A Day in the Life of a Content Marketing Manager

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Because the founder and lead Content material Strategist at my very own content material firm and an Affiliate Director of search engine optimization at a world company, my day is crammed with content material advertising actions.

From content material subject ideation to manufacturing to marketing campaign administration, I work with purchasers to run their content material advertising from begin to end. This consists of search engine optimization auditing and technique, in addition to reporting on the outcomes of content material campaigns.

Considering of entering into content material advertising?

Right here’s a practical day within the lifetime of a content material advertising supervisor.

7:15 a.m.

My alarm goes off at 7:15 a.m. and once more at 7:30 a.m.

I’m an early riser, however any try and oversleep is interrupted by my tiny canine, who insists I get up no later than 7:45 a.m.

On a typical day, I verify Slack to make sure there aren’t any pressing issues after which peek at my Google Calendar to evaluation my conferences for the day.

Sometimes, my first assembly is my staff’s “AM Standup.” On different days, there could be an 8:00 a.m. assembly with our companions on the east coast.

7:45 a.m.

Thankfully, as we speak there aren’t any early conferences or fireplace drills to deal with.

I leash my pup, Max, and take him out on his morning stroll. I both whip up an iced espresso at residence or trek to an area espresso store for my typical order: a 12 oz iced mocha with entire milk.

I scroll by means of my Gmail to seek out upcoming duties for the day, assembly requests, consumer questions, and finance varieties to fill out.

8:15 a.m.

Most of our company’s staff work remotely, so I take my calls from residence.

I’ve invested in a standing desk to keep away from the dreaded “tech neck” and an ergonomic mat to alleviate my ft all through the day. Generally, I work on the sofa with Max sitting beside me.

Our typical deliverables are search engine optimization audits, search engine optimization content material briefs, touchdown web page copy, weblog copy, presentation decks, and technical suggestions (for developer groups by way of Jira).

I often dedicate my mornings to checking on the standing of upcoming initiatives and delegating deliverable updates to our operations supervisor.

9:00 a.m.

I verify Slack once more and see an e-mail from one in all our strategists requesting that we set up a standardized “approach of working” with one in all our purchasers to streamline new content material requests and keep away from miscommunication.

We hop on a Google Meet name to speak by means of an e-mail draft I’ve put collectively outlining our really helpful course of and excellent questions we’ve got for the consumer staff.

I like to recommend that they ship all new requests by way of e-mail and supply a proof of the request, the popular deadline, and any associated supplies we’d want to satisfy the request.

A lot of what I do as a content material advertising supervisor is making an attempt to determine extra streamlined processes.

This may embody discovering extra environment friendly methods to course of new requests, cheaper methods to provide high quality content material, or quicker methods to create deliverables.

Our operations supervisor usually works at my aspect to create commonplace working procedures (SOPs) and templates, arrange automation, and supply expertise.

9:15 a.m.

This time kicks off our every day standup assembly with the opposite affiliate director, senior strategists, and operations supervisor. It’s a fast “across the horn” session to speak about what we’re engaged on and whether or not anybody wants speedy assist.

My major goal for this week is to concentrate on new enterprise improvement.

Which means responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) and pitching our providers to new purchasers – which could contain answering a prospect’s questions by way of a Google Sheet, or scheduling, rehearsing, and presenting our capabilities presentation.

9:30 a.m.

Asana is my go-to with regards to challenge administration.

With out it, I don’t know the place I’d be by way of time administration, deadlines, and processes. And with the assistance of our operations supervisor, we’ve got lastly established a course of that works.

I verify Asana to see if I’ve any duties for the day.

I do. My duties are as follows:

  • Create 4 search engine optimization content material briefs for a consumer.
  • Begin key phrase analysis on an app retailer optimization (ASO) challenge.
  • End a content material technique deck to current this week.

Asana permits me to create what we name a “challenge plan,” which determines the duties to be achieved, who will do them, when they’re due, and what number of hours are allotted to every process.

Since we’re required to log hours for billable functions, Asana is an efficient supply of reality for hours assigned and hours labored.

10:00 a.m.

Workforce-building is crucial to making a optimistic work setting.

That’s why I prioritize having weekly 1:1 conferences with my co-manager, senior strategists, and operations supervisor.

At the moment, I’ve a 1:1 with one in all our latest contract hires, a senior strategist. She has been with our staff for about three weeks and has been engaged on a big content material optimization challenge.

The challenge has concerned auditing the present web site’s content material efficiency, figuring out the first and secondary key phrases for every internet web page, and making updates to the metadata and content material of the pages that require enhancements.

She relays that she has been getting alongside effectively, has been fairly busy on the content material optimization challenge, and wish to get entangled in additional presentation decks.

Our shows usually current the findings from technical and/or content material audits and our strategy to a go-forward content material technique.

I take a psychological observe to have her shadow me on an upcoming content material technique challenge for a world ecommerce model.

10:30 a.m.

“Content material technique” will be fairly broad.

It extends to many varieties of content material, platforms, and functions. With that, a part of my job is to study extra about content material technique developments and use circumstances – like ASO or what I name “social search engine optimization.”

I’ve inspired our company to develop our ASO capabilities by taking a performance-based lens to “app search engine optimization.” We’ve landed a “tier 1” consumer who wants ASO technique and implementation for a number of apps.

This challenge includes app search habits analysis, key phrase analysis, conversion price optimization (CRO), and analytics.

I meet with our operations supervisor to draft a notes doc for our upcoming consumer kickoff name. I evaluation the challenge plan (the phases and timeline of the challenge) and ensure milestones/dates.

I remind the account lead that we have to add the info result in the decision.

We draft a listing of discovery inquiries to ask the consumer in the course of the kickoff assembly:

  • What are your efficiency objectives for the challenge?
  • Is there an present key phrase technique in place?
  • Are there sure key phrases you desire to the app to rank for?
  • Are you able to please describe the aim of the app in your personal phrases?
  • What does “success” imply to you for this challenge?
  • What are your expectations for the challenge?

For content material initiatives through which we’ve got much less management over administration and implementation, we wish to set clear expectations originally.

We could develop the technique, however we don’t personal the optimization or measurement.

We additionally don’t personal the app’s optimization technique, however we may also help assist CRO and A/B testing to make enhancements over time, which could improve downloads and income.

11:30 a.m.

Following the interior sync is what we name “data gathering” time.

Which means reviewing any of the consumer’s supplies and organizing them in Google Drive and Asana. I additionally ask the operations supervisor so as to add the supplies to the notes doc.

I then add and assign the next duties in Asana:

  • Analysis ASO instruments: Discover App Retailer optimization key phrase instruments which have key phrases, search quantity, and competitors rating. Present a listing of choices and prices for every.
  • Brainstorm seed key phrases for every app (not less than 10+): Overview the model supplies and create a listing of phrases which may relate to every app; we are going to later validate these lists with the consumer.
  • Model the ASO key phrase & content material technique deck: Make a duplicate of the deck, take away all earlier consumer mentions, use company branding, and save the template to Google Drive.

I once more reference the challenge plan to make sure we’ve got sufficient billable hours to dedicate to those duties. I then remind our Operations Supervisor to verify on the duties and let me know if she has any questions.

12:00 p.m.

I’m responsible of working by means of my lunch break – and I’m not happy with it.

As a lot as I attempt to yield to my every day alarm to “take lunch,” often one thing extra fascinating comes up.

So, on the very least, I’ll pop my Freshly meal into the microwave and re-pour my iced espresso. I’m not a workaholic, I swear!

(Pleasant reminder that we work in advertising; hardly ever is a “fireplace drill” life or demise, and most e-mail responses can wait. Take that lunch break! )

Although I’m a supervisor and affiliate director now, I nonetheless love writing content material. I nonetheless write content material for a lot of of my company purchasers.

I like the method of doing analysis, drafting a top level view, and writing the content material.

At the moment, I’m writing a weblog article for one in all my long-standing purchasers (4 years!). For this consumer, I’m assigned the matters, however I analysis the best key phrases to focus on.

I conduct an natural evaluation of the top-performing articles and create a top level view that touches on a very powerful matters. I write the content material, add inner hyperlinks, and write the metadata.

Sometimes, I ship the draft by way of e-mail, ask the consumer to evaluation/add suggestions, and ship the bill. Generally, I ship the bill upfront or request a 50% deposit (for bigger initiatives).

I solely work with purchasers who keep on high of their invoices and worth me as a strategist, not only a content material author.

1:30 p.m.

