Content marketing has grown to become a substantial portion of marketing budgets.
Approximately 90 percent of companies say they use content in their promotional efforts and, on average, marketers spend 25 percent of their overall marketing dollars on content. This is likely to rise in the future as 78 percent of CMOs perceive “custom content as the future of marketing” according to statistics offered by Demand Metric.
Why are so many marketers investing in content? They are meeting a demand. Advertising is no longer the one-way street it once was. Today’s consumers and B2Bs are more interested in information and like to draw their own conclusions based on information they have read. That being the case, to remain competitive, companies have to establish themselves as authoritative and earn trust.
Publishing ongoing custom content is important to a content strategy. But it is also a large commitment. There are blog posts, whitepapers and informational articles to be written, to name just a few types of content. With the high level of content production needed these days, meeting client deadlines often creates challenges for agencies. As a solution, many turn to outsourced content marketing firms.
Hiring expert content providers ensures firms will never miss a deadline. It also frees them up to focus on core competencies and other marketing strategies they prefer to keep in-house.
Produce content faster
A managed services provider can produce content at rapid speed. To get the jump on competitors, firms often need specific articles, reports or social media posts to go out ASAP. But even a single blog post can take hours to research, write and edit before it is ready to go live.
This can frequently be challenging to do in-house unless a full-time staff is available to consistently meet these needs. Most firms do not have this luxury. However, a third party content provider has a well-rounded level of personnel to promptly produce custom quality content.
Offer diversity in ideas
Another challenge firms often face is the ongoing need to come up with fresh content. To keep readers returning, content has to consistently be interesting and offer something of value. While repurposing content has its place at the right time, new content on a routine basis is a must.
Hiring out all or part of a content strategy can increase the diversity in ideas. Managed services providers have the experience to draw from. These specialists know their industries well and can consistently provide new ideas or give old ideas a twist in perspective. Accuracy and creativity are key in any content strategy, and adding the fresh ideas a third party can provide will ensure it keeps flowing — on time.
Sometimes it can be difficult for firms to write without an advertorial perspective. John Hall, CEO of Influence & Co., points out articles that read like ad copy will only attract spambots (actual readers may bounce off the page if an article is too “salesy”). Hall notes content providers can provide the “emotional distance” that is sometimes needed when creating content. Staff members too connected to the brand may take more hours to try and craft content since they have to add the objective factor into their writing process.
Enjoy a set schedule
Through outsourcing content, agencies can rest comfortably knowing their client deadlines are on a stable schedule. Content providers will make sure informational articles, blog posts or other materials are delivered on time, every time. If one writer falls off a project for some unforeseen reason, another writer will be available to quickly pick up the project and complete it.
Many firms cannot handle the steady stream of written material needed to fill a rounded content strategy. As a result, they are turning to managed service providers to meet these needs and are finding this to be a better and less expensive option that keeping it in-house.
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