Most B2B marketers these days know how valuable content marketing is. Expert content is becoming more and more important in helping companies sell more and grow, but we have found that many companies struggle with it. Often the reason is the lack of in-house resources like skill and time, which is why content marketing gets pushed into the backlog.
No more excuses! Your B2B company needs content. But what do you do if you’re unable to keep it up with your in-house resources? Outsourcing is a great option!
Content marketing is in fact one of the most outsourced marketing activities, but many companies still worry about outsourcing their B2B content to an agency partner. Will an external partner be able to distill your expertise into quality content? Will you lose control over your marketing efforts?
You need not worry. Read further to learn about five (+1) convincing reasons why outsourcing content marketing is worth it and helps your business boost sales and growth.
This blog will discuss:
- How content will help you achieve your business goals
- Different options for building a content team – either in-house or by outsourcing
- Why outsourcing might be a relevant choice for your company’s unique content needs
- How successful content outsourcing may look in practice
Content is essential to the growth of your business
Companies that frequently publish high-quality content drive more website traffic, build more awareness, get more and better leads, and sell more. Content is also one of the more cost-efficient marketing approaches to boosting growth.
High-quality content helps your potential customers understand the problems they have, and how your product, service, or solution can help solve them. In other words, content provides your potential customers with the help they need when they need it, so they can move forward along their buying journey.
When you make all the needed information easily available to your potential customers, it makes buying more effortless for them.
Then, after they’ve already spent a lot of time interacting with your company and got all the help they needed, they are much more likely to buy from you instead of from your competitors.
What kind of writing talent does content marketing require?
Now that we agree on the importance of content, how do we go about producing it? Surely you can just go ask your colleagues and have someone take it over. Because anyone can write, right? Right?
Wrong! Writing is hard, and I’m not saying this just to preserve my professional ego.
Content writing requires more than solid grammar and accurate spelling, although technical skill certainly matters as well. Content brings writing skills and marketing skills together. This ensures your content production will tie seamlessly into your marketing strategy.
Some storytelling ability is also required. That means talent in catching the attention of the reader and engaging them. Stories are impactful – even when they are about complex B2B products or service offerings. Technical descriptions and acronyms? Not so much.
In addition to the skills, content writing also requires time. Your coworkers have other stuff to do, so keeping up with a steady publishing and promotion pace might feel like quite a mountain to climb.
That’s why you need help with content production. Next, we’ll share what kind of options there are for you to consider.
In-housing vs. Outsourcing: the benefits and disadvantages
We have established that you need a professional writer. Of course, you can hire one. You can even build your own in-house content marketing team of specialists. But this doesn’t come without any hiccups. That’s why many businesses rely on marketing agency collaboration and outsourcing their content production.
Hiring is time-consuming and always comes with risks. What if your content marketing needs suddenly change? An in-house team cannot necessarily provide the flexibility you’re looking for.
For a lot of companies, the cost of hiring is the top reason why in-housing is not an option. Hiring a full-time writer is particularly risky when your content marketing strategy is still in its early stages.
If you’re unable to run your content production in-house, you need to start looking for options. Outsourcing is a great one.
One might argue that since writing content is difficult in itself, writing content for someone else might be even harder. But you’d be surprised what a professional writer can do. A skillful writer can easily pick up your style and tone of voice and tell your stories in an interesting way.
In this blog, we will focus on how outsourced content production can help you reach your business goals.
Next, we will share 5+1 great reasons why you should consider outsourcing your content production.
Why you should outsource your content
Whether you’re looking to strengthen your in-house team with complementary skill and knowledge or save your own resources for core activities, outsourcing is worth it. Here, we have five excellent reasons why you should consider it – and then some.
1. Get access to diverse digital marketing expertise
Your outsourced content writer is surrounded by all sorts of marketing talent at their own workplace. Through the content collaboration, you get access to the entire team’s digital marketing knowledge and skills.
To meet such a level of skill diversity by in-housing, you would have to hire an entire team of marketers. This makes outsourcing a much less risky and more cost-effective option.
Why stop at content production when you can go all the way? When you hire an agency, you get content strategy, copywriting, design, SEO skills, paid social, and consulting – all in one package. This kind of agency collaboration will support your marketing efforts in a more holistic way.
