You can just buzz up that freelance writer your marketing pal recommended, tell them you need a blog post about running shoes, or big data, or apple sauce recipes, and 500 words of genius will appear next week for you to post. Or you’ll get … garbage.

Because if you put garbage into the process, that is precisely what you will get back—garbage.

Ok, maybe it’s not quite that black and white (maybe you won’t get total trash back), but working with freelance writers to create really good, valuable content to feed your content marketing strategy takes work on your end. For each … piece … of … content. Sorry. But it’s true.

One of the best things you can do is to establish a solid relationship with a freelance writer who you can count on to be your go-to guy or gal. You may want more than one freelance writer for your company, but have one you can count on to consistently deliver. They will come to understand you, your style and preferences, and you will get comfortable working with them. Things will get increasingly easier and writing assignments will, in fact, become less work for you.

Here are some tips for getting really good content from freelance writers (as well as in-house writers) that will hopefully make the job a little easier on you, as well.

If it is the writer’s first time working with you (or writing this type of piece):

Identify the audience. Offer any industry or demographic information you might have about the reader. Is he or she sophisticated? Knowledgeable about the subject matter? Does your content need to educate on the basics before diving into the detail or should it speak to a mid-career professional as if it’s understood that she has all the basic knowledge under her belt? Although you may use one writer consistently, for some companies the audience may change with different publications, so this could be a frequent conversation. Along with this, let the writer know how the piece will be used, marketed or distributed. The big picture is often helpful.

Describe the style of writing. Is it casual or formal? Is the writer ghostwriting for someone? If so, encourage a conversation with that person so your writer gets a real-time feel for how your bylined author truly expresses himself or herself.

Offer background on your company. Company history, recent developments, target verticals, press kit, bios of key executives (especially those who may be ghostwritten for or function as subject matter experts) and any recent publications are helpful.

Provide source material. Do you curate content from other sites? If you do and have a list of sites you use and find valuable, offer it to your writer. A good writer will appreciate industry background and will create better content for you with reliable research and sources to work from.

Provide links to the competition. Offer the writer a look at what the competition is doing and provide comments on what you feel is done well and the types of things you’d like to stay away from.

Describe what you like. If there is work from any other sources that you feel is well crafted or that you’d like to emulate, send it to the writer to review. It’s always easier when he or she knows what is a big winner with you or what will be sure to make you come back for revisions.

For every piece of content you assign to your writer:

Define what type of content you need. Seems simple but to a writer, it’s critical. A blog post is very different from a white paper, and they may very well not be suitable for the same writer. Some writers thrive on the short form; some only do well over 2,000 words.

Provide the angle for the piece. What is the goal of this piece of content? What is the problem you are trying to solve, story you are trying to tell, or point you are trying to make? Some pieces will have one point (like a blog post) and some will have more (like an eBook), but you MUST define this for every piece you do or you will end up with a roaming page of words that has no purpose. Make sure you and the writer are on the same page with this before you set him or her free to write. If you think there is a gray area that is ill defined, there probably is. This is where your highest likelihood exists for a return of garbage if you don’t provide detail and definition.

Be clear about the length. I always offer a range of words, but “not more than XX” also works. Generally, I’m ok if a writer goes a little over, but I’d rather not be left short. Cutting is easier than adding.

Describe what should be covered. Provide either notes (good), bullets for points that should be covered (better), or an outline for how you want the piece to be ordered and flow and what you hope to cover (best). If there are any “must cover” points, be sure to let your writer know that those can’t be left out. A good writer may tell you afterward that it didn’t make sense to include one point or another because it no longer fit with the angle or the piece shifted after the discussion with the subject matter expert. That’s ok. As long as you still have a good angle (close to your original goal) and most of your target points were covered, you should have a good piece.

Include target keywords. If you are creating web-based copy, provide these up front when you send all the other detail for your piece so that the writer can incorporate them as he or she is writing rather than having to figure out how to shove them in after the fact.

When you assign your content, remember, the writer doesn’t instinctively know everything about your project, especially if you’re using a freelancer. He or she doesn’t know if you forgot to mention something or to include an important point in your outline. Take the time to think through what you really want in your next piece of content and lay the groundwork for your writer. He or she will thank you, and you will get a sweet-smelling piece of thought-provoking content back instead of garbage.

Have any other tips for working with freelance writers? Leave us a comment. Learn how to use your new content to feed your content marketing strategy. Download our eBook, “How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.”

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Shops are where you go to buy things—commodities. You can put the “things” in your cart, check out, and use them when you get home. Content marketing isn’t a “thing” you can put in your cart and start using right when you get back to the office.

