Created on: 02/19/2016 - 17:35
Abhishek Sharma, Business Development Head , Spiral Content Solutions
- Marketing teams in India are increasingly taking the content marketing plunge and rampingup efforts to engage with customers. As they dive in though, the one big question many are asking themselves is “Should we outsource our brand’s digital content needs?” After all, marketing teamsknow the product/service best. But is product expertise enough for content marketing or does the job require #contentmarketing domain expertise?
- Even if there are content marketing specialists internally - and we believe this role will be among the hottest jobs in marketing - they will need the right infrastructure and tools to help them meet their goals. Hence, it might be best to start your content marketing journey by evaluating whether you should outsource your content marketing. This equally holds true for those who have started out but are discovering unexpected roadblocks. This piece in B2C has some questions you should figure out the answers to before deciding on your route to content marketing.
- The fact remains that there are some clear benefits to partnering with a specialist content marketing outfit:
- Skills, Budgets & People - Content creation is a specialized skill. So is it with content planning & content distribution. The talent gap will only increase as more marketing plans include content marketing as a necessary critical layer. Some organizations may feel it is too early to resource the marketing teams with internal content specialists. In these cases, specialist outfits can add the much needed boost towards starting on the road to consumer engagement through content marketing. Even in companies where there are 2-3 content specialists, content marketing platforms and advisory services can work to achieve scale and consistency.
- Writing is an art –Most people can talk, but few can communicate effectively. You need relevant expertise from content strategists and creators, and this expertise is unlikely to be found in your advertising agency. Most advertising agencies work with the brand being at the centre of the conversation. Content marketing companies will suggest that the consumer should be at the centre of the conversation. The ‘conversation’ itself may be a starter, with the brand leveraging a trending dialogue. For instance, the Indian government recently announced the first 20 upcoming smart cities in India, a huge opportunity for enterprise technology firms. But did any of these companies take this opportunity to ride the buzz created by this announcement? That would a perfect example of a conversation at the centre of a potential engagement. Creating a story from mere data,working with experienced experts who can bring a piece of content to life and catalysing consumer-centric thinking—these are some of the advantages that a content marketing company can bring to your brand.
- Scaling content - Outsourcing content marketing needs also allows you to rapidly deploy scale and pull back when you need to. A specialist content organization can build content strategy, align your content and marketing team to a range of content creators (across several price and quality points) can add tremendous width and range to your engagement efforts. Imagine an airline wanting to create several hundred pieces of content titled ‘48 hours in XYZ’ for all the cities they fly too. With a content marketing agency and the right deployment of smart tools, marketers can potentially procure several hundred pieces of relevant content in under 24 hours.
- Time Versus Returns–Some believe that content marketing can be managed by hiring a couple of journalists in the marketing team. After all, journalists create great content, right? Wrong. This is as flawed anidea as hiring interns to manage a brand’s social feeds. A newsroom in a reputed media brand isn’t just about writers, but about skilled copy editors, fact checkers and Editors. Just getting in one layer will fail to recreate the magic. Consistently creating great content outcomes takes time and the right resources. While we completely second the thought of hiring content specialists within a brand team, what is more important is to arm them with the right resources and tools to raise the brand’s content engagement. Working with an outsourced content marketing company can make a huge difference.
- The End Of The Road Syndrome– Recently, one of my colleagues met a marketer who expressed a ‘temporary interest’ in content marketing. We were told that there was a limit to the amount of content that could be created for a brand. After all, how often can a fairness cream brand talk about complexion and beauty tips? A content marketing company will see this challenge from a very different lens. A lens that throws light on the fact that a fairness cream is less about complexion and pigmentation but used more from a ‘hope’ and ‘confidence’ perspective. When you look at it that way, you realise there is no dearth of content marketing ideas. Given the TG is rather young, themes can revolve around issues like dating, job interview tips, smart dressing and more. Content allows for infinite engagement and content companies can chart this path for brands.
- Work flow management–Content marketing companies don’t just provide content, but can manage the entire content marketing workflow for a brand. This is done by (1) outlining the objective of the content engagement, (2) drawing up of a nuanced content calendar, (3) procuring and/or aggregating content, (4) creating commissioned content, (5) curation and repurposing content (6)deploying analytics-based tools to measure engagement and (7) constant optimisation,and so on. Content marketing is thus achieved in a collaborative fashion with the brand team.Strategy is designed and content is efficiently created or procured and scientifically distributed and then optimized, helping transform the marketing function itself into a potential profit centre.
Share it now!