We at The F Company offer a range of digital marketing services. If you choose to outsource your content to us, we can provide everything you need from copywriting to graphic design and paid marketing. We are also more than happy to help you with your content strategy.
2. Save your own resources for core activities and strategy
Your resources are limited. Make sure to optimize their use.
A consistent content marketing strategy is a lot to handle. Researching, writing, editing, and publishing alone can take a big chunk from your weekly hours. Even if you don’t account for distribution or search engine optimization, content writing is a full-time job. Many companies struggle with the workload. That’s why content often gets pushed into the backlog.
Why not push it into someone else’s hands instead? Outsourcing is a lifesaver when you want to grow but can’t find the time and skill for everything. Collaborating with an agency allows you to work on core activities, such as strategy and business development.
Make sure your content doesn’t get pushed into the back seat again. Don’t let lack of time or human resources inhibit your growth. Hire the extra hands you need. It’s worth it.
3. Ensure the scalability of your marketing
Outsourcing content is relatively cheap. When you’re working with an outsourcing partner, it’s also scalable.
Agencies can quickly respond to your changing content needs, which reduces your own risks. Your content efforts are then not bound by the size of your own team.
In-house recruitment can often be time-consuming and challenging. As such, it is a typical barrier to growth. Outsourcing allows you to not worry about hiring or onboarding content creators. Your partner does it for you.
Your content needs might also change substance-wise. Suddenly you may need skill in writing for a completely new platform or format. Working with a suitable partner and their team of writers ensures scalability not only for quantity but for quality as well.
4. Gain perspective and fresh ideas from collaboration
You don’t know what you don’t know. Luckily, your outsourcing partner can share their insights, challenge your own thinking, and help you detect blind spots. Working with an agency grants you access to much more brain power than you previously had.
Content writers have worked with companies in a variety of industries. They know what has worked for others in the past. You can truly benefit from the knowledge and experience of not just your own agency partner but of every company they have previously worked with.
Sometimes all you need is a little bit of outside perspective. Collaboration with an agency grants you access to a variety of fresh and diverse viewpoints and powerful ideas.
With a content partner, you can also stay on the pulse of recent developments and content trends. Once they get to know you, they’ll also be able to come up with ideas that are unique and valuable to your business.
5. Strengthen your in-house content team with added skills and resources
Maybe you already have an in-house content specialist or even a full team of specialists. You may still sometimes find yourself and your team needing some help.
Maybe the workload is becoming a lot to handle for your team. Or maybe you need some specialized skills that your in-house team doesn’t yet have. In any case, outsourcing remains a powerful option to get the content marketing boost you need.
Consider the agency collaboration as an extension of your in-house content team – strength in numbers, complementary skills, whatever you need.
In this way, you can instantly reach your needed scale and scope without having to spend lots of time and money on hiring and onboarding.
Bonus: Reach more people through extended networks
Outsourcing your content to an agency partner comes with one more indirect benefit. With better access to greater brainpower, you also gain access to new and bigger networks. And with bigger networks, you may be able to reach completely new audiences and potential customers.
Do not think about the outsourced content project as a relationship only. Consider it a connection to a greater business ecosystem.
The benefit of this amplified network access is not limited to just reaching new potential buyers.
Imagine a situation where you suddenly need to find a specialist for a very niche area. Or maybe you need content in a totally new language. Your partner’s networks will certainly come in handy when looking for skillful freelancers and translators.
What does successful content outsourcing look like?
Many companies have been able to overcome the daunting task of meeting their content marketing objectives by successfully outsourcing some or all of their content writing. Hiring extra hands has helped them boost growth with relatively low risk and cost.
Here, we have a comment from a happy client, Ville Vaajanen, Content Producer at Enfuce. Smooth content collaboration with an outsourcing partner can look like this:
“The F Company has become an extension to our marketing team and their content production efforts have been extremely valuable. They managed to quickly adapt to our tone of voice and writing style, which is why they complement our content production so well.”
In the end, all you need is a strategy, a budget, and a suitable content writing partner. Then, only the sky is the limit.
Do you need help with your content marketing? Are you perhaps on the lookout for a B2B digital marketing agency? May we suggest some further reading on this topic:
- How copywriting and content help you reach your B2B business objectives
- Marketer’s checklist for digital agency cooperation
- What makes a great B2B digital marketing agency and how do you know if you are working with one?
And if you are happy with what you have just read, you know who to contact!