This is a guest post from Steve Lazuka, founder of Interact Media, the software development firm behind the Zerys Content Marketplace and question-and-answer website, YoExpert.
If you read this blog regularly, you understand the impact inbound marketing and, more specifically, content creation have on a business' lead generation and customer acquisition efforts. Problem is, marketing agencies who deliver inbound marketing services for their clients somehow need to find the bandwidth to create a high volume of quality content that drives ROI for their clients, and do so profitably, efficiently, and across a number of niche business areas.
Even more difficult, most agencies don't have the budget and management resources to maintain a staff of in-house writers. This is where agencies can leverage the power of a large writer network to effectively manage an outsourced content team. Based on my experiences running a content agency and through case studies from power users of our Zerys content marketplace, I’ve learned what works and doesn’t work for an agency outsourcing content creation. Below are the seven very distinct peices of advice I always give to agencies who are getting started with a content marketplace.
1) Invest Time in Learning the Platform
Most people don't like writing; or if they like it, they certainly can't find the time to do it. So what's the next natural step? Outsource it!
Anyone who has outsourced content creation, however, knows there are lots of moving parts you have to manage to get the quantity and quality of content you're looking for. To put it plainly, businesses don't want to spend the time figuring it out, which is why we see so many businesses out there struggling to keep up high levels of content creation. But as an agency, this affords you a great opportunity to learn and master the process of outsourced content creation on behalf of your clients!
When you settle on a content creation platform -- like Zerys for Agencies, for example -- set aside time to start experimenting. Start simple, placing a few uncomplicated orders (think blog posts, not white papers) and sampling a variety of writers. Over time, you can start to learn the more advanced features that can make your process more efficient and streamlined. Think of it like a science experiment -- if you test too many variables at once, you'll have a hard time identifying what specifically contributed to your successes and failures. And if you do run into trouble, whether with processes or specific features, leverage the platform's available support resources. That's what they're there for!
Once you feel comfortable with the ins and outs of a platform, you'll be able to invest time in things like writer development without getting caught up in those little snags that hinder your productivity.
2) Sample Lots of Writers
Agencies that sample one writer, throw up their hands in frustration, and then quit are never going to find the writers that make their clients' content creation dreams come true. In order to build a solid team of trusted writers for your agency, you’ll need to sample plenty of writers, and identify which ones are capable of giving you the content quality you need, ad the price you're willing to pay. It is possible to find great writers at lower price points, but only if you're willing to invest time in searching for those writers, and teaching them about the intricacies of your clients' needs.
One of our main goals when designing Zerys was to make the process of sampling writers fast, simple and risk-free. Get started by posting an initial batch of 10-20 simple assignments to the job board. This way, you can sample work from many different writers with no risk, since you only pay if you’re happy with the work you get back. Once you identify the writers you like, you can save them to a list of your favorite writers for quick access to your arsenal of killer content creators in the future.
3) Get Good at Providing Instructions
If you want to create amazing content for your clients, you must provide amazing instructions to your writers. And it's a tricky balance to strike -- instructions must be at once comprehensive, and concise. But mastering this skill is critical to your success at outsourcing content creation, because your writers simply cannot read your mind, or that of your clients. As you work with writers more and more, however, they will get to know what your clients are looking for and require less instruction.
Let's take a look at an example of a brief and comprehensive set of writer instructions, and an incomplete set of writer instructions for the sake of comparison.
Write a short blog post about email marketing campaign best practices, and reference features from this tool: http://www.hubspot.com/products/email-marketing
Write a short blog post -- 700-900 words -- about email marketing campaign best practices. While there may be other best practices you hit on based on your research, but it should definitely explain the importance of list segmentation, email design, copywriting best practices, personalization, and performance analytics. Pepper in references to this email marketing software throughout the post (http://www.hubspot.com/products/email-marketing), as it helps you implement all of those best practices and will be a nice visual counterpart to the text. The tone should be educational, but a little light hearted; we don't want people to get bored reading it!
If you sent a writer that second set of instructions, it's much more likely you'll get a piece of quality content than if you sent the same writer the first set of instructions. Investing a few minutes really figuring out what it is you want, pointing writers to external resources they can use to inform their writing, and establishing the right tone for each piece of content will save you time in revisions down the road.
(Tip: While many agencies provide too little context and information for writers, providing too much direction can be just as ineffective. Unless you plan to pay the writer enough to spend hours sifting through heaps of documents you send them for reference, you're better off keeping instructions clear and concise.)
4) Consider the First Piece of Content a First Draft
As you build your writer network, consider each post you get back as a first draft that may require a bit of editing and revisions. Even great writers may not capture exactly what you need the first time, but if you like their style and they are well-informed on the subject matter about which they're writing, you can invest some up-front time offering helpful feedback, and nurturing the relationship to the benefit of your client.
You can choose to offer a higher amount of money, and attract higher rated writers who will give you more “publish-ready” work, thus spending less time editing. Or, you could offer a lower amount and save more up-front, with the understanding that you will probably need to spend more time on the back-end editing.
If you choose to work with lower-cost writers that require more feedback, invest time in providing clear, constructive feedback just like you did when writing your job instructions. Let's pretend the email marketing blog post we referenced in the previous example needed a little work -- here's the right way to give feedback to that writer:
Thank you for this first draft, it's looking good but needs a few edits. In the performance analytics section, can you please provide a more comprehensive list of the metrics that an email marketer should consider to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns? Right now, you just recommend a few, and say there are others. The readers will want to know everything to consider, though. Also, the email design section get's a little to technology-oriented; the client's audience will likely be outsourcing the design of their emails, so can you please remove the how-to design parts, and simply list some general best practices they should reference when working with a designer? Other than that, looks good. Thank you!
If you give feedback like this that's extremely specific, the writer knows exactly what to change and will be able to turn around revisions much more expeditiously, and accurately.
5) Invest in Building Long-Term Relationships
Platforms like Zerys are tools, but at its heart, content development is all about people. In order to be successful in the long run, you’ll need to invest some of your time in building solid relationships with good writers. It’s no different than if you were hiring people in-house at your office; you don’t hire the first person that walks in, but by the same token, you’ll invest in developing your strong candidates to help them perform at their best.
Once you identify writers that give you the quality you want at the price you can afford, be sure to offer well-thought out feedback like you saw in the previous example, as well as more general feedback that's not necessarily tied to any particular assignment. For example, you might let them know what clients really appreciate about their writing so they continue doing more of that in the future. Similarly, you can tell them what you love about working with them -- perhaps they always format their work very nicely, for instance. They will greatly appreciate this type of feedback, and over time, they will improve their writing to give you exactly what you want.
6) Reward Your Writers
Want to build a team of dedicated, loyal, reliable writers? Treat them well and they’ll reward you by giving your assignments top attention, and always doing their best work for you and your clients. There are a couple of ways to do this, but one of the best ways is to add a bonus every now and then when they do a great job, or go above and beyond your expectations. With Zerys, you can add tips on the content review/approval screen with just one click.
On top of monetary incentives, however, you should also just be good to work with. Set clear and high expectations, but be understanding, too. For example, if you've worked with a writer for several months and they have an emergency come up that will impact the due date of their assignment, don't flip your lid. Instead, thank them for letting you know in advance, wish them well, and reassign the job to another writer. It seems obvious, but when there's a computer screen between two people, it's easy for clients to forget they're working with another human being -- if you're not familiar with the phenomenon, just visit the comments section of almost any blog.
7) Let Your Clients Build Your Team for You
Why not let your clients help you build your team of writers for you? After all, it doesn’t really matter if we feel that a writer’s great. All that matters is what our clients think!
Tell your clients that you work with a network of writers with a wide variety of different skill sets and expertise areas. Tell them you will choose a writer that you think will work well for the client based on prior experience, and have that writer compose the first piece for the client's review. If they don’t like that writer, it’s no problem, and they don’t have to pay for it. You will simply try another writer until the client finds the one they like. But just like you strive to provide specific instructions and feedback to your writer, you should also request that your clients provide clear feedback about what they do and don't want before writing begins, and during the revision process. This will help you better match up clients and writers, and start off new client relationships on the right foot.
Are you an agency that outsources content? What are the outsourced content creation best practices that work for you?
Image credit: Kazarelth
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Paul Boomer 10:56 PM on May 21, 2012
Patrick,
You have some really strong insights here.
Your tip about investing in good instructions is a must. Without clarity, your time and money start flying out the window.
The one thing I have issue with is why outsource content at all?
Business owners and brand managers have all of the stories in their heads. They have the enthusiasm. They have the knowledge. They have the voice.
Why not find a good interviewer, record an interview, have it transcribed, and re-write the transcription? Having the CEO, owner, manger, et al be the one "writing" gives the post a genuine voice and authenticity. There is no back-and-forth re-writing, virtually no first draft, and if done right, requires less time managing the process.
Do you see a potential downfall to the above mentioned process, Patrick? Seriously, for those who do outsource content for inbound marketing, you provide great insights. Please keep at it.
