A great content team can make a huge difference, enabling content marketing managers and CMOs to evenly spread high workloads and protect highly engaged staff from burning out.
There will always be times where the team has to put their heads down and put in the work to meet project goals and publishing deadlines, says Elise Moores, managing editor at B2F finance company, Fast Capital 360, and senior content strategist at Kantaloupe. “But balance can’t be lost in the pursuit. Encourage your staff to take personal days when needed.”
It’s a view shared by Joanna Zambas, content and social media manager at CareerAddict. “High-performing and high-output teams don’t have to go hand-in-hand with stress and burnout,” says Joanna. “By offering a flexible schedule, you can ensure your team has enough time to run personal errands, too.”
Here’s what other content marketing leaders suggest:
- Hire Problem-Solvers. “I hire people who are self-reliant and can carry out projects on their own from start to finish,” says Petra Odak, CMO at Better Proposals. “My writers can do content outlines, write a piece, proofread it, insert links and images, upload it to our CMS, and handle the entire process from start to finish. That way, I never worry about ongoing projects because I know one person handles one project.”
- Stockpile Good Content. That’s a tip from Maggie Jencik, marketing manager at Prosperity Consulting Group, a wealth management firm.“Having anywhere from one to three months of content written and scheduled in advance prevents you from constantly being under pressure about releasing something for the following week. I like to write at least a month of blogs at once.”
- Schedule Content. “Scheduling posts can be a great way to deal with loads of content,” says Jennifer Willy, editor of Etia.com.“In this scheduled time, you can post, check, and work on various topics. You can start with planning and scheduling a few hours of your day towards a full-day schedule.”
- Mix It Up. “Have some employees also work on SEO research, give others a chance to write copy, and others to quality assess content. There are plenty of additional responsibilities and learning opportunities you can offer to break up the monotony,” said Domantas Gudeliauskas, a marketing manager at website builder, Zyro.
- Manage Expectations. When the executive team hands down a mandate, it can be hard to push back, says Elise Moores of Fast Capital 360 and Kantaloupe. “But if the ask is unachievable, don’t set your team up for failure. Ask for more resources or counter with a goal that’s still aggressive but plausible.”
How you stave off burnout as a marketer will be unique to you. Whether you’re a solo content marketer doing it all at a fast growing fintech company, or an agency creative trying to keep key accounts happy, you still need to focus on your own wellbeing. Managing other content marketers, freelance copywriters, editors, and designers, is definitely a handful: but it shouldn’t cost you your health and happiness.