But many companies— at least 44% are outsourcing their content creation, according to the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends annual report—are out there looking for businesses that they may call “content marketing shops” or “content marketing agencies.”

Let’s assume you’re one of those companies that has made the decision to outsource all or part of your content marketing effort. You’ll attempt to scope out what you need. You’ll ask for and receive referrals. You’ll inevitably start Googling (we all do it, don’t be ashamed), perhaps starting with a search for content marketing firm.

Go ahead. Google it. I made it easy for you.

Skimming both the paid and organic results for 30 seconds, here’s what I see. A firm that clearly thinks content marketing is all about social media. All kinds of software companies offering magical tools and platforms. An agency that claims to have the best writers. Another one with a “system” that will get you leads.

How am I supposed to choose?

I don’t envy you, Mr. or Mrs. Content Marketing Buyer. Many of these companies, despite the fact that they believe they specialize in content marketing of some sort, clearly don’t know who they are. So how can you sort them all out and figure out what they really do?

Let me offer one piece of advice: Don’t buy content marketing from a content marketing shop.

Content marketing is not a tactic, or a program, or a campaign—it’s not a thing you can put in your cart at the “content marketing shop.” It should be woven into every facet of marketing, and some not-so-obvious areas of your business, as well.

What should you be looking for? Here’s a starting five.

1. Strategy first, planning second, execution and tactics a distant third

One of the most commonly uttered phrases from companies looking for an outsourced content marketing solution is, “I just hope you guys can execute on all of this, because I know we can’t.”

Meanwhile, I am thinking, “We have to nail the strategy and plan. Without that, all the execution in the world won’t matter.”

In a sea of me-too approaches from me-too marketers, the better strategy always wins. Be wary of any firm that jumps right into execution and tactics.

Here’s an actionable test: Tell the firms you are considering that you already have a content marketing strategy and plan, and then shut up. If you hear crickets instead of questions, walk.

2. Content creation is not content marketing

You know what separates a well-written blog post from a superbly written blog post? Words. Structure. Maybe the tone.

You know what allows that well-written blog post to generate twice the readership and three times the engagement and sharing than the superbly written blog post? Marketing.

Here’s another easy test to separate the pretenders from the contenders: Show your potential firms a piece of content you’ve published. Ask them what they’d do with it. If all they talk about is the content itself and how they can create more of it, they’re probably not marketing with content.

3. A belief (and approach) that focuses on quality over quantity

Believe it or not, sometimes the best approach is less content, not more. This is especially true when that approach translates into content of higher quality.

Beware the content factory. You’ll know them when you see them. Their PPC ads say things like “Thousands of branded articles” or “Boost traffic instantly!” They will wow you with their portfolio of 2,000 content marketing clients…all of whom are on the $49.99/month-for-562-absolutely-craptastic-articles plan.

Avoid producers of crap. If there’s a winner in this content marketing game, I promise it won’t be them.

4. Embrace the power of SEO

While there are exceptions to this rule, I would not hire an SEO firm to handle my content marketing.

Why?

For such a long period of time, SEO (and therefore, SEO firms) was focused on things like links, keywords and rankings. Quality didn’t always matter as long as rankings improved and organic search traffic increased.

A bird and a bear named Penguin and Panda started to change all of that, and more changes are coming. Today’s SEO values original content, in-depth research and thoughtful analysis.

Again, the litmus test to determine whether your content marketing contenders understand the evolution of SEO is not complex – they should be able to point to some specific examples of clients who improved organic rankings and traffic through content marketing and they should be able to articulate their general approach to optimizing content for search engines…and for people.

5. Practicing not just preaching

Remember: you’re a business of some sort, looking to attract and transact with customers of some sort, and you’re thinking that content marketing may be able to help with that.

The content marketing service providers you are considering likely fall into that same boat, so if they believe in it enough for you to invest in it, then they better be investing in it themselves.

And if they’re not doing it, ask why not. And just listen. If they can’t get past the typical content marketing obstacles, you might be facing the same thing. Their excuses may become yours.

Off you go

Don’t make this process more complex than it has to be. You’re going to run into SEO firms, PR firms, digital agencies, design shops, direct marketing services, and everything in between.

Outsourcing content marketing is not all that different than outsourcing other areas you’ve likely already conquered. While there will be plenty of shops out there daring you pull their content marketing version off the shelf and throw it into your shopping cart, take a more strategic approach. Start with finding someone that understands business and the business challenges that can be addressed with marketing. Then determine whether that person or entity understands where content marketing fits within a broader marketing approach.

