‘Pommel Horse Guy’ or all-around champion?

Your team can have both. [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( WEEKLY NEWS 8.2.24 WEEKLY NEWS 8.2.24   FEATURED [23+ Roles You Might Need on Your Content Marketing Team]( By Ann Gynn Great news! The 2025 budget is bigger, and you can add a new role on your content and marketing team. Do you go for a position related to analysis, operations, creation, or something else? Here are two dozen options to contemplate. [Read more](  READ OR LISTEN TO MORE OF THE WEEK'S BEST STORIES: [How This B2B Company Stole B2C’s Sizzle To Heat Up Its Content]( by Dennis Shiao How does your B2B brand create content that stands out from its competitors? Abandon boring and expected and adopt an engaging B2C approach. [Small Player Wins Big in Brand Games]( by Content Marketing Institute Team A small sports apparel brand made a fresh marketing play that gained global attention and a spot at the Olympics alongside the biggest brands in the world. Take note (and inspiration) to help your marketing game. [How To Balance Marketing Specialists and Generalists]( by Robert Rose Do you need more marketers or more analysts, strategists, and other specialists? Most teams would vote for both. Try this approach to balance your need for deep expertise and the agility and stability content generalists provide. [ICYMI: Maximize Content Efficiency With These 7 Agile Practices]( by Alex Novkov Do your content and marketing teams feel overwhelmed? Do you think they’re inefficient? Explore these seven Agile practices to streamline workflows, boost efficiency, and still create high-quality content that engages your audience.  A NOTE FROM ROBERT ROSE Balancing generalists and specialists Do you remember when your whole family went to the same doctor? Believe it or not, that wasn’t uncommon not so long ago. That one doctor was the go-to resource anytime you or a family member got sick, hurt themselves, or needed medical advice. You’d have a checkup once a year. And you’d only see a specialist if you needed a specific test or treatment. Sounds quaint, doesn’t it? A friend recently told me he’d been having chronic headaches. I said the (most unhelpful) thing everyone says: “It sounds like you should see your doctor.” My friend paused and then asked, “Which one?” Should he call the cardiologist who treated him for high blood pressure? The ENT who fixed his ear infection? The ophthalmologist who checks his eyes? The endocrinologist he’d seen for something else? Or his primary care physician, who he’d wait months to see because the practice has so many patients? [The number of physicians focusing on a specialty]( has steadily increased for the last 60 years. From 1961 to 1970, 10% of internal medicine physicians went into a subspecialty. From 2011-2015, that figure was 88%. In fact, only [about 25%]( of U.S. doctors handle adult primary care. But what does any of this have to do with marketing? Marketing suffers from the super-specialization trend, too. One of the biggest marketing challenges today is balancing the number and type of team resources needed. Modern marketing plans have always changed frequently. But shifting plans once meant simply shifting marketing generalists’ attention to different tasks. The resources remained the same — the team members just performed different activities. In 2024, though, a marketing operation requires hundreds of niche skills. Some specialties emerged around technologies or platforms (think CRM, e-commerce, marketing automation, content management, customer data platforms, digital asset management, and analytics). Some revolve around creative specialties (design, editorial writing, copywriting, social media content, email writing, multimedia creators/editors, and event management). And then there are platform specialists (SEO, content strategy, influencer wranglers, ad network managers, etc.). And now, of course, artificial intelligence specialists are in the mix. Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming 2025 Content Marketing Career and Salary Outlook for 2025 (publishing in September): About three-quarters of marketers (76%) say they need to master specialized or niche skills to remain relevant in the face of modern technologies such as AI. Modern marketing is becoming a super-specialized practice. Balancing the need for specific skill sets to execute your existing strategy against the need for agile teams of generalists who can handle inevitable strategy shifts might be the most significant marketing operations challenge companies face. So, what can we do about it? Does it make more sense to hire more deep specialists or more generalists? Specialists know a great deal about one thing but perhaps little about anything else. They’ll help you differentiate on one particular thing. Generalists, on the other hand, know a little bit about many things but may lack deep knowledge about any of them. Their range gives you the agility to shift priorities quickly. This question reminds me of a story that might be an urban legend (but I like it anyway). As the story goes, someone asked the UPS CEO how the company encourages such differentiating customer service from their drivers. The CEO answered, “We don’t hire drivers and teach them great customer service. We hire great customer service reps and teach them to drive.” If that sounds like an argument for specialists — it isn’t (because either skill could be considered a specialist role). Instead, it argues for a conscious decision by the company on where they want to focus employee development. Does that approach work in marketing? I think it does. In this week’s [Rose-Colored Glasses]( I explain why (and how). [Let me know whether you agree](mailto:robert@contentadvisory.net?subject=specialist%20or%20generalist?&elqTrackId=2E4B365071DA7F239733531C1C23FB0E). Remember, it’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Would any of your colleagues or friends benefit from Robert's weekly updates? Please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS [Anyword]( 6 Must-Ask Questions for Choosing the Right Marketing GenAI Tool Navigate the crowded GenAI landscape with confidence. Learn how to evaluate tools for compatibility, brand alignment, and security in this guide from Anyword. Unlock the power of AI for your marketing team today. [Get your free guide now »](  [Discover 10 Essential Tips for Data-Driven Content Marketing]( Discover 10 Essential Tips for Data-Driven Content Marketing Thanks to AI, any marketer can quickly create content in minutes. But will it resonate with your audience? Learn how to leverage data for a content marketing strategy that boosts your SEO and builds brand authority and trust. [Get the tips »](  Need Winning SEO Content That’s Fast and Effective? As AI Search takes over the web, you need SEO that’s built for the future. Zupyak uses AI to guide your SEO in real time and create content your customers will love. [Use code CMI for a free trial »](  MORE FROM CMI Last Chance to Save on Content Marketing World The sprint to savings is on! Early bird rates for Content Marketing World expire tonight — and it’s not too late to save up to $350 on your conference pass! Looking for guidance to overcome your content and marketing hurdles? Ready for winning ideas that will vault your strategy to new heights? Don’t miss out on this golden opportunity — your path to content and marketing victory begins in San Diego this October. [Register now and save »](  The Best Customer Triggers You’ve Never Heard Of You want people to engage with your marketing. But science says that your customers and prospects are often on autopilot. They don't "make" decisions, they default to automatic, reflexive, hardwired responses. In this clip from Content Marketing World 2023, speaker Nancy Harhut, CCO, HBT Marketing, explains what's behind these automatic triggers. Interested in hearing more? Nancy will be taking the stage again this year in San Diego! [Watch the video »](  Was this email forwarded to you? Please [subscribe here.]( To change your email preferences or unsubscribe, visit our [preference center.]( Copyright © 2024 Informa Connect, All rights reserved Content Marketing Institute, an Informa Connect brand 605 3rd Ave | New York | NY 10158 [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Statement]( [informa tech]