4 Tips to Consider When Looking for Marketing Content Writers
Let’s travel back in time to the good old school cafeteria days.
You’re standing in the middle of that big hall, looking around at all the tables—each with a different clique.
Where should you sit? Decisions, decisions.
The cafeteria is the digital marketing world.
On the tables are different writers, and your job is to place yourself with the top crop of the content marketing industry.
You’re not looking to sit with generalist writers. You need the table with marketing content writers.
They may be hard to find, but I’ll show you how to secure yourself an enviable team.
First…
What Is the Difference Between Content Writing and Content Marketing?
There is a thin line between content writing and content marketing.
Content marketing is a general term that covers several aspects of digital marketing that includes visual media to drive attention to content to either boost sales, create awareness or increase brand value.
Content writing falls under content marketing. It specifically uses written web content. It involves research and data collection tied together in blog posts, infographics, articles, and op-ed pieces.
What Does a Content Marketing Writer Do?
A content marketing writer understands content is king.
They mash up several types of content to bring a fresh take, combining social media copy, blog writing, statistic analysis, and project management to make your message stand out.
Is Content Writing In Demand?
As businesses move online, there is an ever-growing need to convert casual browsers to actual clients.
The shift to online platforms has increased the demand for content.
Marketers would not spend 25% of their budget on content marketing if it didn’t have excellent returns. The same report indicates that people spend 20% of their time online.
Source: demandmetric.com
With such high demand for content, businesses have to constantly create and update their content to stay relevant and maintain high value.
Outsourcing Could Be Your Best Call
Whether you’re a business owner or you want to improve your web presence, a pool of content writers brings a world of benefits.
The key to unlocking these benefits lies in whether you opt for a full content agency or individual writers.
With the demand in ready content, there are benefits to outsourcing your content writing to a digital agency.
Client-Ready Content
Say you had a marketing content campaign. There’s a lot of strings to pull to make it a success. If you have to go at it alone, you risk coming up short in some aspects.
Not too effective, is it?
That is where a content shop comes in.
A content shop functions like a well-run machine.
Apart from the team’s writers, you also have web developers, SEO content experts, and strategists. This marketing team organizes your content marketing campaigns to reach the target audience.
You only need to discuss your business needs with the agency. The agency assesses your clients and works in-house to present client-ready content.
We’re talking images, infographics, statistics—the works.
They Have the Right Tools
If you’re a startup, you’re probably stretched with all the resources required to put your brand at the top of the pyramid. A content shop relieves you of all the pressure of having the best tools to maximize your client reach.
Whether your content involves scheduling tools such as SproutSocial and Feedly, or premium SEO tools like Oberlo, a content shop is better equipped at handling your content.
Since you don’t have to think about the overheads of having premium tools, you can focus on growing your brand into the content giant you want.
More Content for Less
Putting out quality content is not an easy task if you’re working by yourself. You have competition putting out more content. Pushing yourself to put out content can lead to burnout.
Either that or you could run through your finances without achieving your content goals.
If you were to go at this on your own, you risk getting penalized for weak content. You can hire individual writers to write content, but at what cost?
A content agency levels the playing field for you. You can negotiate great deals with a content agency to help you churn out wholesome content to improve your digital marketing.
And the best part is, every piece of content will have your unique voice.
Get the Right Marketing Content Writers
The content market has all sorts of writers. But to implement your goals, you need a reliable team of content marketing writers. These writers have niched down to marketing content.
They understand the various tones and angles to create the right type of content for your readers.
Here’s how you need to check when looking for marketing content writers.
Position Yourself in the Right Place to Access Top-Level Writers
As a business owner, you need to put yourself in places with excellent writers. The market is rife with writers who write all types of content.
You’re intentional with your business. What you need is a marketing content writer.
Sign up on Professional Content Writing Job Board
Sure, you can get writers in content mills. However, there’s always the risk that you will have to suffer the headache of constant revisions if you end up with subpar writers.
Professional job boards are a great starting point.
Job boards such as Flexjobs and Problogger attract outstanding writers. You can list down requirements to only bring in marketing content writers. These sites present you with various portfolios of writers to pick your ideal content marketing writer.
Have a Preset Budget
You cannot understate the importance of a budget when looking for marketing content writers. Your budget determines whether you end up with pro or intermediate-level marketing writers.
How Much Do Content Writers Charge?
The Editorial Freelancers Association has a guideline that shows different rates for content writing. In their breakdown, content marketing falls under the business category. The average rate for a writer in this category is up to $50 per hour.
Marketing content creators have honed their skills over time. They might charge higher rates than those who do general topics. Still, it is a worthy investment that has excellent ROI if implemented well.
Do Your Content Marketing Writers Have Other Skills?
It’s a tough ball game in the content creation world. Getting eyes on your content needs a marketing writer who has an eye for detail. However, detail means your content writer needs to have more than writing up his sleeve.
The ideal marketing writer needs to know how to juggle visual content, SEO, and sales copy. Hire a content marketing writer who can write compelling ad copy but can still develop an effective marketing strategy.
You can assess their additional skills by looking at their portfolios. Have a checklist that has these questions
- Have they written for big brands?
- Does the writer have an impressive track record with previous writing?
- How well does the content marketer know the niche you are hiring for?
Have an Efficient Management System
If you make the right hires, you end up with a team of professional writers. Managing a team of writers is hectic. However, the right project management system makes it easy to allocate work, check progress, and elevate tasks accordingly.
Tools such as Monday and Asana are highly beneficial to you as a business. Most project management tools operate the same way. They allow you to interact with members in public feedback boxes or in private.
Make sure your marketing content writers can use project management tools. Your team saves time, enhances communication, and works together to produce streamlined results.
Can a Content Shop Cater to All Your Content Marketing Needs?
A content shop can handle your content marketing needs if you need various forms of written marketing content.
You sidestep all the hurdles of looking for writers and get well done written content for your blogs. The content is editor reviewed, SEO-optimized, and checked for quality.
Don’t believe it?
Set up an appointment and find out what options are available for your business
CopySmiths
I'm Katrina McKinnon, founder of CopySmiths and Small Revolution. In my 20 years of experience, I have helped online businesses create high-performing content specifically on an eCommerce store's blog. Find me on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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