Is it time to outsource your content marketing program? – Napa Valley Register
Outsourcing is a growing trend across industries, for companies of all sizes. It makes sense on a number of levels.
Regardless of industry, there are always going to be dips when staff layoffs become necessary. Severing a relationship is easier when there isnt the long-term investment that accompanies full-time employment.
A cost-effective solution.
A $50,000 employee could actually cost the company almost $78,500 per year. A contractor can often provide a higher level of expertise at a lower cost an estimated $36,000 per year.
Access to skilled resources.
Recruiting and training are significant workforce investments. With contractors, you get skilled workers performing at a high level, but the training is on someone elses dime.
Many business owners are reluctant to outsource their content marketing programs because they believe theyre the experts.
And theyre absolutely right. No one is going to know their business like they do but that doesnt mean they can write about it.
As a writer and content marketing expert, I frequently run into this problem on website projects. Business owners can be adamant about writing their own content.
The problem? Theyre often poor writers who already have demanding day jobs. Writing content for websites is a skill and a full-time job.
It requires being able to organize and group information, a focused writing technique and knowledge of SEO principles.
Those projects where companies insist on providing content often stall completely. When they work with a writer, the projects stay on track and meet deliverable dates.
Business owners are concerned that a professional writer wont be able to match their voice and brand. Nonsense.
A professional writer is trained to be able to represent a wide range of brands. Were intuitive and smart. We work hard to understand the nuances of the businesses about which were writing.
We get it right the first time. We save time by coming up with good content that needs just a quick review and approvalnot massive edits and rewrites.
It captures the audiences attention, relating with them on some level, and transferring knowledge or compelling action.
We work hard to follow industry news and people, making blogs and other posts relevant for our audiences. We look at the big picture, creating editorial calendars to identify important holidays, dates and events to leverage in blogs and social media posts.
Content marketing, to be effective, needs to be steady and consistent; it should inform and entertain, help people do their jobs.
Were careful about review and approval cycles, keeping our editorial calendars updated, making sure that were checking in regularly with our business-unit partners.
Best of all, we prepare reports to show that what were doing is working.
Janet Peischel is a writer, Internet marketing expert and the owner of Top of Mind Marketing. Contact Janet at 510-292-1843 or jpeischel@top-mindmarketing.com.
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Is it time to outsource your content marketing program? - Napa Valley Register