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Important Leadership Skills for Workplace Success

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Important Leadership Skills for Workplace Success

A leader who is a lion makes recruits into lions as well. – Ancient Roman proverb

Having a good leader in the workplace can make a massive difference in your productivity, overall effectiveness, talent retention rate, and your public image. Still, what does it take for one to be a great leader? This is a difficult question without a straightforward answer.

Like any other career path, being a great manager, entrepreneur, and leader requires knowledge and experience. Also, like with any other position or occupation, there’s a lot you can do in order to improve your leadership abilities.

Despite what you may have heard or believed in the past, leadership is an amalgamation of skills. When you improve these skills individually and use them in the right way (an adequate framework), you’ll get a massive boost to your workplace efficiency.

With all of this in mind and without further ado, here are several important leadership skills for workplace success.

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Communication

If instructions are not clear and commands are not explicit, it is the commander’s fault. – Sun Tzu

Communication is an essential skill for anyone in a position of leadership. It determines the cohesion of the team, the accuracy of information transfer, and much, much more. Before you can start communicating on the subject matter, you need to master the terminology in question. This, however, comes with the experience.

Being able to give orders in a clear and simple (non-ambiguous) manner can make a massive difference while running a project. However, reading non-verbal communication is just as important. A lot of people are scared of asking a question (even to one seen as a benevolent leader/manager). So, instead of waiting for them to ask you to repeat the instructions, you need to recognize the situation in which doing so is right.

One more thing you need to do is learn how to actively listen. We already hinted at this when we said that you need to read other people’s non-verbal communication. Learning how to get feedback is essential to your ability to chart a future course of your company. Are there any complaints? What can you do to address them? Can you turn some of these positive feedback examples into a USP (unique selling proposition)? All of this can be learned by listening.

Knowledge

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. – John F. Kennedy

Having enough industry-specific knowledge can make all the difference when it comes to the overall success of your enterprise. You see, the overall leadership and leadership skills (charisma, attention to details, etc.) are universally applicable, but dental team leadership is something else. In order to lead a dental practice, you need to possess an in-depth understanding of what it is they do.

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Of course, we’re not suggesting that one has to be a certified dentist or dental assistant to successfully run a dental practice. Still, it will help if they understood what the responsibilities of their team members are. This will help them in work delegation, schedule-making, and much more.

Also, bear in mind that learning is a never-ending process. There are always new trends out there, and you need to keep up with them. Furthermore, it’s essential that all your staff keep learning throughout their lifetime in the dental industry. If you do the same, it will be a lot easier to lead by example. Not to mention that being knowledgeable about the subject matter will make them respect you even more.

Charisma

Charisma is not so much getting people to like you as getting people to like themselves when you’re around. – Robert Breault

Charisma is not an innate trait. Instead, it is a skill that you can acquire and improve. You need to make people feel good when you’re around, and this is not nearly as hard to achieve as you would assume. The first trick is to start actively listening to them. It’s not just about seeming like you’re giving them your full attention. It’s about memorizing what they say and bringing it up in conversation later on.

Another thing you need to do is show them that they have value. This can be done in two ways. The first one is to show this directly by telling them, giving them a bonus, or rewarding them for their work in some other way. Another method of doing so is actually taking their side in a confrontation with the client. No, the client is not always right, and it is this kind of attitude that makes people leave you as soon as possible and see both you and your enterprise in a negative light.

Making an extra effort to help make people feel welcome, accepted, and appreciated will make you much more desirable as an employer. People (your employees) will talk about you, which means that this is also a viable PR strategy. This means that any hiring process must have a greater success rate. Not to mention that it will be a lot easier to keep the talent that you already have. The bottom line is always in your favor.

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Organizational Abilities

A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say they did it themselves. – Lao Tzu

As a leader, it is your job to provide your staff with the tools and working conditions under which they can create their own success. In other words, it’s your job to monitor, evaluate, and gather feedback. Then, based on this feedback, you need to recognize potential bottlenecks and address them before they become chokepoints. It’s that simple.

Still, you need to understand that you can’t just fulfill every whim of your staff. Some of their requirements/desires are unrealistic. Other ideas are not as great as they believe them to be. Then again, you have the budget and cost-effectiveness as a factor that you need to weigh against every single one of these ideas. Needless to say, the task is far more difficult, and it might involve stepping on some people’s toes.

This is why one of the biggest requirements for one to be a great leader is courage. Your decisions will affect everyone. You need to make sure that you’re making the right decision and stick by it, no matter how many people believe that you’re wrong or argue against it. Sure, you need to listen to what others have to say, but you’re the one making the final decision. It’s much easier to give advice from the standpoint of a bystander. As a leader, you’ll face full responsibility for your actions and decisions.

In Conclusion

What you do has a far greater impact than what you say. – Stephen Covey

In the end, you need to understand that knowing what to do and actually doing it are two separate things. Everything listed in this article takes practice and getting used to. For instance, deciding to pay more attention to what your staff members are saying is one thing but effectively listening to them is something else entirely. It will take time, and it will take practice. Still, the sooner you start, the earlier you’ll pick up this momentum. Enrolling in a leadership course or two might not be such a bad idea. Picking up a book or two on the subject matter might also help you out.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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