How to Build a Content Marketing Team: Key Roles Explained

A good content marketing machine is a thing of beauty, each piece well-oiled and optimized for smart production. But like any machine, if a piece isn’t working—or is missing entirely—the whole system struggles. Content teams are often plagued by both issues.

• The tool that doesn’t work effectively.
• The missing perspective that could have turned a basic blog into a cornerstone asset.
• The social plan that needs sharper targeting and timing.
• The analytics setup that doesn’t track what matters.
• The process friction that drains hours.

It’s no surprise, though. Most marketing departments face headcount limits and lean budgets, so work piles up.

54% of B2B marketers only have between 2-5 people on their content marketing team. 24% don’t have anyone dedicated to full-time content marketing.

—CMI’s 2025 B2B Benchmarks Report

But just because you have limited headcount doesn’t mean you can’t have a successful content team. Whether you have two people or twenty, you just need to shift your perspective from the number of people on your team to the type of roles those people are filling.

Job Titles vs. Roles in a Content Marketing Team

Checklist hiring is common in marketing. A team needs social, so they look for a social media manager. A team needs copy, so a writer joins the team. The result often mirrors a standard marketing organization on paper, but this type of hiring means important roles or responsibilities go uncovered—and that’s a liability.

That’s why it’s important to think about roles in terms of skill sets, not titles. One person may carry several skills:

• An editor can also be a tight project manager and copy shaper.
• A marketing manager can be both data literate and social savvy.

When team members get room to use their superpowers, collaboration improves, experimentation follows, and the whole content marketing operation levels up. That’s how a small team can outperform a larger one.

So which roles matter most to build a resilient content team structure?

The Roles You Need on Your Content Marketing Team

Every brand shares the same core duties: planning, production, and distribution. Cover the full arc—from content calendar ownership and ideation to pitching and performance analysis—and quality rises. The key to covering your bases is understanding what roles need to be filled and who on your team can fill them.

This role breakdown comes from our years in the trenches. Each role drives a strategic function, fills gaps, and maintains quality control so your content marketing efforts are successful (and always aligned to your business goals).

Again, this isn’t a comprehensive list of people you need to hire but rather a list of what you need to cover with the resources at hand. Organize for efficiency, have collaborative conversations about responsibilities, and bring in support partners when needed.

For your convenience, we’ve mapped these roles to the stages of the content cycle: strategy, creation, and distribution.

1) Content Strategy Roles

Strategy anchors the entire content marketing strategy. You need to build a documented strategy that aligns to business objectives and clarifies audience segments, themes, and key performance indicators. (If you need a framework, see our ultimate guide to build a content strategy and grab the content strategy toolkit.)

To be successful, you need to include the right stakeholders.

Marketing Leader

Whether a founder, a chief marketing officer, or another senior leader, someone must steer. This role connects business development, sales, and marketing, ensuring the content strategy aligns with company goals and reflects brand voice and visual identity. The leader protects focus and ensures the marketing function supports the sales funnel and the full sales cycle.

Marketing leader resources:

• Chief Content Officer: The monthly print and digital magazine from the Content Marketing Institute.
• The Content Strategist: Contently’s publication, covering content marketing news and analysis.

Marketing Manager

A marketing manager keeps the engine running. This person aligns plans to the marketing strategy, directs team members, manages timelines, and clears blockers. They help translate the content strategy into briefs, coordinate content production, and connect distribution with campaigns. Strong operators here often have a proven track record of shipping high-quality content on time.

Marketing manager resources:

• Basecamp: A project management tool with clear visibility into project status.
• Marketing Brew: Marketing news worth reading.
• American Marketing Association: Strong resources, including the piece on the 5 types of marketing managers.
• HubSpot’s Blog: News, trends, and tips for marketers at all levels.

Data Expert

Measurement turns a content marketing strategy into a learning system. The data expert sets up analytics, defines key performance indicators, and pulls valuable insights for optimization across marketing channels. This role informs content ideas, validates keyword research, and spotlights content that drives lead generation.

Data expert resources:

• Google’s Analytics Academy: Training to make analytics useful.
• How to Determine ROI: Smart ways to calculate ROI.

2) Content Creation Roles

With goals set and keyword research in hand, production kicks off. Creation is labor-intensive, so tight planning matters. A strong content team blends editorial judgment with design and technical chops to ship quality content consistently.

50% of B2B marketers rely on multiple teams to create content.

—CMI’s 2025 B2B Benchmarks Report

Managing Editor

The managing editor owns the content calendar, keeps cadence, and ensures every piece maps to the content strategy. This role coordinates contributors, enforces voice and standards, and balances written content with visuals. It’s the bridge between planning and content production.

Managing editor resources:

• CoSchedule: Editorial calendar, social scheduling, and task management.
• Feedly: Organize sources for faster ideation.
• Stormboard: Digital whiteboard for collaboration and brainstorms.
• Editorial Calendar Template: A practical planning tool.

SEO & AEO Expert

Search engine optimization and answer engine optimization fuel sustainable growth. This expert audits the site, prioritizes opportunities, and ensures content aligns to search intent. Duties include research, technical fixes, on-page best practices, and continuous testing across search engines.

SEO expert resources:

• SEMRush: Tools, guides, and training for SEO.
• Search Engine Land: Daily coverage of search marketing.
• Neil Patel: Practical traffic and conversion tactics.

