There are lots of reasons to—or not to—outsource your content writing. It’s a difficult decision to make, especially when you haven’t outsourced much in the past. Letting go is…challenging. I get it.
I was totally the same when it came to outsourcing book cover design. I have a love/hate relationship with designing book covers, but the truth is, while I enjoy designing them for my women’s fiction books, I can’t think of anything worse than designing a fantasy cover. They’re too complicated and faffy for me.
And I’m by no means an expert in cover design. It’s far better to outsource cover design to the experts and spend my time writing instead. My books—and stress levels—will be better for it in the long-term.
The finished cover for my first fantasy novel, The Ghost’s Call, is way better than anything I could’ve designed myself. And it made me feel much calmer knowing there was one less thing to do when it came to finishing the book itself.
So if you feel reluctant to outsource your content marketing, I get it. Your business is your baby, and you want to make sure if you do outsource any aspect of it, you do it for the right reasons.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how outsourcing content marketing could benefit (or hinder) your business.
Cons of outsourcing your content marketing
Cost (but you could earn more)
Investing money in your business when you don’t have much in the first place is scary, especially when you’re not a risk taker and you’re working with someone new.
Cost is always a big factor when it comes to outsourcing, but if you go for the cheapest content marketer in the room…well, you get what you pay for.
A £5 article may not break the bank, but it won’t help with your rankings or conversions, either.
You’re not going to get the same level of search engine optimisation on a £5 post as you would on a £500 post.
A £5 post may be optimised for your keyword, but is it optimised for readability? For related keywords? For external and internal links?
There are over 200 ranking factors for SEO. Optimising for each of them takes time. That level of time—and the knowledge needed to do it—isn’t going to cost you £5.
When you pay an expert, you’re not just paying for their time to create something—you’re paying for the years of experience they have, which taught them exactly what works for your business.
The higher the quality of the content you publish, the more likely it is to help you with your wider business goals. That £5 article is like buying cheap paint to redecorate with. It might look fine at first, but the longer it’s there, the more you’ll notice the cracks.
Communicating your brand values
It’s not always easy to communicate your brand values. That’s why having a list of them and sharing them with any freelancers you work with is important. They’ll know what kind of tone to write in, who they’re writing for, and be able to put something together faster.
If you’re not sure what you want or need yet, there’s no point in outsourcing.
You’re better off scheduling a power hour to consider what could help your business grow first, then deciding if you want to work with that freelancer long-term.
It will save you a lot of time, money, and edits if you get to know the person you’re outsourcing to first.
Pros of outsourcing your content marketing
Saves your energy and time
There’s no denying it: outsourcing the parts of your business you don’t like or can’t yet do saves you time. Learning new skills takes time, and it costs more energy than other tasks because they’re new to you. This means you have less time to spend on your business doing what you’re already good at.
If you don’t have time to learn something, outsourcing it is a logical step.
I outsourced my accounting last year, and I wish I’d done it sooner. It’s a massive load off my mind knowing someone who’s more experienced and is better than numbers than me is just a phone call away.
We only have a limited amount of energy for tasks every day. When we spend it doing things we don’t enjoy or have less experience with, it takes us longer.
So then we end up with less energy to work on the things we’re good at and that will grow our business faster.
Makes you more money
Professional content writers know how content plays into wider strategies. They know how and when to mention things to your target audience and guide them further down the funnel.
They’re therefore more able to write content that fits into your business goals.
Stronger connection with your audience
Content marketing combines your knowledge of your audience with another person’s writing power.
Truly effective content writing requires an awareness of psychology to use words and language that form an emotional connection with your audience.
It’s not just about writing content that helps your audience, although that’s a big part of it.
It’s about writing on their level, in a way they understand, and in a way they connect with.
We’ve all come across brands that should solve our problems but that we don’t connect with and can’t figure out why. It’s usually because we don’t like their branding: either their visual style, written style, or both. This can make or break your brand, so shouldn’t be underestimated.
Easier to stick to a regular schedule
When you’re not the one worrying about your content writing, it’s a lot easier to stick to a regular schedule.
It helps to have a surplus of content before diving into a schedule so that you can operate a few weeks ahead. This means there’s less of a rush to complete things and you have time for stages like edits, formatting, and image sourcing. All of these things take additional time that’s often forgotten, so it’s important to include them in your schedule.
You’ll never be at a loss for words
It can be hard to describe ourselves and our own businesses. Outsourcing your content writing means you’ll never worry about any of that, whether you’re writing awareness, consideration, or purchase content.
Someone who’s job it is to know the right words at the right time can take that stress of your shoulders.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are so many more pros to outsourcing your content marketing than there are cons.
You could grow your business faster, make more money, and have more energy to use on tasks you genuinely enjoy. What do you have to lose?
Ready to get started? Check out my content writing services.