[Beginner – 103] The Great Content Creation Debate: Agencies vs. Freelancers
For brand marketers, one of the most important aspects of a solid marketing strategy is a focus on content creation.
Many marketers today argue that great content is the golden ticket to a great marketing approach. They believe without great content, brands miss engaging with their target audiences effectively.
While there’s no doubt that content is key, a challenge for brand marketers is often figuring out how to get content. This has led to the great content creation debate:
Content creation agencies or freelance content creators?
As content had become a full-time job, brands and organizations need dedicated and high-quality content creators who are consistent, reliable, can reflect the company values, and reach meet goals.
If you are wondering what the right choice is for your brand, consider the following factors when deciding between a content creation agency and a freelance writer:
The Cost of Creating Content
Agencies
Working through an agency is almost always more expensive than hiring a freelance writer.
Usually, this is because the agency has a multitude of overhead costs that are included in the price and offer more services than a freelancer writer alone.
For example, an agency might offer services in topic, strategy, planning, recommendations, writing, editing, and sometimes even uploading the content.
This might mean paying for some services you don’t necessarily need.
Freelancers
One of the best things about hiring a freelancer is that you can often negotiate on a price together.
Freelancers usually charge by the length of the content, so it is a bit easier to dictate the terms of your agreement, and what services will be provided. They are also a bit more flexible in terms of making any changes to an agreement.
The Amount of Free Time You Have
Agencies
A content creation agency can help to create great keywords for your brand, make sure that posts are search engine optimized (SEO), and can publish your content on a regular schedule.
Freelancers
If you don’t have a lot of free time, choosing a freelancer for your content creation might be more work on your part, and therefore, less ideal.
While there’s no doubt that a freelancer can handle the same things as a content creation agency, it’s less common. Additionally, finding a freelancer in the first place often requires a little bit more work, whereas outsourcing content needs to a company is often more straightforward.
Capacity and Expertise
Regardless of how great your freelance writer or content creation agency is, there might come a time when their expertise on a subject matter begins to wane.
Agencies
For example, if you are a marketer who needs legal content, a legal content creation agency might be a perfect fit for you. But, if your content needs to shift topics, the legal content creation firm probably will no longer be able to meet your requests.
If this happens, you may need to find a freelance writer who is better suited for creating your content of choice.
Freelancers
On the same note, if you have a large amount of content that needs to be created, a single writer may not be able to handle the load.
As such, you may have to hire multiple writers and spend time managing multiple people. Doing so can be a challenge for a person with limited time.
Quality of Content
Quality is one of the hardest factors to make a straightforward claim about, as quality can differ greatly from agency to agency, freelancer to freelancer.
Agencies
Before committing to anything, a great way to choose either a freelancer or content creation agency is through a recommendation.
Others in the industry are sure to be outsourcing their content needs to someone, so ask who they recommend. By basing your choice off of the recommendation of another trusted person, you’ll more likely to get the high-quality content you’re looking for.
Freelancers
Another thing to consider when thinking about quality is to not let price distract you.
Sites like Elance and Fiverr have freelance writers offering services as cheap as one cent per word ($5 for 500 words), but the quality is not guaranteed.
Usually, a freelance writer who charges a bit more, but can provide references or samples of high-quality work, is a better bet.
And don’t assume that by going through a content creation agency, the content you’ll get will be exactly what you’re looking for.
The Flexibility of Freelance Creators
One of the greatest things about freelancers is that they tend to aim to please – after all, creating content is how they make a living – which means that you’ll often have more flexibility in choosing a freelancer.
With a freelancer, you can often change content topics, content deadlines, or content quantity more easily than with a content creation agency, and a freelancer is often happy to meet requests.
Because freelancers often work on their own schedules (not a strict nine to five), they can also often meet last-minute demands and respond to requests quickly.
Not only that, but freelancers often have a large network of other freelancers they work with, which means that your freelance writer might be able to refer you a great freelance graphic artist.
Which To Choose: A Content Creation Agency or Freelancer?
It’s clear to see that hiring both a content creation agency and a freelancer has benefits that can’t be ignored.
When making the decision, it’s entirely dependent upon your business’s needs, budget, flexibility, and free time.
If you can find a great freelancer, this can often be advantageous as it’s less expensive and offers more flexibility.
But, finding a great freelance content creator can be more challenging. Just as a content creation agency usually comes with a higher price tag due to more inclusive services.