One of the best investments you can make in your business is to outsource your content marketing. When you hire a professional content creator, you are partnering with an expert who will learn your brand and produce high-quality content to help you put your best foot forward for your target audience.
How to approach content marketing
Content marketing is an important part of marketing—especially your digital marketing strategy. You know how crucial your online presence is—the world has become very digital, and your target audience is searching for you on the web. When done correctly, your content marketing will help them find you.
Establish yourself as a leader
Content marketing helps establish you as a thought leader in your industry. You provide information about your products and services so that people learn that you’re the best in your field. High-quality content also creates buzz and interest in your company, which can help drive up leads and business!
High-quality content creation goes beyond the actual copy for your website and social media posts. Here are a few types of content marketing that are sometimes overlooked:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Checklists
- Newsletters
Your content marketing strategy should include a variety of written articles, infographics, videos, and checklists. The more variety you include, the more interest and leads you’ll earn!
Create a strong content marketing foundation
The main element of a strong content strategy is quite simple: your brand guidelines. Your company needs a professional logo and font, as well as professional imagery and Pantone colors.
These brand guidelines create the foundation for the rest of your marketing strategy. Branding helps your customers identify your website, products, and services.
Once you’ve established your brand guidelines, you can define your goals, identify your target audience, and then jump into content creation!
Make your brand known
You have a lot to offer your customers. Content marketing helps your target audience understand why your products and services are important.
How to outsource your content marketing
You want to increase your business. And content marketing can help! But where do you begin? How do you find a content creator? And what costs can you anticipate?
Investigate the content marketing services available
A professional content marketing agency can be your one-stop shop for many services, including the following:
- Website copy creation and editing
- Video and graphic production
- Social media posts
Whether you have a consumer-driven business or are searching for business-to-business (B2B) marketers, outsourcing your content creation can help catapult your company to the next level.
Choose the right content creation service
It can be difficult to choose the best content creation service to suit your needs. The best professional content creators offer a variety of services. And the true cream of the crop offers à la carte options.
Don’t feel the need to sign up for a contract that includes services you won’t use. Make sure that your content marketing agency is willing to be flexible to accommodate you.
Your content creator must also be up to date on current trends. Just as you are a thought leader in your industry, your content writer has to be a thought leader in theirs.
Make sure that they’re knowledgeable about your industry and have exciting ideas to bolster your marketing strategy.
Invest in the best content marketing option for your business
Costs for content writing and content creation are difficult to estimate. Your marketing agency likely has different pricing structures based on what you need.
But don’t forget that outsourcing content creation is an investment in your company. The marketing team you choose should be able to propose a plan that will help grow your business within your budget.
How to evaluate the pros and cons of outsourcing
There are pros and cons to every decision. And choosing whether to outsource your content marketing is no different! You should weigh the pros and cons specifically for your company. But in the meantime, here are a few things to consider.
Find out how outsourcing content marketing can optimize your employees’ time
You’ve hired the best candidates because they can help run your business like a well-oiled machine. But content creation is a unique talent that not everyone has.
Many employees are pulled in too many directions. Instead of concentrating on their actual jobs, they’re handling exterior tasks such as creating engaging content and digital marketing.
Outsourcing content creation will allow your employees to focus on day-to-day operations.
Embrace the vulnerability
Content marketing is personal. It’s about you and your business—what you’re good at and what you have to offer. And sometimes it’s even about your company culture. It can be difficult to share this with a third party.
But a professional content creator can look at your business from the outside in. This helps them bring a fresh and exciting perspective to your target audience.
When to begin outsourcing your content marketing
There is never a wrong time to begin outsourcing your content marketing. Content marketing is an ongoing part of every successful marketing strategy.
Your existing customers and your target audience are always in need of your products and services—so go out there and get them!
Launch a well-scheduled content marketing campaign
Consistency is key to content marketing. You want to stay in front of your target audience with fresh and exciting information.
You or your content marketing agency will develop a content calendar describing the topics and launch dates of your blogs, social media posts, case studies, and all other aspects of your digital marketing plan.
Additionally, any videos or infographics that your content marketing agency creates will take time to produce. That’s why it’s always helpful to keep a project schedule dictating milestones and important dates leading up to each project’s completion.
