Our advice for outsourcing the production of your content!
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2024 4:56 am
Content production is essential for your web project, but it takes time! It takes time, not only to create articles, videos and visuals, etc., but especially to train yourself in order to obtain professional results. To simplify your life, call on a content marketing agency !
Outsourcing the production of your content has many advantages: saving time, money, etc. (see our article on the 6 good reasons to outsource the production of your content ). And you will eliminate a large number of problems from your daily life. Provided of course that you go about it the right way!
In this article, you will discover our 3 best practices for successfully outsourcing the production of your content with a content marketing agency. We will also tell you about 3 risks that this project involves and strategies to eliminate them one by one.
In the illustration, we see the word "Content" and little characters moving around it to illustrate the production of content.
Our best tips for delegating your content to an agency
To ensure that your content outsourcing operation goes smoothly, here are our 3 favorite tips !
Define your own needs
To start, be clear about the services you want to outsource . Regarding your content, you can delegate:
The strategy (definition of the target, keywords , subjects to be addressed, editorial line , formats, distribution channels, etc.),
Production (writing blog articles , white papers, e-books , newsletters and other written materials, producing and editing videos and podcasts, organizing webinars , creating visuals such as photographs, infographics, illustrations, etc.),
Dissemination on social networks and media, the press, specialist sites, etc.
Depending on the skills you have in-house, your budget and the time you have available, you will not entrust the same tasks to your agency.
If you have time but little means , only assign tasks in which you have no skills, such as making videos for example;
If you have time but no idea of content , invest in a complete content marketing strategy with defined topics and a 6-month editorial calendar . You can then take charge of production;
If you know exactly what you want to broadcast, but lack the technical skills or don't want to invest in expensive equipment, outsource only the production;
If you are allergic to social networks , ask an agency to moj database take care of the distribution of your content, but also the management of comments and bad buzz;
If you're overwhelmed and your content isn't coming out on time, consider outsourcing altogether . Once you've got the hang of it, you may be able to take over some of the tasks.
Whatever you decide, it must allow you to distribute quality content on a regular basis.
Find the agency that perfectly meets your expectations
Once you have your expectations clearly defined, you can start looking for the perfect agency. Some can handle all the steps of content marketing , while others specialize in strategy or production. Ask them what they can do for you today and in the future, etc. Because your needs may change. With this in mind, it can be interesting to work with an agency that can handle everything for you, even if you don’t need it right now. This could make your life much easier later on.
To choose well, take these few criteria into account:
Quality of deliverables : ask to see the productions made for other clients;
Speed of execution : hot content requires high responsiveness;
Budget : If the prices are low, ask yourself what quality will you get in exchange?
Procedures : find out about the agency's way of working, particularly the different stages of content validation ;
Communication : Is the team attentive and do you feel comfortable with your interlocutors? (Be careful, this collaboration may last for years and starting all over again with a new agency will cost you time and money) .
Your company's identity: a key communication point
You've found the agency of your dreams? Perfect! Now you'll have to make them understand your brand identity .
What are its models, its values, its objectives?
What is its story, its vision, its voice, its rhythm?
How does he breathe, express himself and move?
Because if you entrust the production of your content to an agency, it is so that it takes on the voice of your brand and not so that it applies a ready-made recipe, without any particular flavor or fragrance.
To do this, the agency must listen to what you have to say. But you still need to know what to say. Talking about your project is not always easy: we lack perspective and sometimes words or images to express our vision precisely .
But this essential work must be carried out in advance, possibly with a branding expert , so that your content marketing agency can support you as best as possible.
Communication must be done orally through interviews, but also in writing through a brandbook that will be the agency's reference document regarding your brand. It will use it to carry out its internal missions and to write its briefs when it calls on freelancers.
Here are the main elements that your brand’s brandbook should contain:
The vision,
The mission,
The positioning,
The inspirations,
The story,
Values,
Products and services,
The intended target,
Competition and differentiating elements,
The visual identity or digital graphic charter (color, typography, use of the logo and baselines, etc.),
The editorial universe or editorial charter (wording, style, tone, way of addressing the audience, do's and don'ts, etc.),
The structure of documents such as white papers or guides.
Your brandbook will help your agency align with your own productions and create cohesion in the message delivered by your brand. This document is essential to the success of outsourcing the production of your content .
Outsourcing the production of your content has many advantages: saving time, money, etc. (see our article on the 6 good reasons to outsource the production of your content ). And you will eliminate a large number of problems from your daily life. Provided of course that you go about it the right way!
In this article, you will discover our 3 best practices for successfully outsourcing the production of your content with a content marketing agency. We will also tell you about 3 risks that this project involves and strategies to eliminate them one by one.
In the illustration, we see the word "Content" and little characters moving around it to illustrate the production of content.
Our best tips for delegating your content to an agency
To ensure that your content outsourcing operation goes smoothly, here are our 3 favorite tips !
Define your own needs
To start, be clear about the services you want to outsource . Regarding your content, you can delegate:
The strategy (definition of the target, keywords , subjects to be addressed, editorial line , formats, distribution channels, etc.),
Production (writing blog articles , white papers, e-books , newsletters and other written materials, producing and editing videos and podcasts, organizing webinars , creating visuals such as photographs, infographics, illustrations, etc.),
Dissemination on social networks and media, the press, specialist sites, etc.
Depending on the skills you have in-house, your budget and the time you have available, you will not entrust the same tasks to your agency.
If you have time but little means , only assign tasks in which you have no skills, such as making videos for example;
If you have time but no idea of content , invest in a complete content marketing strategy with defined topics and a 6-month editorial calendar . You can then take charge of production;
If you know exactly what you want to broadcast, but lack the technical skills or don't want to invest in expensive equipment, outsource only the production;
If you are allergic to social networks , ask an agency to moj database take care of the distribution of your content, but also the management of comments and bad buzz;
If you're overwhelmed and your content isn't coming out on time, consider outsourcing altogether . Once you've got the hang of it, you may be able to take over some of the tasks.
Whatever you decide, it must allow you to distribute quality content on a regular basis.
Find the agency that perfectly meets your expectations
Once you have your expectations clearly defined, you can start looking for the perfect agency. Some can handle all the steps of content marketing , while others specialize in strategy or production. Ask them what they can do for you today and in the future, etc. Because your needs may change. With this in mind, it can be interesting to work with an agency that can handle everything for you, even if you don’t need it right now. This could make your life much easier later on.
To choose well, take these few criteria into account:
Quality of deliverables : ask to see the productions made for other clients;
Speed of execution : hot content requires high responsiveness;
Budget : If the prices are low, ask yourself what quality will you get in exchange?
Procedures : find out about the agency's way of working, particularly the different stages of content validation ;
Communication : Is the team attentive and do you feel comfortable with your interlocutors? (Be careful, this collaboration may last for years and starting all over again with a new agency will cost you time and money) .
Your company's identity: a key communication point
You've found the agency of your dreams? Perfect! Now you'll have to make them understand your brand identity .
What are its models, its values, its objectives?
What is its story, its vision, its voice, its rhythm?
How does he breathe, express himself and move?
Because if you entrust the production of your content to an agency, it is so that it takes on the voice of your brand and not so that it applies a ready-made recipe, without any particular flavor or fragrance.
To do this, the agency must listen to what you have to say. But you still need to know what to say. Talking about your project is not always easy: we lack perspective and sometimes words or images to express our vision precisely .
But this essential work must be carried out in advance, possibly with a branding expert , so that your content marketing agency can support you as best as possible.
Communication must be done orally through interviews, but also in writing through a brandbook that will be the agency's reference document regarding your brand. It will use it to carry out its internal missions and to write its briefs when it calls on freelancers.
Here are the main elements that your brand’s brandbook should contain:
The vision,
The mission,
The positioning,
The inspirations,
The story,
Values,
Products and services,
The intended target,
Competition and differentiating elements,
The visual identity or digital graphic charter (color, typography, use of the logo and baselines, etc.),
The editorial universe or editorial charter (wording, style, tone, way of addressing the audience, do's and don'ts, etc.),
The structure of documents such as white papers or guides.
Your brandbook will help your agency align with your own productions and create cohesion in the message delivered by your brand. This document is essential to the success of outsourcing the production of your content .