Steve Lazuka 2:39 PM on May 22, 2012
Hi Paul. Thanks for commenting on my post above.
Sorry for the long reply, but I think this is an important topic…
The service you promote in your comment above appears to be an agency-type service that offers step-by-step content development at premium prices. I am certain your services would benefit companies that prefer to have someone help them create content at every step. I know that some people don’t have time to manage their own project, and are willing to pay more to have someone do it for them. In fact, we see that many Zerys users start out by trying to manage their own project using Zerys, and then realize they need help, and choose instead to hire an agency using our Agency Matching service.
I give you a lot of credit for coming up with a unique twist on the process for interviewing clients, and using those audio clips to create podcasts and blog posts - very clever!
I also agree that it makes perfect sense to have the owner or top people in a company create content whenever possible since, like you said, they have the passion and the knowledge about the industry. I consider these types of posts "premium" posts. These premium posts will take more thought, planning, and time, and will also cost more than other posts that don't need to be written by the owner. However, these premium posts will usually be the most in-depth, and the highest quality.
As for your question of "why outsource?"... for most companies, the answer is simply: cost
By outsourcing, a company can get the bulk of their content written by a professional writer who knows (or learns) your industry, for a much lower rate than hiring a writer in-house or hiring an agency. While these writers are not the owner, they are often industry experts, or can become experts quickly, and can learn your style over time. We recommend that companies create premium content whenever possible, but knowing that most companies don’t have the time, they can use a platform like Zerys to create the rest of the BULK of their content, using outsourced writers, for a much lower cost. Even though this content wasn’t written by the owner, it can still be used to demonstrate your authority in your industry, rank for hundreds of long-tail key-phrases, and drive traffic through social media... all for a much lower cost.
Our Zerys platform, along with elance, and other content marketplace tools, can’t really be compared directly to your agency service. Zerys is not an agency. It’s a do-it-yourself tool that lets people manage their own content projects (if you need help, you can hire people or agencies from within the software).
Every company will need to decide whether it makes sense to manage their own project, or hire an agency like yours. Obviously, hiring an agency will always cost more than managing your own project, and people expect that.
From what i see on your site, your prices appear to be about 10 to 25 times higher than what it costs using a "self-managed" content platform like elance, Zerys, or other content marketplaces. Here at Zerys, the average cost to get a blog post written by a professional, 4 to 5-star writer or journalist is about $15 (on elance its less). I see on your site that it costs about $250 to create one blog post using your system. To add the publishing service (which Zerys offers for free), each blog post would cost about $375 using your service, but that also includes a podcast recording. (Please correct me if i got your pricing wrong - im going by your website.)
Don’t get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with your pricing. Again, i think your services are definitely needed in the marketplace. I just know that many companies will not be able to afford to create the BULK of their content at those prices, so they will need a more affordable solution for the bulk of their content.
Usually, the argument that comes back to us is “yes, but Zerys is a low-end service and you’ll get low quality”. My only response is to tell people to just go try it. Zerys is simply a marketplace where you can set the price you want to offer the writers. There are low quality writers, and there are the best of the best writers. You can choose the writers you want to sample based on industry and quality rating. Then, you just make a price offer and see what you get back (you only pay if you like what you get). If need be, you can raise your price offer if you need higher quality.
Most of the time, I hear that people are shocked at the level of quality they can get for such low prices on Zerys. The fact is, if you are willing to use the system to sample many writers, you can find writers who will write great content at a very affordable price. This is why we always recommend that companies sample many different writers at different price points. This way, you can find the perfect writers that give you the quality you need, at the price you can afford to pay. Obviously, high quality is key, and the more you can afford to pay for content, generally, the better the writer you will attract, and the better quality content you will get.
Also, Zerys has built-in tools that allow people to do the things you are offering themselves… like uploading an audio interview, researching keywords/topics to write about, developing page titles (patented title suggestion tool), and creating an editorial calendar to help plan the next several months of posts. Also, Zerys lets you auto-publish to Hubspot or Wordpress and others for free.
So, bottom line, your agency service is a very different service than our Zerys platform. Some companies will prefer to save money and do it themselves. Others will prefer to pay more to get an agency to help do it for them. I think both are perfectly valid routes a company can take. In the end, it will just come down to their time and budget.
Thanks again for the comment. I think this is a good discussion for all marketers and agencies to have.
Fax Authority 3:06 PM on May 22, 2012
Good list!
#s 2 and 3 are the most important out of this - usually when outsourcing fails, it's because of the outsourcee far more often than the outsourcer.