My canine walker is on trip for six weeks. In an try and get me to take my lunch break and get out of the home extra, I’ve dedicated to taking Max for a 20-minute stroll myself as a substitute of hiring a alternative canine walker.

2:00 p.m.

I meet with the management staff to do a retro on our company’s year-over-year (YoY) income progress.

The company has undergone many adjustments – new staff members, new methods of working, a brand new providers mannequin, and new processes – so it’s satisfying to see this repay.

We make new objectives for 2023, similar to:

  • Undertake a value-based pricing mannequin for audits.
  • Set up a “one-pager” of scoping necessities.
  • Set a minimal threshold for search engine optimization engagements (audits and ongoing servicing).
  • Cancel subscriptions to unused software program and instruments.
  • Guarantee Senior Strategists are at 80% billable hours.

We create a Google Sheet that tracks all initiatives from 2021 and 2022, compares income yearly, and forecasts income from initiatives “in pitch.”

We additionally focus on resourcing on upcoming initiatives: who will probably be engaged on what, whether or not we have to rent, and when new initiatives are kicking off.

3:00 p.m.

We’ve got our “Internet Analytics Weekly” name with the embed staff, of one in all our greatest purchasers.

We use this time to debate any internet analytics initiatives, whether or not we have to rent knowledge analysts, and whether or not there are deliberate discussions for brand new search engine optimization initiatives.

There isn’t a lot to debate as we speak as a result of the consumer needs to desk the search engine optimization dialog till November. The opposite affiliate director is all good with the net analytics necessities and has reached a strong cadence for reporting.

We finish the decision a couple of minutes early.

4:00 p.m.

An area enterprise consumer wants touchdown web page copy for its new web site construct.

The consumer has sourced an search engine optimization audit and technique from one other company and employed us to put in writing the copy. That includes:

  • Making a content material tracker that retains the consumer up-to-date on the standing of the touchdown web page content material.
  • Figuring out the goal and secondary key phrases for every internet web page.
  • Researching opponents to see what content material they’ve on their service pages.
  • Creating outlines for the touchdown pages.
  • Writing one web page of copy (to start out).
  • Sending the copy to the consumer for evaluation.

We additionally CC the search engine optimization company to validate our suggestions and provide suggestions on the copy.

The common turnaround time is about three days for suggestions. Then, we are going to incorporate and edits and ship it to the consumer for ultimate evaluation.

5:00 p.m.

It’s technically “after hours” for me, provided that I begin my day round 8 a.m.

Generally I schedule a bootcamp exercise for five:00 p.m. Different instances, I’m going to the health club or intention for the 6:00 p.m. class.

At the moment, I verify our socials to see what’s buzzing:

  • A LinkedIn put up in regards to the firm’s participation within the AIDS Stroll LA.
  • TikTok movies overlaying advertising developments, company life, Excel, and search engine optimization.
  • A LinkedIn put up about income misplaced as a consequence of poor website migration.
  • A Pin re-shared on Pinterest of one in all our high weblog articles.
  • An Instagram Story about listening to as we speak’s month-to-month “Advertising and marketing All-Palms.”

Generally I repost or reply to content material; most instances, I plan posts for future content material.

These put up concepts may make it into Asana or my every day to-do record.

For TikTok, I often save the trending sound, screenshot the hashtags, and begin a brand new draft.

5:30 p.m.

With the workday achieved, I take Max out on one other stroll.

We stroll across the neighborhood (it’s a sunny day), and I resist the urge to verify my socials once more. I exploit an app to schedule a last-minute Bootcamp session. I reply to my brother’s textual content about needing to go to the financial institution and attend my nephew’s soccer recreation on Saturday.

By this time, I often have a bizarre quantity of power and need to spend money on my private initiatives.

Currently, it’s my fledgling ecommerce model.

Usually, it’s advertising my company on social media to draw extra purchasers. Generally, it’s writing visitor articles for different web sites. Because it’s Monday, I resolve to benefit from the day, get a great exercise in, and plan my dinner.

Conclusion

Being a content material advertising supervisor isn’t all weblog posts and social media sharing instruments.

It’s administration, challenge planning, conferences, 1:1s, breaks, and a lot extra. I like the range all through my day and with the ability to interface with my staff.

I can’t tie “content material” up in a tidy bow, however I prefer it that approach.

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Featured Picture: fizkes/Shutterstock



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