Then you can get into the details of what they know about content marketing – if they’ve made it past the business and marketing test, my guess is that they’ll pass the content marketing test as well.

Before you start your search, I encourage you to download our eBook, How To Grow Your Business With Content Marketing. I suspect you’ll come away with at least a few new ideas, and perhaps an entirely new perspective, on maximizing your content marketing investment.

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Do you have 100+ ideas floating around in your head? Yeah, I thought not (me, either). So, where do you get all those ideas if they don’t pour out of you each morning and into your editorial calendar?

You don’t have to do it all yourself

You don’t have to shoulder the burden alone. There are probably people lurking in your organization with great, untapped ideas for posts—they just haven’t been asked. A brainstorming session can bring some of this unmined creativity to the surface, yielding tons of ideas to fill your editorial calendar. A session that is facilitated well will be seen as productive—and even fun—but one that is not run smoothly can lead to boredom and frustration on the part of the participants, who often feel that they are doing you a favor by showing up.

Here are seven tips for getting the most out of your content brainstorming session:

1. Establish a clear objective—Just saying you’re going to come up with some topics for the editorial calendar is probably going to have the meeting jetting all over the place, as opposed to brainstorming ideas around a specific topic. Identify one, or choose a few topics and spend 15-20 minutes of the meeting generating ideas on each topic: maybe a holiday, a particular goal, specific pain points in your industry, a new product launch, etc.
2. Assemble a diverse group—If you are a small company, your invite list may not show a lot of variety, but if you are larger, try to choose from diverse areas of the organization to get differing ideas. Think about how many people you’re going to put into the room, too. This is not a case where more is better—shoot for between six and 12 people.
3. Throw out the first idea—The goal is to generate good ideas, not to feel awkward because no one wants to go first, and you know that no one ever wants to go first. Just plan to throw out the first idea to get things going.
4. Compile more than just a few ideas—Don’t jump into deep discussion on the first few ideas. The idea here is to amass a big list of ideas. They won’t all be big winners, but sometimes, crazy ideas lead to great things.
5. Capture anything and everything—There are lots of ways you can do this (white board, easel, giant Post-it Notes, Evernote) but keep track of what you come up with, even the stuff you decide you won’t use. When you conjure an idea that sparks conversation, put it in the center of a “web” diagram and encourage the group to come up with other ideas to spin off the original, like a spider web.
6. Set a time limit/Come to some conclusions—Set a time limit for the idea generation portion of the meeting so that near the end, you can take a look at your list(s) of ideas and dive in a bit deeper to form conclusions.Categorize your ideas based on your requirements for what makes a good piece of content. Group them into the ones that lend themselves really easily to creating a great blog post, those that might need more discussion, and those that maybe aren’t blog posts but have alternative potential—can they be adapted into other types of content? Perhaps a webinar or a white paper? During this analysis process you might also be able to identify some new writers or subject matter experts you didn’t realize were interested. Is anyone in your brainstorming group willing to write a post based on one of your new ideas or contribute as an “expert”?
7. Stop while everyone is still happy—You’ve heard of the law of diminishing returns? At a certain point, you don’t get more out of the situation by continuing, you get less. If the silences get long, people yawn, and the ideas seem to be, well, not great, you probably should have stopped ten minutes ago. Wrap it up. Better yet, cap the meeting at 60 or 90 minutes and move through your topics so people don’t feel like the meeting drags. If everyone is happy at the end you can ask your new creative geniuses if they are willing to brainstorm with you again.

Truth be told, there are lots of ways to run a brainstorming meeting. The key is to be organized about it and come out with good, actionable ideas. Sometimes, the ideas are harder to come up with than creating the content to complete those ideas. But without ideas, you can’t create content.

Do you have creative ways to come up with content ideas? Leave us a comment. For more information about creating content for your business, download our eBook, How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

Thinking of Opportunities as Coming Out of the Sky is Lazy and Dangerous  

How likely is it that a prospect happened to truly come from out of nowhere and become an inbound opportunity? Remember that time when a prospect accidentally dialed your phone number and turned into a great customer?  Probably not—because it’s unlikely that actually ever happened.

As a marketing firm, I’m proud to say that some of our best clients initially came in as inbound leads, and we’ve been able to then generate qualified inbound leads for those clients. We’ve had initial inquiries come in with a voicemail as broad as “I want to talk to somebody about marketing strategy” that have turned into great clients.

