We’ve reached a point where most companies have realised the importance of content marketing and have some or other strategy in place.

Some, however, have only tested the waters but haven’t had much success. The main cause is that those put in charge of content marketing strategies are not properly trained. Every marketing and advertising agency is trying to be a digital agency as well, as such professionals are not put in charge and strategies fail.

Considerations

Because content marketing is a relatively new concept, many marketing managers do not want to allocate a massive budget towards it. As such, keeping their content marketing resources in-house seems like the best option.

The following needs to be considered when deciding on whether to outsource your content marketing or keep it in-house.

Planning:
A content marketing strategy is not something that is implemented without much thought and simply works from the get go. One needs to focus a lot of attention to planning, i.e. the beginning phase of a content marketing strategy is as equally important as the direction thereof. As with the launch of any publication– careful thought and consideration needs to be taken to ensure that every detail is in place.

Social Media:
The term ‘social media’ is often associated with ‘young & trendy’. The fact that the girl in reception is wearing skinny jeans and using phrases such as ‘epic fail’ does not mean that she’s a social media expert. As mentioned in a previous article “a Facebook fanatic is not necessarily a Facebook expert”. If this girl can be put in charge of a company’s social media account, why can’t she also be in charge of the new corporate identity design and advertising campaign? In the end, a failed social media strategy can have the same damaging effect as a failed advertising campaign. A company’s social media strategy needs to be planned out properly, by experts.

The Company Knows What’s Best:
Many companies believe that no outsider can ever understand the workings of said company as well as its employees do. This is a flawed outlook and means that the professionals don’t have a chance to give their opinion. A professional agency will research your industry and get to grips with it before implementing a strategy.

It’s Too Expensive:
Placing an in-house employee (with little or no experience) in charge of your content marketing strategy can cost you more money than if you employ a professional. When allocating an appropriate budget to your content marketing strategy you’ll see results. When you’re not spending any money on it you won’t see any results which can become costly – especially when your competitors start to gain in on you.
All of the above said, a good in-house team is obviously much better than a so-so digital agency. It is therefore necessary to conduct proper research before placing your content marketing endeavours in an agency’s hands.

The Solution

If you prefer to keep it in-house, but you know that your staff is not properly trained, you can still make use of a digital agency, but on a smaller scale. We call it “managed in-house”, which basically means that an agency is used to manage all of your in-house content.
The main issues of in-house, which are training and management, should be solved.

Your in-house resources are as such fully trained (by professionals) and they are managed in such a way that ensures all content is well written, relevant and appropriate.

The following points will be covered by the digital agency, leaving the rest up to your in-house team.
1. The digital agency works out a tailored strategy, they complete initial designs (such as your website and blog) and they write procedures for the in-house team to follow.
2. The agency will train your in-house staff so that they are knowledgeable about the task at hand.
3. The agency will monitor all content procedures and report back to management.

The agency manages the entire content marketing process, including proof-reading and editing.

A Successful Strategy is Costly

If you want your content marketing strategy to be well planned out, and eventually be a success, you’ll have to be willing to spend money on it. If you want it done properly it’s going to cost you, whether it’s in-house or outsourced.

A combination of in-house and outsourced works well because the company is still in charge of its content, but receives relevant help from the professionals. This ensures that the content strategy is true to the individual company but yet professional and well planned out.


Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital | carina@soundidea.co.za | www.soundidea.co.za | @SoundIdea

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