Developing relevant and timely content is now an essential part of your company’s marketing strategy. You understand Why Your Business Needs a Content Marketing Agency, and the green light has been given to hire one. But how do you navigate this growing field of business to find the right agency for you?
Why Do you need an Agency?
Most businesses are being asked to do more with less these days. You are likely facing a smaller budget with less staff and increased demands to produce more results. That makes decisions on allocating resources more critical than ever. Since custom content can determine a company’s success, content marketing should be at the top of the list. But what should you outsource? What can you handle in-house?
Content Marketing Budgets
Traditional marketing and PR can be expensive and limited in reaching potential clients. But the possibilities are endless with content marketing. Businesses are recognizing this and are spending more money on content creators.
70% of marketers plan to outsource at least one form of content in the next year, according to the 2022 Digital Content Marketing Survey. Inbound Marketing Report reveals the average budget spent on company blogs and social media increased from 9% in 2009 to 70% in 2022.
Telling Your Story & Creating a Plan
A good content marketing agency allows you to entirely focus your attention where it’s put to best use by telling your business’ story for you. An agency can help fine-tune your message and distribute that message among the many different platforms available today. In fact, with the ability to publish content through websites, blogs, social media, white papers, videos, and much more, companies no longer have to rely on media or paid advertising to get their message heard.
A content marketing agency will assist you in developing a strategy that best fits your business. Business owners and executives always have their goals in mind, but it may have been a while since there was an actual conversation about the business’s mission. An agency can help with this process and develop engaging content valuable to your customers. Once they become your brand ambassadors by sharing your content with their networks, your company’s message becomes far-reaching, ultimately affecting your company’s bottom line.
Ideas and communication are crucial to effective content marketing, and so is organization. A content marketing agency will help build a detailed editorial calendar to integrate all facets of your marketing strategy. This will allow you to stay on target to reach your goals.
Great storytelling is essential, but once your company’s message is out there, you need to know it is being heard. A content marketing agency should provide a practical, easy-to-understand system for measuring results. This comprehensive review brings content marketing full circle.
Here are ten things to consider when choosing a content marketing agency:
1. Make sure they listen.
A good content creator is a storyteller. They can only tell your story on your behalf if they dig deep into your business to reveal the key nuggets that humanize your brand.
2. Do your homework.
Check out the content they have created for other clients. Was it successful with social shares, click-through rates, or lead generation?
3. Find your match made in heaven.
Does the agency ask the right questions? Can you see your team working well with them? A good agency should be able to seamlessly integrate itself into your company’s culture to develop content. Think of them as an extension of your own business.
4. Strategy first.
A content creator should delve deep into your industry’s competition, keywords, and, most importantly, your customers to develop a solid game plan.
5. Check references.
Make sure they genuinely have content marketing experience and haven’t just recently labeled themselves a content marketing agency from a digital, PR, or another type of marketing firm.
6. Are they in it for the long haul?
A good agency wants to develop a long-term relationship with you, not just crank out a website and a few blog posts. The agency should want to help your business on more than a project basis.
7. Geek out.
The list of distribution outlets is endless, including email marketing, blogging, websites, videos, and many more. Agencies should be on top of industry trends and technology to know the best channels to distribute your message.
8. Be versatile.
Look for a variety of service offerings. If an agency can’t offer a specific type of service, make sure they have relationships with preferred partners that can.
9. Practice, not preach.
Agencies shouldn’t just work hard for their clients; they should create the same level of excellent content for their businesses. Stay away from firms who sell content marketing but don’t do it.
10. Be able to measure results.
Have a detailed analytics reporting system in place to gauge whether what the agency is doing is working or not.