Subject Expert

Expertise builds credibility. Subject experts bring depth, data, and stories that resonate with a target audience. They sharpen outlines, validate claims, and elevate thought leadership.

33% of B2B marketers say they have trouble accessing subject matter experts.

—CMI’s 2025 B2B Benchmarks Report

Resources to increase expertise:

• Expertise Finder: Connects experts, writers, and businesses.
• Qualified data sources: A roundup of free data sources to boost credibility.
• ClearVoice: Find expert writers and creatives.

Editor

Editing still gets overlooked. A sharp editor improves clarity, structure, and polish. This role enforces brand voice and ensures quality content across formats, including blogs, reports, scripts, and social media posts.

Editor resources:

• Grammar Girl: Quick editing tips.
• Grammarly: Handy plugin for catching errors.
• Upwork: Find freelance editors.

Designer(s)

Design makes complex ideas easy to grasp and preserves brand integrity with every piece of content they create. From infographics and e-books to video and interactive content, a strong designer translates information into visuals to increase appeal, comprehension, and retention.

Designer resources:

• Behance/Dribbble: Portfolios to find the right talent.
• Data Visualization 101 e-book: A primer on chart and graph design.

Note: Depending on your content mix—static, interactive, or video—you may also need:

• Developers: You can also see our keys to make great interactive content.
• Video pros: See our tips for choosing a video agency.
• Audio pros: You may need additional support for things like podcasting.

Writer

A strong writer turns insight into narrative. This role crafts clear, compelling copy that reflects brand voice and connects to the target audience. Great writers collaborate with subject experts and editors to deliver high-quality content that drives marketing campaigns.

Writer resources:

• Ann Handley: Practical writing insights.
• Headline Analyzer: Score headlines for impact.
• Hemingway Editor: Improve clarity and flow.
• Tips to Write Compelling Messaging: Build brand stories that convert.

3) Content Distribution Roles

Great content needs reach. Distribution puts the right message in front of the right people at the right time. These roles grow channels, build partnerships, and turn content marketing efforts into measurable marketing outcomes.

Distribution Strategist

This role designs the go-to-market plan for content, including paid, earned, and owned. The strategist develops partner lists, pitches publications, coordinates influencer collaborations, and aligns distribution to the overall marketing strategy and business objectives.

Distribution strategist resources:

• Muck Rack: Find relevant journalists.
• Boomerang: Schedule and follow up on pitches.
• Respona: How to find influencers.
• The Ultimate Guide to Content Distribution: A field guide to distribution.
• How to Pitch Like a Content Agency: Tips to secure publisher placement.

Email Marketer

Email builds durable reach. The email marketer drives list growth, segmentation, and testing. They design journeys that support the sales funnel, connect content to offers, and improve conversion with clear CTAs.

Email marketer resources:

• Sumo: Tools for conversion optimization and list building.
• HubSpot: All-in-one support for automation and analytics.
• Unbounce: Rapid landing page testing to drive lead generation.

Social Media Expert

Social media marketing evolves quickly. A social expert tracks platform trends, tunes content formats, and balances organic with paid. They protect tone, plan social media posts, and report what performs, feeding insights back into the content strategy.

Social media expert resources:

• Social Media Examiner: News, tips, and tools.
• NUVI: Real-time social monitoring.
• BuzzSumo: See what’s getting shared.
• Guide to Choose the Right Metrics for Your Social Strategy: Measure what matters.

The Other Folks

Beyond the core team, pull in partners across the marketing organization and even operational professionals.

• Customer advocate: Sales and service teams surface pain points and proof. Use those insights to create relevant content and stronger campaigns.
• Tech support: Keep your site fast, stable, and flexible—essential for embeds, interactive stories, and your content management system.
• The wildcard: People outside marketing often bring fresh angles. A product marketer, a creative director, or even operational professionals can unlock stories and data others miss.

How to Support Your Content Marketing Team (Even More)

Even strong teams need extra hands or a fresh perspective. Bring in a content marketing manager or a content strategist on a project basis, or work with content marketers who can span planning and production. Integrated marketing wins when other teams collaborate across goals and channels.

• If you’re not sure what to outsource, here’s how to figure out if you need an agency or freelancer.
• If you need a content agency, here are 12 things to look for in a content marketing agency and our best tips to collaborate effectively once you find the right partner.

Remember: The goal is to create a flexible team structure that supports a durable content marketing strategy, fuels marketing efforts across channels, and gives most businesses a competitive advantage through quality content that compounds.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to structure a content marketing team?

Organize by roles, not titles, across the full content cycle:

• Strategy: Marketing leader, marketing manager, data/analytics expert
• Creation: Managing editor, SEO, subject expert, editor, designer, writer (plus dev/video/audio as needed)
• Distribution: Distribution strategist, email marketer, social media expert

Prioritize complete role coverage over headcount; one person can own multiple roles. Anchor everything to a documented strategy, editorial calendar, and clear KPIs.

2. When should we outsource content—and what should stay in-house?

Outsource when bandwidth or expertise is the constraint (e.g., design, editing, specialized writing, dev/video/audio). Keep the core in-house: business-aligned strategy, voice/standards, briefs, and final editorial control, so that outside work still advances your goals.

3. What does a Managing Editor actually own?

Editorial calendar, cadence, and quality. They translate strategy into briefs, coordinate contributors, enforce voice/standards, balance copy + visuals, and ensure each piece maps to objectives.