The Biggest Risk to Your Content Marketing (And What to Do About It)

By: Chris Reid, Account Manager Most businesses want to deliver consistently high-quality content to their audience, but in today’s crowded online arena it can be a struggle to keep up. If you’re short on staff but you still need to regularly produce website content, blog posts, social media updates, product descriptions, white papers, and email newsletters – just to name a few – it’s easy to fall behind. Why Does Your Content Have To Be So Great? It’s simple: great content engages readers, answers their problems, helps them learn and triggers conversations. It’s no surprise then that the importance of good content is growing: 32% of total marketing budgets are designated to producing content compared to 25% last year. This shows the increasing value marketers are placing on content, with Google’s algorithm changes being a large contributing factor. While it may be difficult to put an exact value on quality content, the power of content to attract prospects to and nurture them along the sales funnel is undeniable. Around 67% of consumers say content is more important to their purchase decision than conversations with sales reps. Therefore, it’s easy to see why you need to stay on top of content production and mitigate the risks to your content marketing production. Sustainability: The Challenges Here’s a few roadblocks that you might have faced as a business owner trying to produce effective content: Capacity:People are busy, which translates into not being able to devote the proper time to producing content. To add insult to injury, if a company is short on staff, content creation often goes by the wayside. No Goal:If the company doesn’t have time to produce content, they definitely don’t have the time to plan for and think about its purpose. Without a clear aim and KPIs, your content likely won’t help your overall content marketing efforts. No Control:Not having the time and resources to produce quality content also translates into the risk of people getting overwhelmed and losing control, leading to mistakes like producing content for the wrong audience. Eeek! Keeping it Fresh:If you don’t have time to produce, say, a blog a month, how on earth are you going to do two? Not only that, content should be kept fresh, unique and high- quality each time, not just repurposed from the company website. Competition:The dreaded word. There’s so much information out there competing for audience attention, that you need to get and edge that will help your content stand out. What Freelancers Can Do For You Clearly, many businesses are struggling to produce not only high-quality content – whether it’s a white paper, social piece, or blog post – but to build a content strategy and maintain consistency. For them, outsourcing is the answer, because doing so brings: Objectivity:Talented writers offer a fresh take on your business, seeing your company through the eyes of potential customers. This can help you reach new audiences and still keep your overall brand message on-target. Flexibility:When you outsource, you’re only paying for the content you need. If you only need one blog post per week, it doesn’t make sense to pay someone for all that time in between. Quality:Professional copywriters will ensure your content contains all the elements of a well-written piece, such as: correct grammar and spelling, well-organized paragraphs, powerful language, as well as CTAs and SEO optimization. Savings:Sure, having in-house copywriters is great and convenient, but the extra costs – holiday pay, sick leave, training, etc. – can be costly. On the flip side, freelancers work on demand and can crank out that content when your in-house team is off the clock. Scale Up That Content Marketing Although many small- to medium-sized businesses are struggling to compete with larger organizations, most companies will reach a point in their content marketing journey when they need help. The good news is that not only are freelance writers more accessible than ever before, they can bring a fresh perspective while you still retain ultimate control of your content.