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Gregory Ciotti
Gregory Ciotti is a prominent figure in content marketing, currently serving as the Director of Product Marketing at Owner.com, which focuses on online ordering and website building for restaurants. He previously held significant roles at Shopify, where he led content and editorial efforts across the Growth & Communications teams, and was also the first marketer at Help Scout, a customer support software company.
Ciotti's expertise lies in developing effective content strategies that resonate with audiences and drive engagement. He emphasizes the importance of educational content that helps businesses succeed, reflecting his belief that successful marketing should empower customers rather than just push sales.24 His work at Shopify included creating a variety of content formats such as blog posts, podcasts, and video courses aimed at supporting eCommerce entrepreneurs.35
In addition to his professional roles, Ciotti is an advocate for integrating SEO with content marketing strategies. He has shared insights on the evolving landscape of content marketing, particularly the rise of creator-led strategies that decentralize brand messaging and focus on individual voices.16 His approach often highlights the significance of video content and personal branding in enhancing user engagement and brand loyalty.1
Ciotti is active on social media and maintains a personal website where he shares insights on product marketing and organic growth strategies. His LinkedIn profile can be found under the username "ciotti," showcasing his extensive network and professional background.7
Highlights
What do companies expect from their senior content hires?
Out of curiosity, I ran a quick observational study that may reveal part of the answer.
TLDR: Many senior content roles require owning at least one other related craft/discipline, and that often affects the job title that gets posted.
In total, I looked at around ~430 senior content marketing positions across job boards. Senior content role = Head of, Director, or VP, at least for my purposes.
Here are the cliff notes:
1️⃣ Around half of senior content roles (48%) are responsible for another discipline/area of ownership within the company – at least, based on their job title.
2️⃣ For senior roles that are responsible for another area, the 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 most often included Brand (31%), Social Media (24%), or Communications (16%). SEO was, surprisingly, in fourth.
3️⃣ However, 71% of "pure" content roles mention SEO as a needed skill in the 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. And 55% of all senior content roles mention SEO in some fashion.
4️⃣ Content & Product Marketing are rarely housed in a single team. And most senior positions that had both responsibilities listed seem to prioritize the PMM skillset over content.
5️⃣ What did I expect to see, but didn't? More ownership of video. Very few job postings mentioned video at all, which is especially surprising for Content/SEO-focused roles – video is the future there.
With more time and a larger dataset, there are a ton of other things I'd like to look at. For example, are there trends for job titles/descriptions based on industry (DTC vs. SaaS), go-to-market motion (Sales-led vs. Product-led), or company size (25 employees vs. 1,000 employees)? Someone with access to better data, please carry the torch. 🔍
And of course, this was just a short observational study where I took the job titles and descriptions at face value – it'd be equally revealing to poll active content leaders on this stuff.
Some takeaways for me, but to be taken with a grain of salt:
- Content leads may need to own another area in marketing to get hired for Director(+) positions.
- Many companies see Social, Brand, and Content as having lots of overlap.
- Most senior content roles assume some competency with SEO.
- But, it seems "Head of SEO" responsibilities are often reserved for a separate hire.
- Roles with Social Media or Communications in the job title were much less likely to mention SEO.
𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: What could you see changing in the future about senior content positions? Or, what would you expect to see if we had a larger/better dataset?
#marketing #contentmarketing
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