freelancers on an a la carte basis rather than a full-time employee. Freelancers are often much cheaper than full-time employees and come with less overhead in general.

On the flip side, perhaps your business requires content marketing to be at the center of operations. In this case, it would be smart to hire a person that is solely dedicated to your business’s content marketing team. This ensures your candidates aren’t distracted by the work of other clients.

A solid middle-of-the-road approach is to hire a content agency. An agency like SaaSpirin can provide surprisingly affordable help creating a content strategy and producing quality blog posts consistently.

Step 2: Advertise on job boards

With the required skills and time commitments squared away, it’s time to focus on advertising. Job boards are the most popular places for finding talent. Indeed, Glassdoor, Simply Hired, and LinkedIn are all fantastic places to find full-time and part-time employees. If your business is in the market for freelancers, platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, and AngelList are great platforms to check out.

Step 3: Evaluate the skills and fit of applicants

One of the best ways to determine if a candidate is a good fit is by looking at their body of work. For content marketers, this comes in the form of a portfolio. Portfolios showcase a candidate’s strengths and their understanding of the marketing process. They also demonstrate that the candidate can get you the business results you’re looking for, especially if they have experience in your industry. A portfolio should include:

What they did (their role) and what results they achieved.
Examples of their strategy formulation, keyword search, promotional outreach, and demonstration of how they all work together.
Their working tools/technology stack to get the job done.
What sort of clients they’re used to working with.

Make sure that your job listing requests these items so you can evaluate content marketer applicants easily.

Hiring a content marketer doesn’t have to be hard

Hopefully, you’re feeling more confident about how to hire a content marketer. To recap, content marketers are responsible for your business’s content strategy, promotion, and conversion. If you’re looking to grow your business online, then hiring a marketer is the right decision to make. Finding quality candidates is as simple as advertising your opportunity on popular job boards and vetting them through their portfolios or paid writing tests. Implement these tips and your business is sure to take flight.

If you’re looking to improve the content of your blog, SaaSpirin’s got you covered. We offer no-commitment, month-to-month blog content services to boost your company’s reach and engagement.