With opportunities abound in the online marketplace, content marketing is no longer an afterthought. It has become a major activity in business. If you want to compete favorably, you need to constantly put out one form of content or another.
According to research, 70% of marketers are already leveraging content marketing. Consistent content marketing brings enormous benefits to your brand. But it isn’t easy to sustain. If you have been creating and distributing high-quality content, you’d know that doing these requires a lot of commitment. And with a busy schedule to deal with, you may not always be up for it.
What’s the way forward? Outsourcing.
Giving your brand the exposure it needs is paramount. If for any reasons you can’t do it yourself, it’s okay to delegate that role to competent hands.
Here are 5 ways to outsource your content marketing without losing out.
1. Decide the content type to outsource
For many people, content marketing is all about written content. But as you may know, there are other forms of content including videos, infographics, podcasts, webinars, and animation among others. Each content type offers a unique value.
Figure out the content type your business needs, and decide whether or not you want to outsource. There’s no point outsourcing an activity you can handle yourself.
To appreciate outsourcing content marketing, you must acknowledge that you need external help, otherwise, you might end up undervaluing the services of external hands, causing unnecessary conflict.
2. Hire candidates with experience
First impressions matter. Your content is the first material prospects will see about your brand. If you are going to outsource your content marketing, you need to be sure that you are well-represented.
Today, anyone with internet network can be a digital marketer. Look beyond the job title. Your busy schedule might be one of the reasons you are outsourcing, you don’t have the time to bring a greenhorn up to speed. People with proven experience are more likely to deliver with little supervision.
Check out their track records. Ask to see samples of works published online, preferably in your niche.
3. Have a reasonable budget
Budgeting is a core element that determines outcomes of outsourced content marketing. Organizations often want a masterpiece, but aren’t ready to pay for it.
Writing job boards aren’t scarce; there are many to choose from online. By offering just a few dollars, your inbox will be flooded with responses to your advertisement for writers. But don’t be surprised if you don’t get the masterpiece you envisaged. It isn’t rocket science; high quality doesn’t come cheap.
Quality beats quantity. Organizations who understand this, engage the services of professional digital marketing agencies. They have no problems paying a reasonable fee for their services because they know the value of work they get in return. These folks are veterans in the business. Besides creating premium contents, they have a network for content distribution. You pay attention to running your business while they handle your content marketing from scratch to finish.
4. Give detailed instructions
Content marketing experts can only give you the great results you desire when you are clear about what you want. Every brand is peculiar. A content marketing campaign is most effective when it’s tailor-made.
Think of your outsourcing agency as a tool conveying you to your destination. For them to lead you there successfully, they need a map for directions. Spell out your instructions in black and white.
Every brand has a persona as well as a story. Discuss these elements with them. Do you have an existing style guide for your content? Make this known too. Brands with a style guide have a recognizable voice that distinguishes them from the crowd.
5. Measure ROI
At the end of the day, you want to see results. That’s the value you get for outsourcing expenses incurred.
How do you know that the experts you hired are doing a good job?
You can measure their performance by the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): website traffic, conversion rate, leads quality, sales, social shares, brand awareness and onsite behavior. Each of these metrics gives you an idea of your content marketing effectiveness. If you aren’t seeing positive results in most of these areas, if not all, you should get another content marketer.
Outsourcing content marketing, rightly, makes your brand look good online. You benefit from the expertise of content marketing professionals in the business. They present your brand to prospects in the most irresistible ways.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash
