Editorial Taste Signal Test
Find people who can turn overlooked signals into compelling content.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
Editorial taste is the ability to recognize an overlooked data point, story, or point of view and turn it into content people genuinely want to consume. Unlike search-led production, it cannot be reduced to serving already quantified information demand. Hiring teams should therefore test judgment directly: give candidates raw topics or signals, observe what they select, ask why the audience will care, and evaluate whether their treatment adds differentiation, personality, and entertainment value. This capability is especially important as technology brands compete not only with peer companies but with every business-content creator for fragmented attention. A brand that wants to become a taste maker must employ people who already demonstrate taste-making instincts and then give them enough freedom to use those instincts rather than forcing all work into conventional product-content patterns.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain
Core principles
- 01Editorial taste is distinct from information production.
- 02Taste makers find signals and viewpoints others overlook.
- 03Compelling treatment requires differentiation and personality.
- 04Search data cannot fully quantify what audiences will engage with.
- 05Brands that want to shape taste must hire actual taste makers.
- 06Editorial judgment requires freedom and develops through practice.
How to run it
- 1
Provide Raw Signals
Give a candidate or team a collection of topics, data points, trends, and conventional story ideas.
Pro tip Include both obvious and easily overlooked material.
Watch out An overly narrow assignment may test execution rather than taste.
- 2
Observe Selection
Ask which signal deserves coverage and why. Look for the ability to identify an angle that others are missing.
Pro tip Require the person to name the intended audience reaction.
Watch out Novelty without relevance is not editorial taste.
- 3
Test the Treatment
Have the person outline how they would cover the idea across an appropriate medium. Evaluate differentiated framing, personality, and entertainment value.
Pro tip Use the actual channel the role will own, such as video, podcast, or newsletter.
Watch out Do not reward polish that disguises a generic angle.
- 4
Compare with Data-Led Choices
Examine how the proposed story differs from content selected only through search or performance data.
Pro tip Use data as context while preserving room for unquantified judgment.
Watch out Rejecting all data is as limiting as obeying it blindly.
- 5
Grant Controlled Freedom
Give demonstrated taste makers room to publish strong points of view and learn from audience response.
Pro tip Set clear brand and ethical boundaries while leaving editorial decisions open.
Watch out Hiring for taste and then requiring generic product content wastes the capability.
In the wild
A technology company gives candidates ten industry developments and a small dataset. One candidate selects an overlooked pattern, frames a surprising argument, and proposes a personality-led video treatment rather than summarizing the obvious news.
→ The company evaluates editorial judgment through demonstrated selection and framing instead of relying on conventional content credentials.
The hosts describe media practitioners as skilled at isolating a unique data point or point of view and making it interesting through differentiated coverage and personality.
→ Media-style editorial judgment becomes a distinct capability for technology marketing teams to recruit.
Common mistakes
Hiring Only Information Producers
A person may reliably answer search queries without being able to find or shape culturally compelling stories.
Equating Novelty with Taste
An unusual angle must still connect to audience interest and the brand's relevant territory.
Removing Editorial Freedom
Taste cannot create differentiated output when every decision is constrained to safe, conventional product messaging.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for brands hiring editorial leaders, producers, newsletter writers, podcasters, or media-oriented content marketers.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for purely technical documentation roles where accuracy and completeness dominate editorial differentiation.
From the transcript
“the number one skill that marketers today do not know is important, that is going to be everything in the future, is editorial taste.”
“they are able to like distill in, find a unique data point or a unique point of view and extract that and make it really…”
“most brands want to be a taste maker, but they don't hire people who are taste makers.”
From the episode
The Future of Marketing, Disruptive Business Models, Growing in Unfair Ways