Chalking these leads up to nothing more than luck, rather than taking the time to properly understand where they came from, guarantees that you won’t be able to replicate the activities that actually contributed to that lead. This isn’t what the skilled modern marketer would do, instead this is lazy, in that you don’t want to take the time to understand lead generating activities, and dangerous in that you won’t know how to do it again – and get more leads.

Quality Marketing – Your Leads Annuity

Each time an inquiry comes in that appears to be a bluebird, I look at this as the ongoing payout from our marketing investments. For us, and for many of our clients, those marketing investments that pay out tend to be investments in quality content with staying power like the ancient pyramids (i.e. blog posts, an eBook, presentations on Slideshare, etc.) versus media buys that disappear like vapor the minute they are done.

Track, Analyze, Adjust, Repeat – Or Just Rely on Luck

Sure enough, by analyzing data from website tracking tools, and asking the standard questions about how prospects found out about you (yes, that one’s a special mind trick), you are able to determine how the most-qualified and best-converting leads get to you, and then look at replicating and enhancing those techniques as the ones that are working.

For instance, one of our professional services clients has seen the percentage of inbound leads go from 10-20 percent of all leads to 40-60 percent since we started working with them on strategy and content marketing. But they still struggle with getting sales people to probe for what, exactly, generated the interest. What most salespeople don’t realize is that if they put in the investigative work to get the right answer to the “how did you find us?” question, that it would mean more leads for them down the road.

Finding out that your prospect searched in Google for a specific phrase, found your blog post, liked what they read, and picked up the phone to call you for help is invaluable information to have as you look to optimize marketing efforts toward activities that deliver results.

Or, you could just open the window and hope a bluebird flies in…

Get easy-to-digest tips and detailed content marketing approaches from Right Source and other industry experts in our free content marketing eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

Learn even more about creating a successful content marketing approach in the webcast: What if You Build It and They Still Don’t Come?

And of course, feel free to drop a comment below or contact me directly with your questions or challenges.

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Over the last two decades, old marketing has become new marketing. Push marketing has given way to pull marketing. Buyer beware turned into seller beware. Advertising approaches are being replaced by content approaches.

It should come as no surprise, then, that marketers have changed – dramatically.

Organizations still hire marketers with specific skills and backgrounds: search engine marketers, email marketers, direct marketers, brand marketers, communications marketers, social media marketers, and more. That being said, what is in demand today may not be in demand tomorrow, so my recommendation for marketers is to develop the following set of seven skills that aren’t going anywhere – ever.

Business strategist

Marketing is more important than ever, largely because the impact of marketing is clearer than it’s ever been. The path from marketing strategy to marketing programs to business growth contains far fewer obstacles than it did a few years ago.

Be a businessperson first. Understand the core drivers of the business you work for or provide service to. Your marketing strategy, ideas and programs should support those primary business drivers.

Marketing strategist

In a business world where it’s easy to “me too” your marketing and follow the pack, the real success stories still show that the best tactical marketing plan starts with a solid marketing strategy, and that the best marketing strategy is one part business, one part marketing, one part digital, one part content, one part technology, and one part people … and often times a bunch of other parts.

The average marketer settles for becoming a tactician. The true marketing greats view tactics, even the most successful ones, as merely the (anticipated) results of a smart marketing strategy.

Content strategist

According to Hanley-Wood Business Media, 78 percent of chief marketing officers think custom content is the future of marketing.

That 78 percent will become 85 percent, and 85 percent will soon become 90 percent When that many companies believe in something, the industry is bound to get littered with a mix of approaches marked by widely varied stances on quality.

Quality content, not quantity of content, will end up the winner. And the high-quality material never happens without a well-designed content strategy, developed by a savvy content strategist.

Journalist

Given the shift towards content-driven approaches, journalists are in high demand.

That doesn’t mean you need to have formal journalism training, or for that matter, actual journalism experience. You do, however, need a journalist’s mindset. Quality journalists have a nose for a story, and they know how to turn a good story into a great one.

Of course, in most marketing environments your journalism work may not turn into a newspaper article, a broadcast segment, or even a video interview. You may be working on items like case studies, bylined articles, or a series of blog posts, but the same rules apply – create a good story and tell it to the right audience, and that audience will pay attention.

Technologist

Just when you thought it was cool to be a marketer again, marketing decided to join a world normally inhabited by “geeks and nerds.” As it turns out, in order to transform all of our cool marketing ideas into realities, and in particular trackable, ROI-producing realities, we need technology.

Don’t take this in the extreme direction, as some do. I don’t care if a marketer knows how to code a damn thing. I do care about whether they are able to use basic technology and software in order to solve problems or make marketing solutions more efficient.

Creative Thinker (or Creative Problem Solver)

John Cleese once said, “Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” Marketing types, especially, associate creativity with the romanticized view of the guy or gal with a title like “Creative Director,” usually someone who is very focused on the visual as much as the content. But that’s not the only type of creative thinking that marketing requires.

Creativity is often found in overall marketing solutions that most of the world would deem incredibly boring. In those cases, the creativity lies in the ability to think through a problem and potential solutions—the ability to be a creative problem solver—not in the actual design or idea.

Data Analyst (and Interpreter)

We’re all dealing with an abundance of data these days. This is alternatively exciting and daunting for the average marketer, as we’re expected to know the data, why the data says what it does, how we’re going to improve or fix what the data is focused on, and how to translate what the data means to others.

You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure this stuff out. First, become “data curious.” You have to care about the data. Next, prioritize the data you care about, which should be based on the metrics that will help you achieve specific business goals. Last, and this is the most difficult part, learn how to interpret data. Any marketer can put together and read a report – few (yes, still few) can read that report, tell their audience what it means, and then suggest adjustments to improve/repair the situation.

Do you fit the profile of the modern marketer? If not, it’s not too late. Refocus your development to focus on these seven skills, and you’ll be on the right path.

If your company could use the help of a team of modern marketers, contact us. If you’re a modern marketer yourself and looking for a home, drop us a line – we’re always on the hunt for talented, like-minded people.

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Talking to companies about using social media for prospecting, branding or recruiting is nothing new for us, but the Ringio folks wanted to put an interesting twist on the topic. They didn’t want to talk about social media marketing for the company, but rather how the individuals inside the company could use social media to build their professional brands.

With an inordinate amount of chicken sandwiches and waffle fries as our fuel, we dove headfirst into the topic for a couple of hours. While the handful of people in the room didn’t agree on everything, we came away with a few observations that are applicable to just about every company, and the professionals who work at those companies.

Your professional social media efforts will enhance the company’s social media efforts

Most people tend to separate their social media activity into two buckets: personal and company.

There’s a third category that falls somewhere in between – professional. If you’re doing the right things to build your professional profile, those efforts will naturally have a positive impact on your company. And if and when you decide to leave your current company, you get to take your social media presence—and your professional brand—with you.

Two birds, meet one stone.

The first rule is to show up

I remember having dozens of conversations with my mom that went something like this.

Mom: (Placing a plate of chicken and broccoli in front of me) Here’s your dinner.

Me: (Staring at the plate) But Mom, I don’t like broccoli. You know that.

Mom: How do you know you don’t like broccoli?

Me: I just know I don’t like it.

Mom: You’ve never tried broccoli, so how can you possibly know if you like it or not?

Similar rules apply to social media. It’s fine to be skeptical, and it’s even fine to give up on it at some point, but give it a whirl before you make your judgment. Just show up and contribute for a few months, give it a chance, and then do what feels right.

Content drives social—people will share good content

You don’t call a friend just to sit on the line in silence, do you? Similarly, you can’t be on social media and not produce anything.

Social media is a set of platforms, but content is the fuel.

On the company side, there’s one sure-fire way to get your employees to share company material – make it great! When they share it, they are helping the company and building their own professional brands by choosing to distribute quality content.

Just last week, I called one of my Right Source colleagues, and when she picked up, she said “I was just reading your blog post before sharing it. Had to make sure it was a good one.” While she was half kidding, her example is a good one. If you expect your employees to help you out and share via their professional profiles, then it better be something they can believe in.

Whatever you do, don’t let the social media tail wag the content marketing dog. Your personal and/or company plan for content marketing should come first, then share what you have via social.

What's the trick to building your professional AND company brands via social media? Open-mindedness, a content-first approach, patience...and bourbon!

Stop trying to measure everything

Coming from someone who, for a period of time, was affectionately called “data boy” inside our company, this one may come as a surprise. There are facets of your social media activity that cannot, and in many cases, should not, be measured.

It’s not that I don’t see value in measuring the results of your social media activity, but if you make social media all about numbers, you’re likely going to bail within two or three months. Assuming you’re not Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, your numbers will grow slowly.

Get creative about connecting with others

A member of the Ringio staff asked an interesting question during the meeting: “I am new to the country, and new to the business world. I don’t really have any connections, or any type of network. Where do I even start with social media when I don’t know anyone?”

Not unlike a career, a hobby, or a business, you start somewhere and start building.

In the new-to-the-business-world, new-to-the-country scenario, this individual deals with a lot of Ringio customers. Why not follow/connect with some of those customers? Why not connect with all the other Ringio staff members? There must be other people/professionals that came to the U.S. from Iran to pursue similar career paths – why not connect with them?

Networks, whether developed via the old-fashioned way or via social media, are not handed to you. They are built over time.

Your goal is to “soften” your audience, not to transact

Your ultimate goal may be to get hired, raise money, acquire customers, or generate buzz. You’re not going to complete those transactions via social media, but what you can do is engage with and “soften” the audience that may eventually transact with you.

You really can do two things at the same time—almost as easily as walking and chewing gum. Using your company’s content to help build your professional brand via social media enhances your online presence while supporting the company’s social media programs. Everyone wins.

Trying to figure out how to make social media and content marketing play nicely together? Get easy-to-digest tips and more detailed content marketing and social media approaches from Right Source and other industry experts in our free content marketing eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

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During the first four years of our existence as a strategic marketing firm, Right Source Marketing developed an expertise in content marketing. In October of 2012, we had reached a point where we were ready to scale the business for growth. As a result, we started searching for a key position: Vice President of Content Marketing.

The ideal candidate needed to have a strong content/editorial background along with a broad understanding of marketing and business strategy. Promoting our new position on LinkedIn generated well over 100 applicants for the position. While not all candidates were of the caliber we were looking for, there were quite a few highly qualified candidates that we interviewed.

Ironically, the candidate we ultimately hired was made known to us prior to promoting on LinkedIn, but originally came to us from that very same business networking site. A year earlier, I had coffee with Yvonne Lyons after a mutual friend, Colleen McKenna, introduced us via LinkedIn. At the time, Yvonne was working at The Baltimore Sun Media Group running their custom content division. Yvonne and I stayed in touch, and this past December she reached out to me to touch base. It struck me that she might be a great fit for our VP of Content Marketing position.

More coffee (lots more coffee) and a few months later, and we are thrilled to announce that she is now part of the Right Source team! Yvonne will expand and improve our content marketing offering, helping us to blend marketing strategy with the highest quality content possible for our clients and our own efforts.

So, the next time you wonder if you have time to have coffee or drop by that networking event, remember that building a strong network is good business in more ways than one.

Please join us in welcoming Yvonne Lyons to Right Source Marketing. You can reach her by email or check her out on LinkedIn.

Right now, content marketing is where social media marketing was in 2010—at the beginning of a long, powerful ascent. So, the question is not whether or not you should include content marketing as part of your marketing strategy, but rather, how you should build and execute a successful content marketing plan. If you read our last post that covered the challenges associated with insourcing your content marketing, you know that 44% of companies elected to outsource their content marketing programs in 2012. It might be the right choice for you.

Companies decide to outsource their content marketing programs for a variety of reasons:

• They lack the in-house expertise to build a content marketing strategy and plan.
• They recognize that they don’t have enough staff, or the proper staff, to execute a plan using in-house resources.
• It seems easier to “experiment” with outsourcing because firms are easily hired and fired.
• They’re used to using outside firms or agencies to execute marketing or advertising programs.
• A belief that ROI will be better measured with “experts” running the program.

While all of these reasons are valid, that doesn’t mean that outsourcing is an easy path to content marketing greatness. It still requires work, input and management on your part.

If you’re considering outsourcing, make sure you keep these five important tips in mind when making your decision:

There is a difference between content creation and content marketing

Many companies, when choosing to outsource content marketing, turn immediately to freelance writers and editors. Freelance writers and editors do just that—they write and edit.

Content marketing, done right, involves content creation, as well as important stages that occur before and after, including content planning, content optimization, content distribution, content reporting and analysis, and a social media component. You need all of those phases to be covered by your outsourcing company (or in-house staff) to maximize your content marketing investment.

Scope it right: know whether you’re outsourcing everything or just some things

Before diving into any outsourcing relationship, spend the time to figure out who is handling each facet and deliverable of content marketing. This should be covered in your content marketing plan.

No one—agency, freelancer, or client—wants to start having the “out of scope” discussion during the honeymoon phases of the relationship. It messes with momentum, and those first few months of the engagement are critical.

Success rests on the shoulders of your leader

Every content marketing effort needs an internal champion—someone who rallies behind the cause and can spur subject matter experts and other internal resources into action when necessary. Without this internal resource, even the best outside content marketing team will have trouble. But someone also needs to spearhead the effort and take on both strategist and taskmaster roles.

Here’s where it gets dicey: Is that internal champion also the taskmaster and strategist? Sometimes that works, but many times it doesn’t.

