One aspect of a business that is particularly well-suited for outsourcing to remote workers is content marketing. By outsourcing your content marketing to remote workers, you can reduce costs and free your time to work on the aspects of your business which play to your strengths. This shows a lack of care which will probably be reflected in their work. It helps if you have a branding document or style guide to give to new writers, although there’s nothing better than an abundance of examples for writers to mimic. Edit every post to make it as impactful as possible, and always provide writers with clear feedback for how they can improve, but always prioritize consistency over perfection. You can offer writers $10 to write a blog post, and you’re likely to get many responses, but as the saying goes, “If you pay peanuts, then you get monkeys.” Your content is an extension of your brand, so pay to get high-skilled writers who will take the task seriously. (highlight to tweet) It’s far better to have two good blog posts a month than two underwhelming posts per week. However, for more complex forms of visual content such as infographics, the DIY approach is not always ideal (unless you are a designer). It’s always best to hire a researcher/copywriter who has proven experience in creating content within a visual context (a background in design is desirable), and it’s even better if they already have a working relationship with the designer you’re using. Social media shares, the quality/number of comments left on blog posts, website traffic, content-related conversions, and email newsletter subscriptions are all indicators of how effective your content is.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the mass adoption of high-speed
internet has dramatically transformed the way that businesses
operate. For the first time in history, businesses are not impeded
by geographical restrictions when it comes to securing a skilled,
professional workforce. After many decades of an industrial,
one-size-fits-all approach to business culture, flexible
working arrangements are becoming more and more
popular.
According to a study by
PGI, a software services provider, 80% of workers stated that
working from home improved their morale, while 70% stated that
working from home improved their productivity. It has been
estimated that if an average American business allowed employees to
work from home half of the time, they would save
approximately $11,000
annually on overhead costs.
While remote workers save money on commuting costs, it seems
that money is not the key driving force for their choice of
lifestyle. When 1,500 technology professionals were questioned, 36%
stated they would take a 10%
pay cut for the opportunity to work from home!
One aspect of a business that is particularly well-suited for
outsourcing to remote workers is content marketing. So long as the
content is published on time, reflects the brand with integrity,
and provides value to its intended audience, it makes very little
difference whether the content architect is working from a bustling
office under the prying eyes of his or her manager or alone on a
tropical beach. The output is what matters to the customer, not the
process.
Additionally, many editors, copywriters, and visual content
creators are natural introverts and choose to work remotely because
they dislike the 9–5 schedule, dress codes, loud offices,
hierarchies, and compulsory corporate team building events come
with a traditional office job. In order to get the best results
from these people, it’s important that they’re able to work in an
environment where they feel comfortable and productive.
By outsourcing your content marketing to remote workers,
you can reduce costs and free your time to work on the aspects of
your business which play to your strengths.
Although outsourcing your content strategy can be daunting at
first, follow these proven tips, and your chances of success will
dramatically increase.
1. Choose Writers Wisely
Whether you find your writers on freelance sites such as
Upwork and Freelancer or on job boards that
pertain specifically to writers, such as Problogger or Freelance Writing Gigs,
choosing the right worker can sometimes be challenging (for more
about where to find writers, check out
this post).
First, it’s always wise to choose writers who are able
to show positive testimonials from previous clients. You
may get lucky picking someone green, but why take the chance if you
don’t have to? Also, insist on seeing examples of their work to see
if you like their style. While it can be useful if a writer has
previous experience in your niche, if someone has experience
writing about a range of topics and consistently turns out high
quality content, this is a strong indicator they are willing to
learn about your industry and brand in order to do a good job.
Finally, include a special message in your job description for
potential writers to repeat in their response—this shows that they
pay attention to details which is a very important trait! Avoid
writers who send generic responses which have absolutely nothing to
do with the job description. This shows a lack of care which will
probably be reflected in their work.
2. Provide Clear Instructions
While many business owners are fanatical proponents of
face-to-face communication, giving instructions to remote workers
is perfectly appropriate via email. In fact, having a written
record of all discussions to refer back to usually helps to avoid
ambiguity.
That said, you do need to be crystal clear in the
instructions you give to your writers in terms of tone of voice,
style, formatting, and layout. It helps if you have a
branding document or
style guide to give to new writers, although there’s nothing
better than an abundance of examples for writers to mimic.
For this reason, you may wish to hire one writer initially
before branching out to a team. In his highly actionable book
Content Machine, author Dan Norris states that
implementing a style guide led to a dramatic improvement in the
standard of content submitted by external writers.
Outsourcing content is not an excuse to outsource your
brainpower; it’s still up to you to come…
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