Connor Gillivan
Business owners understand the value of content marketing but find content creation to be a tedious and time consuming task. In fact, according to Angela DeFranco of HubSpot, “content creation is the hardest part of inbound marketing.”
It is a hard task that takes time, yet it doesn’t seem like an urgent thing to do. So, it is often the first thing that gets pushed back.
We’ve spoken with a lot of entrepreneurs facing this dilemma and the most common roadblocks that hold them back are any (or all) of these factors:
- They have no time to create any or all of the content they need.
- Writing just isn’t their strong suit.
- They feel like no one else can tell their story like they can.
If you are in this situation, I have great news for you: it is possible to outsource content creation to writers who can learn everything about your business and adapt your brand voice.
With the right methods and processes, you can hire a strong writer from the get-go and make the arrangement work for you consistently day in and day out for however long you need the help.
In this article, we talk about the benefits of outsourcing content, the types of content you can outsource, and the framework that will help you find and hire the best writers.
Benefits of Outsourcing Content Writing
According to CMI, “70% of brands now hire someone to manage their content creation and distribution to make sure it's professionally executed.”
Here are some of the main reasons why you should also start outsourcing content creation:
1. You get high quality content.
Your business may be your brain child, but that does not necessarily mean writing about it is also your strong suit. Outsourcing writing tasks to an experienced writer means that you are guaranteed professionally written content that you can use to inform, persuade, and entice your audience.
2. External writers give fresh insights.
Having someone look at your business from a different perspective is a major advantage. It’s easy to miss potentially great angles of your business when you’ve been deeply immersed in it.
Experienced writers are good in researching and benchmarking. They can look at your competitors and write content that highlights the key competitive advantages of your business.
And if you are in a niche or technical industry, external writers can help you produce more approachable content. Jargons often scare people off. Great writers can talk about all the amazing features of your business minus the technical terms.
3. Leverage the writer’s expertise.
Majority of freelance writers are well-versed in digital marketing and SEO techniques. So aside from conveying the message you want to relay to your audience, they can also help you optimize your content to get better placements in search engine result pages.
5. Publish new content consistently.
One of the most crucial aspects in content marketing is consistency. Publishing a few blog posts sporadically will not improve your search engine rankings and drive significant traffic to your website. Consistency is key.
To make this happen, you need writers who will devote all of their time to content creation. Outsourcing content writers is the best way to ensure that you can maintain the content production level your business needs.
5. Saves you time
In the life of a business owner, time is probably the most scarce resource. I have been there and I understand how easy it is to get overwhelmed with a never ending task list. And as we mentioned earlier, creating high-quality content is tedious and time-consuming.
Passing off this tedious task means you have more time to focus on more strategic tasks that will move the needle for your business.
Types of Content You Can Outsource
There’s a lot of different ways you can use writers for different channels to maintain great communication and provide high-level value to your clients. Here are some of them:
1. Blog Articles
Blog articles are vital to a website-based business. Your blog is one of the most important areas to keep updated so that you can keep your audience informed about what’s going on and what’s available to them. This is also a crucial project to keep organized and stable if you want to rank organically and be found on search engines.
2. Website Content
Website content is one of the first things that you’ll want a writer to create for you. This is especially true if you run your business from a website and don’t have good content on there already.
A good website content writer should know how to write informative, persuasive, and guiding content. They should be able to effectively educate website visitors about what you do and lead them to your desired funnel.
3. Social Media Posts
Social media posts can be the greatest assets to any marketing or audience-building campaign. Especially considering where we are at today technology-wise, most people are connecting on social media more than they do on an in-person basis.
It is simply the most convenient place to hang out, network, get the latest scoop on whatever they are interested in, and more.
If you’re not taking full advantage of the social space, you need to hire a social media copywriter as soons as possible so you can get in the game.
4. Email Content
Email campaigns are still the most effective means of lead generation and client communication available to business owners. Even after decades and dozens upon dozens of other marketing and advertising tools, email is unbeatable.
You will want to hire an email copywriter who understands your audience and how to attract them and keep them happy. The best email copywriter will have at least a little bit of marketing as well as customer service experience.
