Why you should outsource content marketing (and how)

Content is king. But you’ve heard that one too many times. 

Like that song you once loved and played all the time, it’s starting to sound like a broken record.

So yeah, I could say that this won’t be a post telling you exactly that, but I’d be lying. This article is in fact, about content being king. Not just content though: content marketing.  

Content marketing is basically finding the sweet spot between great content creation, brand storytelling and customer acquisition. It involves writing, publishing, distributing and analyzing the impact of content on business growth.

So why should you do content marketing?

Demand Metric reports that 90% of organizations already use content as part of their marketing efforts and it generates 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing. 

Awesome right? I know.

So of course, you want your business to be one of the success stories. You want to be one of those companies that keep acquiring customers from your content long after you’ve hit ‘publish’. 

Now as a marketing or business executive, you already know that content marketing is a growth strategy that is too important to ignore. We even wrote a whole ebook about it.

So what’s the real problem? It could be either of these:

• You don’t have the time to execute all your content ideas yourself.
• You lack a member of staff to do it for you.
• You don’t have the budget, time or energy to hire and supervise a full-time employee.

That brings us to my next point.

Why should you outsource content marketing?

With great power comes great responsibility. And the responsibility of attracting, converting and retaining new customers is at the heart of your role as a company executive.

This is where the concept of outsourcing content marketing comes in.

Remember the last fantastic idea you were going to start working on as soon as you had a bit of downtime? Recall how you felt 10 months later when it never happened because you didn’t get the time to implement it?

Yeah, yeah, that’s the feeling. Not a good one.

But before you let your mind wander off to all the horror stories you’ve heard, or even first-hand experiences you’ve had with outsourcing content to freelancers, take a deep breath.

As a marketing strategist at Hera, I know how frustrating it can be paying to get a task off your table and still having to do the heavy lifting of follow-up and quality assurance. At some point, you start to feel like it wouldn’t have made any difference if you had just done it yourself.

Quick heads up, this is where I add in a plug about Hera, because if you’re looking for a truly stress-free way to outsource content marketing, we’re worth a look.

The Hera workflow is  specifically designed to tackle the nightmare of freelancers that make outsourcing content more stressful than doing it yourself. With minimum supervision from you, we produce consistently high-quality content by assigning you a writer, an experienced editor, a social engagement strategist and a team of peer reviewers.

We’ve perfected a process that enables us to aid scalable growth for our clients around the world through content. And you can learn about how Hera works here.

So, I have made a case for the effectiveness of outsourcing content marketing when done right. And you are probably considering it now.

But to really get the ball rolling, you need something more to work with, something you can share with your team maybe – to convince them that content marketing is actually worth including in the marketing budget.

Never fear. I got you. Here are five reasons you should outsource content marketing:

1. You can spend more time working on strategy and other core business activities

Creating a regular blog post takes a lot of effort and time. Combine that with social media content and search engine optimization and you’ve got a full-time job. Outsourcing content marketing to professionals will save you some productive hours which you can put towards creating a strategy if you’re a marketer or working on other core tasks, as a business executive.

2. You can implement more of your content ideas faster and with more attention to detail

When you outsource content marketing, it is a form of delegation. So if you have content ideas and share them with the professionals you are working with, they pick it up and run with it. And with their expertise and experience, they tend to put out quality content way faster than you could ever have done on your own. Then, on to the next.

3. It is less expensive than hiring one or more full-time employees to handle content projects

Compared to hiring a full-time writer or a team of full-time writers, outsourcing is actually quite cost-effective. 

If you employ a full-time writer, you will spend a lot on salaries, work equipment, training, medicals, taxes and all other expenses that come with hiring staff members. With outsourcing though, all you have to do is pay for the content you need and keep it pushing.

4. You’ll get access to fresh perspectives from writers with expertise in different industries and topics

In the words of Paul Zalewsky, Vice President of Marketing at Verblio, ‘outsourcing content marketing can bring a unique skill set and new, powerful ideas to the table.’ We couldn’t agree more.

You need to find experts who will share and execute new ideas that you haven’t even thought of in your organization. They’ll also bring in a unique experience writing for certain industries and on specific topics that’ll improve the overall quality of your content output.

5. You can execute strategies, build your brand and achieve marketing goals faster

When you engage an outsourced content creation platform, you get a consistent supply of content to put out. You will also benefit from their experience and expertise, which may be way beyond what you already know about marketing. 

Put side by side with simply hiring a freelancer to do the job, outsourcing to a structured company of content managers is a better option. Instead of just getting someone who will follow instructions and nothing more, you can partner with a content marketing company that will ensure your content strategy is in line with your marketing plan and business goals, way beyond just writing.

How to outsource content marketing

1. Identify your needs and budget
2. Check out writing samples from your prospective outsourcer
3. Provide your outsourcer with everything they need to know about writing for your company
4. Give feedback to improve the process

Conclusion

Basically, when you outsource content marketing, you get to focus on the business goals that got you passionate from the start.

As you see from the image above, saving time and money by outsourcing content marketing gives you room to allocate more resources to other aspects of your business. 

Let teams like Hera handle the writing, while you direct your energy into growing your business and meeting the needs of your customers.

About Oyinkansola Ogunyinka

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We have worked with over 24 startups to drive conversions through increased community presence and relevant blog posts that we help distribute. To understand our process, book a 15 - 30 minutes meeting with us.