The date was 9 May 1864. The place was the battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Uncle John was busy finishing his sentence, but failed in his mighty task.

He started…

“They couldn’t hit an elephant from this dis…”

Before finishing his sentence, a Confederate sharpshooter’s bullet caught him in the left eye, and the Union Army soon had a very dead major general “Uncle” John Sedgwick to deal with.

With Major General John F. Reynolds (died on 1 July 1863, Gettysburg), Major General Sedgwick was the highest ranking Union general to be killed in the war.

The good news for us is that we don’t have to worry about flying bullets or even elephants, so with the accuracy of a sharpshooter, we can take aim at the tail end of the first part of this article, and continue examining some more Inbound Marketing team member positions.

Today, in the second part, we continue our examination with the…

6. Social Media Marketer

Wherever you get new content published, you need some vehicles to communicate to your fans and followers that you’ve just published something new.

And the most effective vehicles are your blog and Social Media channels. Normally I would include email too, but with today’s spam laws, email marketing without a permissions-based list is not only a challenge – it’s spam.

If you have a good pace of producing content, then you also need a dedicated Social Media Marketer who both places posts in social media platforms and interacts reader who comment and answer their subsequent questions.

The social media marketer can also notify the project manager about malicious acts on the company’s social media platforms.

For smaller businesses, this social media marketer can be one person, but down the road, if ROI from social media justifies it, it’s a good idea to have a separate marketer for each social media channel, or at least assigning only 2-3 channels per person.

To find out about some of the more lucrative social media channels, you can read How to Find Profitable Social Media Platforms for your B2B Business.

7. Content Marketer

This role has a couple of sub-sections.

At smaller SME’s, this person is both a content writer (NOT copywriter) and content strategist. Jointly with the other professionals, she determines the themes for various content calendar sections, then writes the required pieces.

In larger companies, there is one or more dedicated writers and content strategists who focus on placing content pieces and building relationships with the owners/managers of new content placement portals.

Recruit this person such that she is familiar with the seven types of content.

Since the Blog And Social Media Marketer takes care of social media, the content marketer can focus on guest-publishing in various publications and other companies’ blogs.

Of course, in smaller businesses, this person is split between several functions.

8. Visual, Graphics UX Designer

Some concepts are easier to explain with words and some with pictures. But the best explanation is when words and graphics support each other and synergistically enhance content consumers’ overall experience.

Just think of Apple products. They are both technically and aesthetically excellent. Have you thought about how much the backlit Apple logo on the MacBook Pro’s flip top enhances the machine’s overall value? Apparently, a whole lot.

As your inbound marketing team produces both printed, audio and video content, you need someone who produces the overall visual look and feel of the pieces that make content pieces seductive enough, so consumers actually start consuming them.

Initially, you need a well-rounded person who can handle everything related to visual design. Later on, you may recruit separate specialists, but initially one person will do. Remember, good visual people can be expensive… for a good reason.

9. Data Scientist: Analyst And Statistician

Department store owner, John Wannamaker once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

He was both right and wrong. He was right in saying that part of his advertising was wasted. But it wasn‘t 50%. Far from it.

We now know from Vilfredo Pareto that it is was 80%, and some 20% of his advertising money created 80% of his sales.

The good news is that almost every aspect of inbound marketing can be tracked to minute details.

The even better news is that most companies don’t bother to analyse their tracking data and use those analyses to improve the results of their inbound marketing.

And this is where you can make a huge difference in your operation if you have a number cruncher on board.

I admit it, it’s hard work and pretty complex mathematics. I remember, I truly disliked statistics in engineering school. But it’s needed.

So, make sure you have a number person on your team as soon as you can justify the investment. Without proper analysis and feedback from this person, the whole inbound marketing effort can easily turn into blind archery.

10. Copywriter

This can be a hard nut to crack if you seek a full-time copywriter as an employee. If you’re happy with a freelancer, you have an easier task to find one.

The reason why you have a hard time to find an employee copywriter is that this is the only one among the roles we’ve discussed whose practitioners don’t need anyone to be in business.

This is why.

Copywriting is, as John E. Kennedy, a Canadian policeman-turned copywriter legend, coined it is “salesmanship in print”.

Good copywriters, whose copy can generate clients, are already busier than a one-armed man at a wallpaper-hanging contest.

They have well-paying clients and are booked for months ahead. It’s almost impossible to get on their dance cards. Well, unless you can offer them something that is better than what they already have. Just read Seth Godin’s post on this phenomenon.

The other problem is this…

There are three key elements of any marketing initiative: Your prospect list (60%), your offer (30%) and copy (10%). The percentages indicate how much each element weighs in the campaign’s overall success.

This is why you can compromise a bit on graphics artists and several other roles, but invest whatever you can and engage the best copywriter you can afford.

And don’t fall for Siren song of Upwork or Fiverr. Yes, you can get lucky, but so can you on a slot machine. But your chances are pretty low.

Click here to read Part 3 of the Inbound Marketing Teams series

The post 11 Vital Building Blocks Of High-Performing Inbound Marketing Teams Part 2 appeared first on Riverbed Marketing. from author Tom Varjan