Content Outsourcing: How To Outsource Content Writing

Content outsourcing is very much as it sounds – outsourcing your content writing needs.

For example, you may decide to work with a professional freelance copywriter or a content marketing agency to help produce written content for all types of marketing needs, such as:

• Blog content
• Website content
• Social media captions
• Scripts for social media videos
• Infographic write-ups
• Whitepapers
• Press releases

However, content outsourcing isn’t for everyone. Those who typically benefits the most from outsourcing their content writing needs include:

• Brands with reasonable budgets to pay copywriters
• Brands that want to beat their competition in search engine rankings
• Entrepreneurs and business owners that want to free up time to focus on the bigger picture
• Brands that want to be seen as key players in their industry
• Businesses with marketing teams that see the benefit of increasing their content output

Typically, outsourcing content is not best suited to brands with little or no marketing budget.

Of course, outsourcing your content will eat into your marketing budget – so there needs to be a strong case for how this will be advantageous to your brand. Here are a few key ways that outsourcing content writing is a benefit:

• It allows you to tap into external content writing talent
• It helps you produce a higher quality of content
• It frees up your time to focus on more immediate matters
• It increases content consistency (such as publishing on your blog more regularly)
• It helps you speak to your customers in a language that appeals to them
• It’s a more flexible form of business support when compared to bringing someone in-house.

Find Out More

Wondering if investing in your content is worth it? Check out our article on Why You Should Start a Blog for more benefits of content marketing. What else can you outsource? Although you can build a website yourself, outsourcing website building could be a great option for you, and you can find out why here.

Like everything in marketing, to get the most from content outsourcing you need a goal and you need a plan. Without these two elements, it can be easy to waste considerable resources on outsourcing content that doesn’t really contribute anything to your overarching business goals.

Start by noting down your top-level business goals. 

If you haven’t already, you will then need to break these into ways marketing can help you achieve these top-level goals – these will be your marketing goals. Then, consider how outsourcing content could help you achieve your marketing goals, or how it could help you achieve them more quickly.

If you can’t find a way to connect your goals to outsourcing content, then it might not be the best option for you. However, with many businesses thriving off SEO and social media, it’s unlikely that it won’t fit in with what you’re trying to achieve.

Before you can get out there and start finding the best content writers to meet your needs, you will need to work out how much you have to spend. This is likely to be an allocated amount from your marketing budget.

Knowing and sticking to your budget will help you make smart outsourcing decisions.

For example, if you have a large budget you may decide to work with a content agency that can deal with every aspect of your written content needs and call upon the expertise of multiple professionals.

However, if your budget is small, you will likely need to work with freelancers who can produce great content on demand but are unlikely to offer much more around your content strategy.

When considering your budget, ask yourself these questions:

1. How much content do you want to produce?
2. What quality of writing do you want?
3. How specialist is your niche?
4. How much content management do you want to do yourself?

So, you know what you want and you know how much you have to spend – now it’s time to get out there and find the best content writers to meet your needs. There are three main options to consider here:

Freelance Marketplaces

There are countless freelance marketplaces out there to choose from. Each of them offers the same fundamental service – granting you access to freelancers who can help you with your outsourcing needs.

The major benefit of marketplaces is that they can be a quick and cost-effective way to find freelancers. However, they can also usually be joined by anyone, which means you will often have to sort through multiple offers from poor-fitting or low-skilled writers to find the good ones.

A few examples of good freelancer marketplaces include:

• PeoplePerHour
• Upwork
• Fiverr

Traditional Marketing Agencies

Traditional marketing agencies are a good place to go if you want a complete content marketing service. They can often offer an all-encompassing approach to your content writing needs such as helping create strategies, research keywords, and monitor industry trends.

However, they are also typically more expensive than working with a freelancer. They can also be less flexible due to taking on large and complex projects from multiple businesses.

Third Party Outsourcing Agencies 

Outsourcing agencies will connect you with freelancers and contractors that can help you fulfill your content writing needs. However, unlike marketplaces they will often take a more bespoke approach, finding freelancers that perfectly meet your needs – this can save you time.

Of course, as they do a lot of the leg work for you, third party outsourcing agencies will also charge you for their services.

Whichever option or options you choose to explore, you’ll want to spend some time getting to grips with how well fitted they are to meet your needs. This can be a simple process, but caution should be taken to ensure that you invest in the right option to increase the chances of long-term success.

Start the process by asking the writer for some examples of their work. This will help you get to grips with the quality of their writing and the way their writing flows.

Although it is important to consider their tone, not too much importance should be placed on this as most professional writers can tailor their content to meet your needs and have likely had to follow other customers’ notes on tone in the samples they send.

Reviewing past examples will help you further whittle down your shortlist. The next step is to ask those you are left with for bespoke samples. It is important that you pay the writer for these samples, as you’ll want them to be of the quality you would expect when working with them long-term.

When requesting a sample, set a brief that’s close to what you will be asking the writer to do on a long-term basis.

Once you have decided on the writers you will be working with, it’s time to brief them.

Your brief is incredibly important in helping you ensure that the content you request is of the quality you require, in a tone that matches your brand, and is set out in a way that covers the topic comprehensively.

However, you also want to ensure that you allow your writers creative freedom so they can apply their own expertise in creating the best content possible – they may even have more knowledge of blogging tips and content best practices than you!

Here are a few key points that should be included in your brief:

• Article title or topic
• Keywords and keyphrases
• Word count requirement
• Key topics or information that should be covered
• Notes on layout requirements (such as how you want your blog post structured)
• Call to action
• Deadlines (including deadlines for first drafts, edit requests, and final drafts)

Find Out More

Your briefs should be clear on how you want your content laid out – check out our full guide on How To Write a Blog Post for some top tips.

It’s clear that outsourcing content can be a smart way for businesses to boost the benefits they get from their content output. By using this guide, business owners will be able to create content that engages their customers, boosts results, and ultimately generates profit.

For more website creation content, be sure to check out our top SEO tips, and our guide to finding website developers.