5. Advertising Copy
Advertisements are only worth spending on if you have the right messaging right from the start. When you know how to communicate perfectly with your ideal clients - or hire an advertising copywriter who does - then advertisements can be super effective and totally worth the spend.
You know you’re talking to a good ad copywriter when they have a background in sales. The best ad copywriter will be able to show you how they gain the edge over the competition with their targeted writing style.
How to Outsource Quality Writers
Outsourcing content creation is a big topic. In fact, we wrote a whole training playbook about it. So what I’m going to do here is give you a simple yet effective framework to help you get started.
Step 1: List down the content types you need
We talked about some of the most common content types you can outsource. The first thing you need to do before making a hire is to identify which writing tasks and projects you need. Doing so will help you choose which writer to hire for each one.
It is important to note that not all writers are the same, because not all writing tasks and projects are the same. There are different nuances to consider, and most writers work within one or a few niches that they are most comfortable with and skilled in.
Step 2: Determine your budget
The next step is to determine how much from your marketing budget you can allocate to content writing tasks. This free virtual assistant budget calculator will help you easily come up with that amount.
Insider tip: We’ve hired excellent writers from the Philippines who have relatively lower rates than U.S.-based writers. If budget is an issue at this point, consider looking into talent from the Philippines.
Step 3: Hire a writer
You will most likely need to create separate job posts for different types of writing needs. The best way to tackle this is to start with the writing task or project that is most needed.
During the application review and interview processes, you can ask the writer if they have skills in other areas as well. This will let you know if you need to hire an additional writer, and what that job post should focus on.
At Outsource School, we’ve established a method for hiring a virtual assistant (regardless of what set of tasks you need them for), the IOTM method, which has been successful in our experience.
Step 4: Create guidelines
As soon as you’re done hiring and onboarding your writer, go through the important aspects of your brand with them. Doing so will help you get on the same page with them so they understand how they should be creating content for your business.
Some important things you need to talk about are your brand voice, vocabulary, visuals, and sample references.
Step 5: Set up your writer for success
Especially in the beginning stage, you need to thoroughly review all the content being produced. This is your chance to assess the writer in action so that you can give them feedback to make adjustments early on.
Set up best practices with the writer during onboarding for assigning projects and communicating about work. This way, you both have a set of guidelines to follow so that you know what to expect.
Additional Tips
With everything that I’ve shared in this article, you should have an organized system for managing content creation for your business.
Here are a few more things to keep in mind as you get it all rolling:
1. Stay organized
All the small parts mentioned above - and others that your experienced assistant can suggest - work together to create a solid content strategy. All your content platforms are only effective if you actually stick to the system and use it to guide all your posts.
2. Don’t get easily frustrated
At first, you may feel like the writer doesn’t know what they’re doing, but that’s usually not the case. Be as detailed as possible and give clear instructions.
Over time, they will learn your preferences and systems and processes and they’ll get better at creating the different pieces of content that you need for your business.
3. Give references
Sometimes, it can be tough to describe what you want the output to look like. If you don’t have examples of your own, look for what others are doing that you want to emulate. Share these examples for the writer to go over so they have an idea of what you’re looking for.
Do It Right: Outsource Writers Using A Proven Process
Outsourcing content writing can be daunting at first. But the good news is, there are proven systems and processes that can help you do this the right way.
Over the past 10 years, we have built three companies, Outsource School included. We have been using outsourced content to communicate with and market to each of the audiences that we nurtured. It has brought us numerous benefits and has never negatively impacted our business.
Today, we teach business owners and entrepreneurs like you the exact systems and processes we’ve used to scale our business to 8 figures using virtual assistants.
Join the 500+ entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses using virtual teams. WordAgents audience gets a special discount from us. Go to this checkout page and use the code WORDAGENTS20 to save $399 off our yearly membership!
Connor Gillivan is currently an Owner of OutsourceSchool.com. He has been building businesses with virtual teams for the past 10 years and recently exited FreeUp.net in 2019. He regularly shares his advice on scaling companies online and has been featured on 200+ websites. He resides in Denver, CO.