Whether your company is looking to hire a new content enthusiast and expert to manage its content marketing campaigns, or you’re hoping to brush up your own skills as a content marketer, there are several crucial skills that you should be on the lookout for.

Marketing is an interesting professional realm for several reasons, one of which is that it attracts a number of different personality types with different strengths that relate to the field. However, the best and brightest in content marketing generally share a sturdy balance of hard and soft skills that make them perfect for the job. Let’s take a look at the top 6 skills, both hard and soft, that a content marketing manager needs to be successful.

Hard skills are generally considered technical, teachable, tangible skills. A good content marketer should possess, at minimum, these 3 hard skills:

Above Average Grammar

Not only does a content marketing manager require a solid grasp of the English language, they should be well-versed in the rules of its grammar, syntax, and spelling. Writing and grammar skills are important to any profession that involves publishing, but particularly for someone managing a large volume of varied content on a daily basis. The ability to write and proofread thoroughly prevents poorly edited content from compromising the reputation of your brand.

Cross-Platform Content Management

Being competent in marketing on one or two major platforms is a good way to get your foot in the door, but will limit your overall content marketing success. A truly seasoned content marketing manager is capable of managing multi-channel content across various social, mobile, and marketing platforms. However, they can also determine which channels will be most effective during any stage of a given campaign and will confidently focus on those.

Analytics Knowledge & Experience

It’s one thing to understand that analytics are an important aspect of content marketing, but a content marketing manager should possess practical experience with common analytic tools. Knowledge and experience using Google Analytics or one of its competitors, like KISSmetrics or Adobe Analytics, gives you an advantage over a marketer without access to solid data to back up their claims. Analytics tell you what’s working and where you need to improve or rethink your marketing campaigns.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are not as easily learned. They include qualities such as interpersonal skills, communication abilities, and certain personality traits that come in handy around the office. Here are 3 crucial soft skills content managers must have:

Ample Communication Skills

The essential counterpart to having fantastic written grammar skills, an ability to communicate is important in almost every professional capacity. Content marketers must be able to convey their message clearly while using language that resonates with their target audience. However, communication skills are also beneficial when working with a team to develop new content marketing campaigns. Good communication skills make it easier to explain delegated tasks to different team members when creating new content.

Creative Instincts 

A sizable portion of content marketing consists of content creation as well as curation, both of which are aided by a bit of artistic instinct. Whether your content marketing consists of writing, filming, or editing new branded content, creativity allows your content to stand out from the competition. Plus, having an eye for patterns and cultural relevancy can help you pick out emerging viral content before it hits it big, which means you can bring exciting content to your audience before they’ve seen it elsewhere.

A Sense of Adventure (Tempered by Wisdom)

In addition to creativity, a marketer should have the edginess and sense of adventure necessary to develop new ideas that have viral potential.

When paired with the wisdom of experience or hard skills like measuring and understanding analytics, a sense of adventure can give your final product that oomph it needs to make an impact. The ideal content marketing manager understands when to play it safe with a conventional approach and when to take a risk on more eccentric or progressive content.

Soft vs. Hard Skills

Soft skills tend to complement hard skills, but both are vital to success in the world of marketing, particularly as a content marketing manager in a role that requires a combination of creativity, adaptability, and technical know-how.