Why Should You Outsource Content Writing?

Content creation and business growth are directly linked. Writing is the first impression for potential customers and will influence whether they like and trust your brand. Content is conversation, giving your business a sense of personality and expertise, so getting it right is important.

Whether you outsource or insource content writing depends on your content needs – are you hoping to send out a few blog posts each month, or are you aiming to send out frequent newsletters and social media posts? Does your website content need updating and SEO optimising? Is this something your current staff could handle on a regular basis?

You should outsource your content if:

• • It’s not getting done

Content is often left on the back burner whilst more urgent tasks are attended, but it is the core of communication with your customer. Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and more pressing concerns take your full attention. Content can sit on the to-do list for months, growing increasingly stale, and making your business appear inactive. If a website hasn’t been updated in months, a user may not be inclined to stay on the site, or may even view the business as lazy. By consistently bringing out new content you are showing your customers that you still care.

Outsourcing articles and other content can ease your worries and workload, and take the pressure off of other staff members who had been left with the task. If you’re a small business who can’t afford or don’t have the desk space for a full-time copywriter, outsourcing could be the perfect solution.

• • Your team lacks the relevant skills

Your team should be full of experts in your field, but perhaps they aren’t so clued up on grammar, spelling and punctuation, CMS, or SEO. Proving knowledge in your subject matter instils confidence in your audience, but not if you can’t coherently get your points across. If a sentence makes no sense, or there’s no natural flow between paragraphs, or your content is too jargon-heavy and difficult to understand, your client isn’t likely to finish reading or recognise you as a professional. Understanding your industry is only one half of the equation; your writer also needs to understand language and how it works in an online context.

Still not sure if outsourcing is for you? Our handy flowchart may help:

The benefits of content outsourcing

Beyond saving office space and saving your team from unnecessary stress, there are heaps of benefits to outsourcing writers.

Fresh ideas and perspectives

Some businesses may worry that digital marketing agencies won’t know understand your industry or be able to tell your story as well as you. Of course, to some extent this is true… but they do have accessibility to the internet and contacts in your business. A good agency will take time getting to know your business. You can provide them with all the important information they need to get started. Give them guides to read. Perhaps you could invite them to your premises. Walk them round, explain in person what you do and how you do it. Make them experts in your field too.

If you spend too long on a project, it can be difficult to see it from a different angle. By knowing your industry inside and out, you may fall into the trap of composing cumbersome, jargon-filled articles that aren’t helpful to your consumer. An outsourced writer can study your business and audience from an outsider’s perspective, finding new ways to present your content and attract potential customers. Because they aren’t working as closely with your product, they may think of something your company had never considered. Idea generation is the business of a marketing agency, after all.

Consistency

If you’re dividing content writing tasks between multiple colleagues, the tone of voice, style, and writing ability may differ significantly, making your brand consistency fluctuate and your site look like a less trustworthy source. In outsourcing to one writer for a specific content type, or even to multiple writers but with a set style guide, you’re ensuring that your brand maintains a reliable appearance.

SEO, tools, and networking

You should be able to trust that your chosen marketing agency know what they’re doing without much supervision. They should be fully trained in SEO to optimise content for web search whilst avoiding keyword stuffing. Without needing to train your writer, you can expect content to be written fast – potentially having new copy implemented by the end of the first week.

Outsourcing writers can help not only put your business in the best light, but also in the right places for people to actually see you. Writers with expertise in SEO and link building can get your content into relevant niche areas, and well-linked blog posts can draw search back to your main site. However, don’t expect results straight away. As with anything organic, ranking takes time, so even the best quality content won’t be first in SERPs from the very beginning.

Top quality content marketing not only requires a good writer, but also the use of relevant tools and strategies. If you’re insistent on insourcing, you should invest in memberships to keyword tools and other resources, but by outsourcing, your writer should already have access to these.

You’re still in control

Whatever is produced by your outsourced writer, you can always return to them and request for parts to be amended. If they’re good at their job, they will be able to take criticism and make the changes, whilst advising on how this will affect the search side of things. Regardless, you will always have the final say – it’s still your content. And if after a few months of trialling a marketing agency partnership you find yourself dissatisfied, you can simply stop their services. But don’t be put off outsourcing altogether – your perfect writer is out there somewhere!

Kumo can provide content marketing regardless of your sector. We will thoroughly research your business and industry to find new insights and unique angles, and combine this with our expertise in grammar, punctuation, and style. We can match your site’s tone of voice, or completely rehaul it if you’re looking to rebrand. Get in touch today to see how we can help your digital presence grow.