Good content marketing requires a variety of skills related to communication, business and the wider realm of digital marketing. The strongest content marketers may come from an assortment of backgrounds and possess a number of diverse talents that provide them with the insight, talent and experience necessary to make an impact on their audience. However, there is no definite set of qualities you must possess for great content marketing, but there are certain skills that are undeniably beneficial.

Not sure if you’ve got what it takes to create and execute superb content marketing? Here are seven skills that can help you produce great work as a content marketer.

1. A Knack for Storytelling

A healthy dose of creativity is obviously helpful for coming up with fresh ideas for promoting your brand. However, unlike conventional marketing, which often involves pitching a product or service to a specific target audience, content marketing revolves around more than simply conveying information. Incorporating creative storytelling in your content marketing can allow you to create more memorable content, thus enticing more consumers to connect, share, and engage with your brand.

2. A Journalist's Eye

One of the main functions of content marketing is to build up your brand’s credibility, which is one of the reasons content creators with a background in journalism can be invaluable to your marketing team. No matter how compelling your content marketing is through its graphics or storytelling, if you share inaccurate information with your audience, it is going to damage your brand. So, apply your keen journalistic eye to seeking out credible sources, as well as keeping up with the latest industry news that your audience wants to hear about.

3. Basic SEO Knowledge

You probably already know that search engine optimization and content marketing both offer unique benefits in the world of digital marketing. But when it comes to generating brand awareness, you may not realize just how powerful these two skills can be when combined. Learning or refreshing yourself on the basic rules of SEO (which, by the way, have changed significantly over the past year) can make a world of difference in the success of your content marketing. If you’re an SEO expert, then you probably already appreciate the power of quality content, but it’s equally important for content marketers to grow their knowledge of and respect for SEO.

4. The Ability to Write Concisely

Conveying information quickly and accurately is more important than ever in today’s digital era. As proven by the growing popularity of ephemeral social platforms such as Snapchat and hyper-condensed storytelling apps such as Vine, you’re lucky to hold a viewer's attention for more than 6 seconds — and even luckier if you’re able to hold a reader’s attention throughout an entire article. The ability to write concise yet informative copy can mean the difference between truly connecting with a reader and losing their attention after a few sentences.

5. Excellent Grammar

Anyone involved in the business of communication should possess basic writing skills. In addition to creative storytelling and concise content, good grammar plays a bigger role than you may realize in your content marketing. After all, your reputation is just as strongly tied to your spelling and syntax as it is to the information and value you provide to your audience. Luckily, if clean writing is not one of your strengths, you can practice to improve and consult an editor while you work to improve your own grammatical prowess.

6. Versatility

There’s no single ‘right’ way to execute a content marketing plan. In fact, diversifying your efforts across multiple platforms and combining knowledge and input from a variety of sources is one of the best ways to gear your marketing towards success. Versatility provides you with a higher chance of exposure and a larger audience of potential consumers. It’s also important for content marketers to be able to adapt to new mediums and platforms as they rise in popularity or become more relevant to your target audience.

7. A Sense of Resilience

Being strong enough to learn from and build off of your mistakes, rather than crumbling in the face of defeat, is a sought after quality in numerous professional settings and life situations; content marketing is no exception. The rules of marketing are always changing and certain ideas will grow old as your audience tires of them. Your viewers may also move on from one medium or platform to the next, so it’s important to have a sense of resilience as well as the willingness and ability to adapt to the new up-and-coming social media fad.

Making the Most of your Strengths as a Marketer

It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need to possess all of the skills listed above in order to be a quality content marketer. However, any of these skills that you do have should be purposefully tied into your marketing efforts—otherwise you’re just wasting your potential. Make the most of your strengths and skills by applying them to your work in creative new ways whenever possible and your content marketing will become stronger, too.