Identify how outsourcing can help you meet your current marketing goals
Before you decide whether to hire a content marketing agency, be sure to identify some key aspects of your marketing goals:
- What do you want your marketing campaign to look like?
- Who is your target audience, and how do you reach them?
- What is your budget?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to determine whether to hire a professional content creator or keep this aspect of your marketing strategy in-house.
How outsourced content marketing can expand your reach
You want to increase your customer base. And content marketing can help! High-quality content allows you to cast a wide net and reach a lot of people.
Use content marketing services to identify and market to your target audience
Marketing agencies know that the key to their success—and your success—is to communicate the right way to the right people.
They are strategists who will analyze your brand, culture, and industry. They’ll use that information to create a content marketing strategy that will help put you in front of as many people as possible.
Use content creators to create brand awareness and expand your audience
Content marketing doesn’t just stop at website copy and blogs. It includes platforms that you might not have broken into yet.
Are you on all of the social media platforms, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram? Are you creating helpful tools like checklists and case studies for your target audience to use as resources?
If not, your content creator can help. All of these aspects of your marketing strategy will help increase your search engine optimization (SEO). This drives traffic to your website, which helps increase your overall brand awareness and audience size.
How to create a successful content marketing campaign
Effective content marketing campaigns get fast results. You should see increased traffic, lead generation, and even sales. So how do you make sure your marketing campaign is successful? Here are a few things to remember.
Use content marketing strategies that set your brand apart
Successful marketing campaigns all have one main goal: increase your brand awareness. Almost invariably, this leads to more business for you.
Content marketing campaigns should be exciting and engaging. They should bring something new to the table. The internet is chock-full of content, so it’s important to set yourself apart.
Explore multiple avenues of content marketing
There are many different ways that content marketing can be successful. Here are a few ideas:
- Create a blog on your website. This helps establish you as a thought leader because you’re providing information to the public. And don’t forget to advertise your blog on all of your social media platforms!
- Post pictures of happy clients on your website. And ask your clients for quotes that you can post too! People love to share their stories and to read examples with happy endings. Use this to your advantage, and get some business out of your previous successes.
- Create a case study of a recent project—especially a B2B project. You can link your customer’s website throughout the case study. This helps both you and your client get some publicity.
How to get started with outsourcing your content marketing
So you’ve decided to outsource your content marketing. Congratulations! This is a big step toward a successful marketing strategy. Now it’s time to select a content agency and get started!
Consider the content marketing services you will need
First and foremost, make sure that your content marketing agency offers the services that you need. Here are a few services to consider:
- Website content creation
- Blog writing
- Editing and proofreading existing content
- Graphic design
- Video production
Each business is unique, so be sure to ask your potential content partners how they can serve your custom needs.
Budget for your content marketing service
Each year, your marketing team creates a budget to follow. But how much should they allocate for content marketing? The answer depends on your company and how much content you need created. Here are a few things that will affect the cost:
- Will your content creator need to create or revamp your website content?
- Will your content creator work on your social media platforms?
- Do you need any graphic design or video production?
Your content marketing agency will provide you with a custom quote to fulfill your needs.
How long to continue outsourcing your content marketing
Every business—regardless of industry—needs content marketing. Fresh content keeps your existing clientele interested and increases your target audience.
Evaluate the success of your return on investment
Content marketing is ongoing. It will always be a part of your overall marketing strategy. But how long should you continue to outsource your content creation rather than bring it in-house?
The main factor to consider when you answer this question is return on investment. You want to get a lot of bang for your buck.
If your content marketing strategy is bringing in lots of leads that turn into sales, then it’s an easy decision to continue outsourcing and stick with your marketing agency. If you’re not seeing as much return as you’d like, it might be time to reconsider or to find a new agency.
Consider outsourcing your content marketing permanently
Permanently outsourcing your content marketing means that you have a dedicated marketing team working relentlessly to help you succeed.
Your marketing agency has strategists, writers, designers, and editors who will keep creating content for you. It’s like having a team of marketing experts on your staff, but you only have to pay them when they create and post content!
Where to find the right content marketing experts
High-quality content marketing is vital to your business’s success. And Elite Editing is your on-call partner for all of your content needs. Contact us today to find out how we can help your marketing strategy succeed!