Hi all — wondering what your thoughts are on outsourcing editorial / content management to a contractor? Is it something you’ve tried (or considered)? How has it worked out? I’ve spoken to some people who feel it’s worthwhile, and others who believe content management needs to stay in-house. Putting together a story for Chatty and would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey Kieran! Sending you a DM

I wish I could find someone good man

I've handled both for several businesses as a contractor and know other companies working with freelancers for this. I'm generally a fan of keeping things in-house, but if you've got the right freelancer, they can join your team and keep up with updates, resources, messaging docs, buyer persona evolution, etc. Plus, it's great if you're just getting started or want to test out if content is a good strategy for you. Prevents having to hire someone only to realize the tactic doesn't work for you.

We’ve been doing this for years for our clients. From research through writing to publishing/optimizing and all that jazz. We mainly decided to add it to our services for one particular reason – speeding things up, shipping content regularly, and eliminating bottlenecks. Works wonders when you know how to handle it.

Our agency team structure allows for contractors to act as content manager for a couple of clients at a time. Works well for clients that have very clear goals and "lanes" that we can own, like specifically SEO content or specifically gated resources. If there are too many goals / competing priorities I've found contact content managers can struggle with the added strategy piece as things get more complicated. Zooming out, many of our clients hire our team to own one lane of content among many and we manage that whole process for that particular lane.

Content marketing is one of the most important ways to get your company’s message out. At the very least, you need to be involved in developing your top-level messaging, identifying the audiences you want to deliver that message to and the channels through which you want to deliver it. But contractors and agencies can definitely help develop that strategy and own the execution of it.

Fully agreed with @hallowed-summer-60702 - asking a contractor to completely own content with little/no input is a recipe for disappointment. Having someone to own content internally, who can understand the company/product at a deep level, understands how content maps to business metrics/goals, and can bring all the moving parts together is essential if you think content is worth investing in at all. I can't see a contractor doing that very well.

I managed it alone until I could hire my in-house person. A great in-house person does more that write/edit. They provide subject matter expertise and editorial judgment, build internal relationships inside and outside of marketing, and more. I freelance a lot of work out but not this key role.

I think it depends on the stage of the business and how closely the client collaborates with the contractor. I do this work for clients, typically when the business is small enough that I have direct access to a senior leader or founder. It’s always most effective when we first go through a brand messaging / positioning engagement first, so that things like key differentiators, key messages, and voice and tone are clear. It really requires a strong commitment from the client. They can’t just pass it off and consider it done.

Hi @future-engineer-15818 I think it's a great step forward. In complete honesty - I work for a content creation studio but we have seen multiple software companies struggle with content on time and consistent quality. Stuff like product videos, whitepapers, demo videos, presentations, motion design, ebooks, etc We've built a quick solution that will let you instantly hire a team of designers, copy editors, producers, video editors and a project manager without you having to manage people. Used by 40+ B2B SaaS, we have a proven system for vetting & hiring the best talent that helps you to reduce content production costs without compromising quality. Pay monthly, pause anytime. You can check if this ould be a good fit for you: https://www.contentbeta.com/content-studio/ If you’d like to, happy to set up a trial.

I manage content for Cloudshare! Would be happy to chat if you have any specific questions, @future-engineer-15818 ! :)