Weekly Alert: Don’t Let Anyone Think Content Roles Are Redundant

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[Read more]( By Stephanie Stahl [High-Level Strategy] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [How to Measure the Value of Your Subscribers]( [Robert Rose]( [Measurement and Reporting] - [What to Know About Google’s FAQ Rich Snippets]( Ann Smarty [Distribution and Promotion] - [How to Catch and Keep a Journalist in Content Marketing]( Chris Gillespie [Editorial Process and Teams] - [Fun, Fright, and Better Event Video Fill October [The Weekly Wrap]]( Content Marketing Institute Team [Trends and Research] - [Do the Math: Creativity by the Numbers Won’t Add Up]( Jonathan Crossfield [Chief Content Officer Exclusive] Join Our Weekly Wrap News Crew Have you come across an exciting content idea, unique example, or puzzling trend this week? Help us share it with your fellow Content Marketing Institute readers by completing [this form](. If we include your submission in an upcoming Weekly Wrap, we’ll credit you as the source of the inspiration.  A Note From Robert Rose Don’t Let Anyone Think Content Roles Are Redundant I received a note last week from a former colleague who is an extraordinary content strategist at a large global company. The first sentence of her note hit me hard and made me angry: “Last month, I was made redundant.” In this very trying year, her employer decided that a reduction in the marketing workforce was the only solution to staying viable. Her position as a content strategist was deemed no longer a priority, and she was let go with this message: “As discussed at our meeting earlier today, after applying the selection criteria to the roles within marketing, I am very sorry to confirm that you have been selected for redundancy.” I can’t think of a more backhanded way to tell someone their services are no longer needed. By telling her that her role was “made redundant,” the company leaders are saying one of two things. They may be saying her activities were always unnecessary or duplicative and they’re just now discovering it. Or, they’re saying the financial crisis they’re currently facing has transformed an important function into a series of activities that others can do just as well. Either way, telling someone they’ve been “made redundant” makes the person feel, well, unnecessary. I understand the rules around how these difficult conversations play out and that “business is business.” That’s not where I want to focus. For anyone, a loss like this can generate significant feelings of lost identity and erosion of self-confidence. But I find that because content practitioners play a newer role in most marketing organizations, there can be even more pronounced feelings of confusion and insecurity. Many feel the business barely understands what they do. So how can they claim everything you did can now be handled by others? Spoiler alert: It won’t. I asked a friend of mine who is a recruiter and strategist in talent acquisition for internal content teams what he sees as a trend in late 2020. He noted how many businesses that pulled the plug on content and marketing teams early in the year are now trying to acquire talent for those roles. They’ve realized they couldn’t fill those functions with existing team resources or agencies. Here are two challenges that I’d like content practitioners to accept with a high degree of energy: First, improve how you communicate about the specific value your role brings to the business. The self-analytical regret I hear from content practitioners who were let go from positions they liked was that they didn’t effectively communicate internally about their work. Second, commit to acquiring cross-functional skills. Ex-journalists, editors, designers, writers – dive deep into marketing and content structure. Content strategists, SEO experts, UI/UX developers – exercise your creative muscles. Demand-gen marketers, inbound experts, digitally focused practitioners – expand your knowledge base to include all of the above. The future of strategic content in business is as bright as the future of marketing itself. But the function won’t be filled with niche specialists who accomplish things the business doesn’t understand. It will be filled with differentiated business strategists who do things the business can’t replicate. That’s how we go from being made redundant to being irreplaceable. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute This article from Robert is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. 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