How to reap bigger results with small content marketing teams

It is often debated whether the size of a content marketing team is really related with the objective and end results. But it is also a fact that the lack of content creation resources can certainly hamper the journey to achieve the end goal.

Content marketing teams are generally small and more prone to be weighed down by performance pressure. But time again, we have seen brands with smaller teams winning accolades and awards for their content initiatives.

So does the size of a team really matter? BuzzInContent.com talks to experts to find out whether or not a big content marketing team is really necessary to get powerful results.

Charu Kishnani

Charu Kishnani, Senior Vice-President, Digital Marketing, who heads Editorial Content at CarDekho.com, said the team size directly impacts content initiatives as it decides the various content buckets that can be tackled.

“Defining a team size is dependent on all the segments and content formats that are being tackled. For instance, in automobiles, catering to two and four-wheelers, new and used, EVs, news and reviews and sharing them in text, social and video content dictates the bandwidth requirement,” she said.

Building relevant and meaningful content to engage consumers is the key to any organisation’s growth today.

Shamik Ghosh

The size of the team should be largely defined by the size of the opportunity for content in the organisation, said Shamik Ghosh,Vice-President, Marketing and Head of Content at PaisaBazaar.

“The focus has to be on quality and relevance of content, rather than the quantity that adds value to consumers and helps you create brand awareness,” he said.

Rumi Ambastha

Rumi Ambastha, Director, Brand Marketing, The Man Company, believes that the success of a team is determined by the structure of the team and not its size.

If team structure is in place, right responsibility is matched with right talent and the objective is crystal clear, then any team of any size is bound to succeed.

High-performing content team structure procuring bigger results

Executing an effective content marketing programme is no simple task as it requires a skilled, well-structured team with a well-run process. And if it is smaller in size, the foremost job at hand is to assign tasks in a structural format.

Defined job roles ensure effective functioning and in addition, responsibilities do not get blurred.

In the case of CarDekho, the content structure is defined by key goals — news, product expertise, video leadership, social voice. These are bifurcated as two or four-wheeler teams.

And in the case of The Man Company, being a digitally native premium men's grooming brand, it needs both content writers and creative writers with knowledge of grooming/lifestyle and a passion for social media.

“Hire talents wherein every person is responsible for the success of one aspect and you know is the right fit,” she said.

There's no real definition of the exact structure of a content team, she said. “It's like saying make me a viral video. You make a good video and hope it would go viral. You make a good team wherein the objective, brief, outcome and success parameters are clearly communicated. Where a square peg is not tried to be fitted into a circular hole. And then size won't matter. This team if it fails, it will fail faster. Gather intelligence along the way and you will be on the right path in no time.”

Ghosh said it is best to start with small content teams to test the waters and steadily increase team size as one begins to scale up and start getting a larger number of eyeballs for content.

However, brands should be aware that scaling content organically and getting noticed, especially in a cluttered and competitive market, is a long-term game, he said, and advised one to be consistent with good engaging content and stay patient for the results to show.

Today, there is a surplus of ideas to explore to help serve the needs of the end user.

However, using data to listen and understand the needs of the end user guides prioritisation of content creation if one needs to reap bigger results from smaller teams, said Kishnani.

We have seen new-age young brands doing highly engaging content on owned and paid media. Large traditional organisations are also focussing on building content on digital channels to engage with their large customer base.

And to achieve better results, Ambastha said one always should start with a clear understanding of what is the nature and style of the business.

Piali Dasgupta

Dismissing the belief that the size of a content team matters, Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice-President Marketing, ‎Columbia Pacific Management, too, suggested that every piece of content that one creates must have a clear objective to enable the measurement of the results and be efficient.

“Content marketing has evolved in the past years and has become very much about the platform. When you are creating content, it should be about the brand and says something that is really clutter-breaking because if you are going to be adding to the clutter, then there is no point doing it. It must have something very refreshing to say. Our team doesn't take part in all trending conversations till the time it is not related to us or refreshing,” she added.