Content is the face of your brand. Strong content will give your businesses wings it never had. To build a content strategy that covers all bases, you need content experts from very early on in the business.
If you are stretched thin between your business goals and running a functional, consistent content strategy, then it’s time to start looking for a content agency.
Read this complete guide to know if you should (or not) hire an agency and how different an agency works from freelancers and in-house writers.
Deliver versatile, high-quality, and scalable content
There are as many content types as people on the internet. An agency will have skilled writers to write in multiple formats like long-form, case studies, newsletters, blog articles, ebooks, and more. Google ranking, social shares, and attracting more backlinks are still dependent on time-consuming formats such as long-form content. Whereas for sharing customer success stories, you need professionally written, impactful case studies with storytelling
Writing takes time, and writing good and versatile content takes even more time. To attain specific marketing goals, you need to churn out good content consistently. Agencies with their team of strategists, writers, proofreaders, and editors can do this with a lower turnaround time.
At Upword, we ensure high-quality content at volume with a thorough checklist process. Your content is vetted by experienced editors as well as intelligent software to check for tonality, apt word usage, and impeccable writing.
While most of the content calendar is planned, the internet world never ceases to throw curveballs. Riding on trends may not be a regular thing, but the rare times when it is, you will need to have enough bandwidth to accommodate such trends into your ongoing content strategy. And there’s no better than a content agency to rely on!
Manages the entire content creation operation
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When you hire an agency you are not just paying for a few writers to churn articles every day. You are paying for the research required to convert your brief into an SEO-optimised, value-driven, compelling content piece. You are paying for editing that is done by senior writers. You are paying for proofreaders to check for quality and brand requirements. And you are paying for the man-hours spent in coordinating to do all the tasks that go in delivering the final content piece.
Agencies have an entire infrastructure in place to deliver consistent, high-quality content that aligns with your business goals. At Upword, a content team usually comprises of client servicing personnel, a team of writers, senior editor, operations manager and a senior manager overseeing the entire process. We also deploy content digital inspection tools to take your content a notch up.
A poorly written and poorly optimized blog will only send your content in the regurgitated stash that is floating on the internet. By boosting your content with meticulous keyword research, content optimization, page structures, etc. we make sure that it ranks and becomes memorable.
Gives you a team of highly skilled writers
When you hire a content writing agency, you leverage a team whose advantage you inherit as a collective. Locking in a content agency will reduce the time spent searching for a writer every time a content task arises. At Upword, we induct writers by providing proper training, tools, brand playbooks, templates, and mentoring.
From keyword research to back-linking and researching – we groom our writers to keep up with the ever-changing content landscape. Upword also deploys a detailed 3-step process to hire writers and hosts fortnightly feedback sessions to create a win-win ecosystem where writers thrive, and brands grow.
Helps you to refocus on your core business
With an in-house team or freelance writers, you often have to step in and lead them. Tasks such as briefing, researching, and finding a way to connect your business goals with the content strategy often fall on the senior managers or the CEO.
Content creation takes up a lot of space. If you don’t have an adequate bandwidth for it, then you will have to compromise either on the quantity or the quality of the content. Both of which will have long-term adverse effects on your content marketing. Your content is going to live on your website or channel, so it better be best with no BS or fluff.
Hiring an agency will help you focus on your core business while taking care of your content needs. A content agency will help you optimally utilize existing resources for your core business goals while doing justice to your content marketing plans.
Your content isn’t giving you results (or not that significant results)
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Are you repeatedly seeing a flat graph of engagement metrics and stagnant marketing results? If yes, it’s time to consider a content agency.
Stagnant results hint that you are missing some key components in your content strategy. Upword helps you lay the building blocks of well-performing content and suggest ways to amp up your existing content to see remarkable results.
Need to revamp the content strategy
Content strategies need to be revised or revamped regularly depending on where you are in your business trajectory and goals. A nascent stage business that is just picking up will surely need a different strategy compared to a business that is focusing on expanding its product lines. It will need to generate awareness about its brand or product and generate leads. In contrast, an established brand might need to publish more case studies to push leads further in their customer journey and establish thought leadership.
Revamping a content strategy is a lot of work. From evaluating content needs, matching them with your business goals, to strategizing your content production and optimizing existing content– it’s quite a handful. If your business demands revisiting content strategy and reframing your content needs, then it’s time to contact Upword.
Consistency is getting compromised
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In the content world, consistency is the key. For your brand to make a mark in the audience’s mind, it needs to be continuously etched in creative ways. On average, it takes six months to gain traction with search engine picks.
Without consistency, your Google ranking will surely plummet. High-quality content helps Google pick up websites that produce relevant content with certain keywords and terms. An updated repository of high-quality content will also help you build authority and trust among your audience.
At first look, agencies may seem costly compared to hiring freelance or in-house writers. When you add the time spent in hiring, training, briefing, and getting well-versed editors, the overall cost of an agency will often be more reasonable than hiring freelancers or in-house writers.
Hence, when deciding between an agency and freelance/in-house writers, it is wise to look at long-term benefits.
Although you may want to consider other factors such as your need for content and where you are in your content marketing journey. Your higher-level content strategy needs to align with your business goals and your current growth trajectory.
If for some reason, content is not on your priority list or if your business might benefit from investing in content a few months down the line, then you may want to reconsider hiring an agency or any other external resource right away. If you are unsure about where content fits in, get in touch with us and have an experienced external resource take a look.
At Upword Media, we deliver well-crafted content and make sure that the content complements your overall growth and fuels your marketing engine. No matter how expansive and difficult your marketing goals are, we will ensure that content leads the way.
Stretched thin by the constant tasks and other responsibilities? If you answered yes, then it’s time to get some coffee with us and check our portfolio.
Get in touch with us here and start your stellar content marketing journey today!
FAQs
What should I look for when hiring a content writer?
You should look at the writer’s portfolio and check their experience, their niche, published work, and in some cases, their education specializations. It’s always a good idea to ask for a PoC or sample article to judge if they can meet your requirement.
Should I hire an agency?
If you are looking to scale up your content, then an agency should be your choice for volume with quality. A good content agency will bring with it, techniques and ideas to run an effective marketing campaign. You will leverage an experienced team whose advantage you will inherit as a collective. If the content is an integral part of your business, hiring a content agency is wise.
What does the content writing process entail?
A typical content writing process starts with a topic suggestion based on your keyword research, audience, and market study. The next step is vetting the brief, making an outline, writing, and editing. Upword writes publish-ready articles, case studies, newsletters, ebooks, and more and takes care of SEO optimization, images, plagiarism check, grammar, and readability check.
