As humans have evolved, we’ve learned the importance of delegating tasks and spreading the workload in order to maximize efficiency. Certain jobs simply require more than one pair of hands in order to be done well.
So why would you want to handle your content marketing completely on your own?
Most marketers have fallen prey to the “I’ll just take care of it myself” attitude towards content marketing. Surely they can handle sending out some emails, making some social posts, and writing a blog post each week, while at the same time, juggling all of their other marketing activities, such as managing AdWords campaigns and preparing for an upcoming tradeshow, right?
If you want effective content, you can’t do it half-heartedly. Content needs to be a prioritized part of your marketing strategy in order to drive results. This means regular production of high-quality content that is serving its purpose – getting your brand seen.
As Mari Smith (@marismith) advises, “Creating and curating the best quality content on a consistent basis, that is timely and relevant for your audience, is the first step towards successful content marketing. From there, you can build a significant audience over time, make appropriate offers, and generate revenue. It sounds a lot easier than it is!” (Source: Marketizator ).
Rather than trying to go it alone, when you outsource content marketing, you get a quality product at a lower cost, and you have plenty of additional resources to help you craft an even stronger content strategy.
Still not convinced? Check out these five reasons why you should outsource your content marketing.
1. It Will Be Less Expensive
What has contributed to content marketing being so widely embraced? It is one of the lowest cost methods of marketing – 62% less than traditional forms, to be exact – yet, the most effective; content brings in nearly three times the amount of leads and can be a major boost for SEO .
And yet, 58% of professionals surveyed identified a limited budget as their greatest challenge to content marketing.
Most marketers think that they have to hire a content marketer for their staff, but when you outsource content marketing, the costs go down even more, bringing your ROI higher, and making a results-driven content strategy a reality. Hiring a full-time writer for your staff means a salary, benefits, and more, dropping those returns down further.
2. Get The Skills
The omnipresence of social media and online communications has tricked many a person into believing they are a gifted writer, but this neglects to take into account the diversity of skills required to be a gifted content writer. Approximately 34% of marketing professionals struggle to find the right content marketers and get their content marketing strategy going effectively, because they are looking for someone who has all the needed skills.
Instead, when you outsource content marketing, you’ll have access to a range of different writers with different skills, which means you can diversify the assets you produce. Your content will remain fresh, and you can change up your voice as you need to fit your growing brand.
3. You Have Options
When you outsource content marketing, you can find a freelancer to help out, or you can go with a content agency. But, you’ll need to look at both options to figure out what is right with you.
Hiring an individual freelancer sounds like it would be cheaper and require less commitment than working with an agency, but often the reverse is true. Yes, there are plenty of freelancers who will work for peanuts, but you will get what you pay for. Plus, when you work with an individual freelancer, you will be the person responsible for guiding them, editing them, and approving the final product.
On the other hand, working with an agency means you’ll have a third-party in between you and the freelancer, cutting down on the amount of time you need to spend worrying about the content, and giving you a higher-quality product as a result.
4. Outsource Content Marketing and Produce More Content
57% of B2B marketers cite producing enough content to be their biggest challenge this year. When you outsource content marketing, you are getting ahead of the game. Content isn’t just blog posts or email newsletters – it is nearly everything that you produce under the rubric of modern marketing. If you have a single writer on staff, even if they are a writing machine, you’ll struggle to get the output levels necessary for success.
According to HubSpot, businesses that post at least 16 blog posts each month generate over 4.5 times as many leads and 3.5 times as much traffic as companies who only post four or less times a month. And that’s just blogs.
To be effective on social media , you need to be active. Industry recommendations for 2016 levels of posting activity on just the largest networks are:
- Facebook: 5-10 posts a week
- Twitter: 3-5 posts a day
- Instagram: 1 post a day
- Pinterest: at least 5 pins a day
Add to this list on-site content, technical content like white papers, and digital assets like imagery and videos, and you can see how the workload can quickly overwhelm an employee.
5. You Need to Focus Elsewhere
If it’s not obvious yet, doing content marketing right takes time – and your time is your money. Your time is likely better spent curating a brand presence, identifying topics and areas of focus, and managing your team.
In today’s fast-paced world of marketing, it’s important to stay ahead of the game. An effective content strategy means that you need to stay up-to-date on trends, and you need to be well-versed in producing digital assets like video. If time spent on writing isn’t enough, handling your content marketing in-house means you’ll also need to devote time to learning the tools of the trade and staying on top of them, giving you even less time to focus on the big picture.
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