You might be able to outsource all the strategy and tactics to the firm you are working with, but that depends on whether they are focused on execution, strategy, or both. It’s critical to understand what they will really offer and what they promise to deliver.

Check out Who Should Lead Your Content Marketing Program for some helpful tips.

Choosing the right firm makes all the difference

I could write for hours on this topic. There are so many different flavors of content marketing firms and so many different ways you can choose the wrong one. Are you sufficiently scared now?

In lieu of the full version, here are a few quick tips that should be part of your homework in vetting your prospective firm:

• Make sure they practice what they preach; ask for references
• Review a variety of content pieces
• Ask about the process involved in creating and marketing some of those specific content pieces
• Dig into the type of reporting you’re going to receive and what kind of analysis will accompany that reporting
• Ask what the team will look like—who will be on it, and what roles each will play
• Find out about their “onboarding” process. How will your new outsourced partner get to know you and everything about your company?
• Inquire about who will do the writing

Background work is required to craft professional, polished content

Every single one of our prospective clients asks us how we will get to know them well enough to create the high-quality content they are after. Most are extremely skeptical about an outsider’s ability to understand a company, its products, and services well enough to write original, polished material.

I normally answer that question with another question, “How did you, or any of your staff members, learn to understand the company well enough to write original, polished material?”

Make sure your outsourced content marketing company has a solid plan for learning about your company. They should ask for everything imaginable about your business—blog posts, articles, press releases, etc.

Then get assurances that they will hire only the best writers.

The real professionals have been through this before, probably dozens of times, and they have a method for figuring out how to draw the right topic, tone and content out of a client.

Any good content marketing insourcing or outsourcing stories? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Need to convince someone that content marketing is a smart investment? Get easy-to-digest tips and more detailed content marketing approaches from Right Source and other industry experts in our free content marketing eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

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Having worked with both types of companies—the 44% that outsource and the 56% that insource—I’ve seen good, bad, and ugly in both approaches. When I am asked in which direction a company should go (I certainly have a built-in bias, but remember, we work with both types), my answer is, of course…it depends.

We’re going to cover both outsourcing and insourcing of content marketing programs in a two-part blog series. For part one, let’s talk about insourcing: There are some distinct challenges associated with insourcing not just your content creation, but your entire content marketing program.

Companies bring content marketing programs in-house for a variety of reasons:

• They believe they can save money in the long run with in-house staff.
• They assume that more content can be created with company employees than with outsourced staff.
• Companies feel they will have better control over the whole content marketing program if it is executed in-house.

While these things may be true, they are usually true only for the largest companies, whose budgets can fund a full content program, including a complement of trained content professionals.

If you do elect to go the in-house route, prepare for the following challenges.

It requires real buy-in, not just a casual yes, from the top

The decision to insource your content marketing requires an investment in people, process, and likely, software. If you’re doing it right, the numbers will not be insignificant.

Before you present your budget, do your homework, especially on the people side. Do you have the right person to lead this program? Who might shift roles internally? Who do you need to hire? Spreading new content marketing duties among existing marketing staff can be disastrous.

A good program requires initial and continued buy-in from your internal content creators

“It’s not my job.”

Unless you are extremely charming, likeable and work for an organization where people have lots of time on their hands, get used to hearing that phrase, or some variation of it if you plan to use existing staff to generate your content.

Most people, even in marketing, are afraid to write, don’t enjoy writing, or are too time-strapped to write. Proving your case to the top may seem easy after your first few attempts to prove your case to your new content creators.

So, that means you’re going to need a dedicated writer(s) and editor(s)

Unless your content creation goals are very basic, you will not be able to rely only on internal employees whose jobs are not normally tied to content marketing. No matter how you slice it, your progress will be slow if you’re relying on folks who list content creation as the 18^th bullet in their job description.

If you’re insourcing, you will need a dedicated writer. You may need a dedicated editor, unless that role falls to you – Mr. or Mrs. Content Marketing leader. Choose your writer and/or editor wisely if you are hiring. Not all journalists are created equal. Just because someone can write doesn’t mean they also understand marketing. You need people who understand content marketing.

Alignment between marketing, sales, IT and other departments must be strong

You heard in our last post that a lack of sales, marketing and IT alignment will spell doom for your marketing automation investment. While IT alignment may not be as critical for the content creation process, you better have sales management on board for content marketing. After all, this “stuff” is supposed to ultimately impact revenue generation at some point, right?

