The soft skills that make you a stronger content marketer
No one taught me how to manage stakeholder feedback or adapt to last-minute pivots. But those “invisible skills” are what keep me afloat.
I still remember the moment I realized writing was only half my job. I was staring at my laptop, trying to incorporate contradictory feedback from three different executives on a thought leadership piece due the next morning. My eyes were dry as hell and burned from the screen glare.
In that moment, I wasn't wrestling with word choice or storytelling—I was navigating personalities, priorities, and politics.
In every content role I've had—whether I was leading strategy, ghostwriting exec posts, or juggling five competing deadlines—the work has always gone beyond writing. It's about navigating opinions, adjusting on the fly, and staying steady when plans change.
The longer I've been in this field, the more I've realized that soft skills aren't "nice to have." They're core to doing the job well.
Here are three I keep coming back to.
1. Adaptability: Because plans always change
You can have the perfect editorial calendar, stakeholder alignment, and campaign launch timeline—and still wake up to a last-minute request that shifts your whole week.
Content marketing is full of moving targets:
Product launches get delayed
Priorities shift overnight
Feedback comes in the day before go-live
At Encircle, I once drafted an entire Implementation Guide—an in-depth, 20+ page asset that had already gone through design—only to have the Director of Product Marketing decide we’d taken too broad an approach. She wanted to split it into multiple pieces. The timing wasn’t ideal, especially since the original Product Marketing Manager had already signed off before she left the company. The guide never got released, and I left before the project could be finished.
Talk about a woo-sah moment.
So how do you stay flexible when the finish line keeps moving—or disappears entirely?
Here’s how I’ve learned to build adaptability over time:
When priorities shift, ask: “What’s still true? What’s most important now?”
Leave buffer time in your projects—it gives you room to adapt without burning out
Practice reframing setbacks: “What did this teach me? How can I use it next time?”
2. Emotional intelligence: Because content is collaborative
One of the hardest things in content isn’t writing the piece—it’s navigating the feedback.
You’re often pulling input from multiple teams: product, sales, leadership, legal. Everyone has opinions. Some of them conflict. Some of them come late. Some of them change everything.
My first blog draft at Spare was a thought leadership piece, and I’d put a lot of time into getting the tone right. When it came back from review, one of the leaders responded with a very detailed list of edits.
Their first comment? “This feels fluffy to me.”
Oof.
It wasn’t meant to be personal, but it stung. I felt like I had missed the mark entirely. But after a deep breath (and maybe a short walk), I re-read their notes and realized they were right. I had been too focused on the narrative and not enough on the substance. The feedback pushed me to clarify the message and tighten the structure—and the piece ended up sharper because of it.
That experience taught me that emotional intelligence isn’t about being unbothered. It’s about managing your reactions, staying open, and seeing feedback for what it is: a tool, not a judgment.
Here are a few ways I’ve strengthened emotional intelligence on the job:
When receiving feedback, try repeating it back: “So you’re saying the tone feels too casual—am I getting that right?”
Look for the intention behind the comment, not just the wording
Give feedback how you’d want to receive it—be direct, but kind
3. Perseverance: Because content takes time to show results
There’s no instant gratification in content.
You write the blog. You optimize for search. You promote it. You wait.
Some pieces perform well. Some fall flat. Some go through five rounds of edits before anyone even sees them. It’s a long game—and it requires grit.
I’ve worked on thought leadership that took months to land. SEO refreshes that didn’t rank right away. Case studies that got stuck in approvals. The throughline? Keep going. Keep refining. Keep showing up.
The ability to stay focused, optimistic, and consistent—even when the payoff isn’t immediate—is a quiet strength. And it’s what separates good content marketers from great ones.
Perseverance isn’t just about pushing through. It’s about staying invested in the long game, even when the outcomes aren’t immediate or visible.
And like most soft skills, it gets easier the more you work it.
Here are a few habits that have helped me build perseverance:
Keep a “content wins” folder to remind yourself of what’s worked
Reflect after projects: What went well? What would I do differently next time?
Celebrate progress, not just results—especially on slow-moving projects
📚 Want to sharpen your soft skills? Here’s what’s helped me:
These books have shaped how I think about creativity, leadership, and showing up in collaborative roles:
Think Again by Adam Grant – A great reminder to stay curious and rethink your assumptions
Quiet by Susan Cain – Helped me see introversion as a strength, not a weakness
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown – Changed how I think about vulnerability, leadership, and connection
Radical Candor by Kim Scott – A practical guide to giving and receiving feedback with clarity and care
Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski – Explains the emotional exhaustion cycle and how to complete it, especially useful in high-pressure environments
✍️ Reflection habits that help me build soft skills:
Sometimes the best way to strengthen soft skills is by slowing down and reflecting. Here are a few journaling prompts I return to often:
What’s one piece of feedback I resisted at first, but eventually saw the value in?
Where did I adapt this week—even when it wasn’t easy?
How did I respond to stress or change—and what helped me stay grounded?
What’s one moment I felt proud of the way I handled something messy or unclear?
Soft skills grow with awareness. The more you reflect, the more you start to notice your own patterns—and the easier it becomes to shift them.
The soft stuff isn’t soft. It’s foundational.
The more I grow in my career, the more I see that tools and tactics are easy to learn. But the skills that really carry you—the ones that help you lead, collaborate, and deliver—are often the ones no one talks about.
So if you're working on your writing, your strategy chops, your SEO knowledge... amazing. Keep going.
But don’t forget to work on how you respond to feedback, handle change, and push through when it gets tough.
That’s what makes you a strong content marketer.
