Content marketing is a solid way to enhance your brand. So, you would naturally be interested in jumping the content marketing bandwagon for your brand. But content marketing is not an easy job. You have two options – either build an in-house team or hire an agency.
Building an in-house content team is not an easy job. It requires patience, proper vision a talented bunch of people and proper budget. But on the other hand, a content marketing agency provides you a readymade team of experts.
Read Also: How Can Content Marketing Make Your Presence Felt in the Internet?
But not all content marketing agencies are genuinely dependable. The main reason is simple. Most of them were originally SEO, Social Media Marketing agencies. On seeing the possibilities of Content Marketing, they reinvented themselves as Content Marketing agencies.
Here are a few smart tips to choose a Content Marketing agency that suits your business best:
Domain Expertise: No two businesses function the same way. Each is unique in its own way. Its not easy to have expertise over every domain. That said, if your content marketing agency has previous experience working with your domain, or if they are a team that is comfortable with your domain, the chances of success is high.
Because, in content marketing, quality is everything. If they have great domain knowledge, it will provide you massive advantage.
Success Stories: Do they have past success stories to share? If they have, it means they do know their stuff. If they don’t, be very careful. They might have the potential, but at the same time would have the disadvantage of being newbies. You would have to take a gamble if you plan on continuing with them.
Look for Social Media Presence: Do they have good social media presence? Good rankings alone is not enough for businesses to grow online. Social media presence is vital as well. Check if they are actively engaged with their social media audience, and has some viral posts. Also, do they have experience generating leads from social media? These are vital points you shouldn’t miss out on.
Check their Website & Blog – Do they have a decently designed website which is navigable and user-friendly? Any good content marketing agency would have a variety of content displayed on their website. Look out for videos, infographics, slideshare presentations, ebooks, etc.
Also, pay close attention to their blog. See if they have the latest updates, both from industry and from the company.
Takes time to learn the way you worked so far– Any good content marketing team would look for the work you have done so far. Because generating quality content is no simple task, and they have to lookfor every bit of information available to them. And if you have an existing style of working which could be tweaked for better results, then nothing like it.
Provides you a fresh perspective – Do they provide a fresh perspective to your business? An angle you yourself might not have noticed, or did not think mattered much, but now that they talk about it, you realize its importance and the scope it offers. There might be new techniques your competitors might not be using, and gives you lots of opportunities to grow. Such people would also be able to predict future trends that your business would be able to make the best of.
Produces a variety of content – No matter how great the content, if its the same kind, success will not be sustainable. Your audience would get bored of the same form and style. There should be variety to keep their interest high. Include a variety of videos (Read:Online Video: The Future of Content Marketing), blogs, images, infographics, slideshare presentations and more to make it interesting.
Knows Content Marketing is not just producing content – There aren’t a lot of people who understand the concept of content marketing (Read: Content Marketing: What is it all about?). Due to this, a lot of agencies and people think that content marketing is nothing more than just producing content.
But it is not so. Content marketing involves marketing of the created content as well. How do you do that? Well, that’s a question your content marketing agency needs to answer.
If possible, reach out to ex-employees of the company – To know how a company is, there is no better way than to talk to ex-employees. Their views might be biased, but talking to them can give you valuable insights about the company. You would be able to know their workflow, capability, past clients, culture and a lot more.
So, there you have it.
If you think there are other valuable tips, please share with us in the comment section.