Make the plan and work the plan

Every content marketing endeavor—insourced or outsourced—needs a plan. Make sure you have one and stick to it. Don’t be afraid to tweak it if necessary, but make sure you have an editorial calendar and details for all aspects of content, from social media to larger anchor content. If you don’t know where you started, it’s hard to understand how far you went.

The path to ROI is long and winding

You may not be able to prove ROI in 3 months, 6 months, or even 12 months. Things like the length of sales cycles and challenges with integrating software and systems for tracking purposes can create a lag between initial content creation and the ability to show a return.

If you know this ahead of time, you can make sure stakeholders understand this, and instead focus on leading indicators – categories like traffic, readership, engagement and lead generation.

A goal is a dream with a deadline

Speaking of ROI, all of the aforementioned stakeholders will want to understand the objectives of the content marketing program, how they will be measured, and when you expect to know whether the plan and execution has been successful. (And if it hasn’t been, how you intend to adjust it.)

In most organizations, patience is at an all-time low. Be aggressive, but not unreasonable, with your success timeframe. Good leaders can see right through an overpromise.

Any good content marketing insourcing or outsourcing stories? Feel free to share in the comments section.

Need to convince someone that content marketing is a smart investment? Get easy-to-digest tips and more detailed content marketing approaches from Right Source and other industry experts in our free content marketing eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

Want more numbers? Check out the infographic to the right (click for full size) to familiarize yourself with the benefits of marketing automation.

And yet, all too often we see these tools fail. If marketing automation is so great, how could it possibly fail? The infographic (and my [insert vendor name] sales rep) told me it wouldn’t, right? And we all know infographics and sales reps don’t lie.

If you’ve read this far, you may think I dislike these tools, or have an axe to grind. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth – we work hands-on with these tools and when used correctly, they can provide incredible ROI and amazing insights – just like the infographic promises.

However, like anything else, the proper pieces need to be in place to realize these benefits. I’ve seen too many clients license the software, pay significant fees for months and still stumble to get things up and running. Software that could provide a strong return on investment instead sits idle as a worthless expense.

With that in mind, here are the three common marketing automation traps I’ve seen companies fall into, as well as some tips on how to prepare for them and set yourself up for success.

Trap # 1 – No Marketing Plan

Getting the most out of any marketing channel necessitates a plan (even more so when adding in sophisticated software). Too often, I’ve seen companies go in with the blinders on, see the possible ROI numbers and fall into the trap of:

• Step 1 License Software…
• Step 3 Become Millionaire…

…while missing critical pieces of everything that happens in between. The same way you wouldn’t start building a home without a blueprint, make sure you have a plan in place for how you are going to build programs that generate leads, what your lead nurturing cycle is, and other key components. By mapping this out ahead of time, you will be able to flesh out where you have gaps and make sure to fill them before you find out you’ve licensed a tool you aren’t yet ready to use.

Trap # 2 – Lack of Alignment Between Sales, Marketing, and IT

Each of these groups will likely play some role in the setup, configuration and deployment of your automation tool. Marketing automation often sits at the intersection of sales, marketing and IT.

Most organizations will want to make sure it syncs with a CRM system, which will often require some level of IT involvement for initial configuration and deployment. IT will also likely be involved somewhere in the evaluation process, because it is software, after all.  More complex integrations may require some ongoing IT support. And in many companies, as much as it may pain marketers, IT still “owns” the website (though fortunately this is continuing to evolve).

Likewise, sales and marketing will need alignment on topics like what constitutes a lead and what still needs to be nurtured, what those touches look like, etc. The good news is that, if done right, automation tools and content marketing can serve as The Turning Point for the Sales & Marketing Relationship.

Trap # 3 – You Mean This Thing Needs Content? 

In order to function effectively, your marketing automation tool needs content. Content to draw people in, content to get people to fill out a form and identify themselves, content to nurture prospects until they are sales-ready, and content for loyalty, retention, and cross-sell/up-sell to existing customers.

Pro tip: You can’t just create a ton of mediocre content – your buyers probably won’t be dazzled by mediocre and nothing will kill your brand like weak content. Your marketing approach is hungry for content, and implementing an automation tool only serves to magnify the hunger. Make sure that you plan out the content your buyers will need at each stage, and have the right internal resources or external resources to execute a smart content marketing program.

Avoiding these three major traps should have you on the road to marketing automation success – and realizing the value of your investment.

Like this post? Get easy-to-digest tips and more detailed content marketing approaches from Right Source and other industry experts in our free content marketing eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Content Marketing.

Learn even more about creating a successful content marketing approach in the webcast: What if You Build It and They Still Don’t Come?

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