When helping people with projects, we frequently suggest hiring anyone that applies for the job, and giving them a really simple task to start with - if 100 pages need to be written, have each person do 3 with the full instructions, and pay each person that completes the work no matter what, but keep the good ones on for the full projects.
The hiring philosophy of the western world is so geared around interviewing to find the perfect candidate, however for outsourcing sometimes the better way is to test test test until you find the person (or people) who are right for your personally.
Steve Lazuka 3:45 PM on May 22, 2012
Thanks for sharing your methods Fax.
I agree 100%. You can interview writers, and look at previous samples, but in the end, the only true way to find out if they're the right fit is to have them right a custom sample for you.
Paul Boomer 9:48 AM on May 23, 2012
Steve -
Thank you for the thoughtful response. That's exactly what I wanted to understand.
You're right about the topic needing to be a discussed. What's most important is making sure businesses are deepening relationships with their customers and clients. That's where I estimate 95% of blogs and social media has it wrong… they're being used as marketing tools and used like it's mass media.
Social media - blogs and email newsletters included - should be used as relationship deepening tools for one-on-one communication.
Too many businesses spout of crud that very few people care about and/or the business is measuring the wrong thing (and some start a social media campaign because "…we were told we needed too…").
It's tragic to see great opportunities pass businesses because the way the were taught.
Creating content - outsourced content, creating content in house, or creating "premium" content - is a requirement of any marketing effort. The key to great content is making sure the "who gives a crap meter" isn't allowed to move.
By the way - yes, Shortcut Blogging in a premium service… to a point (think ghost writing for books). It does cost about $333 per blog post and podcast for the upper echelon service. Every client we're working with is very happy with the service as it is a white glove service.
Thank you again, Steve. Looking forward to more of your guest posts.
Steve Lazuka 2:41 PM on May 23, 2012
Thanks for clarifying Paul.
I would only add one thing to what you said above: budgets drive everything. In a perfect world, everyone would hire an agency to create ALL their content, and every piece would be amazing, award-winning content. That simply is not the reality out there for most small businesses.
It's like a person driving a Ferrari looking around and saying "why would all these people buy all these junky little cars"
... obviously, it's because they can't afford a Ferrari!
So, I agree with you that quality is the key, but we need to be realistic and realize that not everyone can afford to drive a Ferrari... at least not all the time!
Getting back to my earlier post, this is why we suggest people hire an agency, or spend a certain amount of resources each month, creating premium content. For the bulk of their content, however, they can use a solution (like Zerys) they can afford. Just because the content didn't cost a ton doesn't mean it's not still very valuable.
Rent the Ferrari once in awhile, but there's nothing wrong with driving the Camry around the rest of the time - it gets the job done. (I'd be willing to bet that for most companies, their standard blog posts that target all the hundreds of long tail topics and keywords, generate more traffic as a total, then the far smaller # of premium pieces do... not to mention how they can educate visitors and demonstrate your authority)
Thanks again Paul - good luck with your venture.
Victoria Ipri 3:38 PM on May 23, 2012
"...sample work from many different writers with no risk, since you only pay if you’re happy with the work you get back."
What? So writers accept assignments and put their time, resources, education and skill into the work, and the 'buyer' can decide not to pay?
What kind of schlocky system is this?
This ia promo article for Zerys, plain and simple. Let's not pretend.
Paul Boomer 3:46 PM on May 23, 2012
You're absolutely right, Steve. The last thing any agency or company should do is recommend something that does not make sense for a client.
Price has to be a consideration.
The best agencies, working as consultants, should find ways to reduce marketing costs while increasing gross profits for the client. A better solution is for agencies to tie their rates based on the businesses up-turn or down-turn.
Dave Young - co-founder of Shortcut Blogging 4:00 PM on May 23, 2012
Victoria...the entire purpose of writing a guest post is to raise awareness of the author and his/her services, company or point of view. Joining in the conversation by commenting is also an opportunity for promotion. That's the cool thing about social media.
Good content will always do this.
Our contention at Shortcut Blogging is that expert content (or "premium content" as Steve calls it) is more valuable in deepening relationships with readers.
On the conflict between the savings of time and the savings of money...we come down on the side of saving time.
Victoria Ipri 4:10 PM on May 23, 2012
Agreed, Dave. But how does this address my comment re: writers being expected to produce work for no pay?
I don't mean to interfere with the overall point of the article or cause dissention that goes off into the weeds on a different issue. I just find it incredible that companies are still out there pulling this, and writers are still falling for it.
Dave Young - co-founder of Shortcut Blogging 4:32 PM on May 23, 2012
It's up to the writer to decide if that's a good model for their work.
I'm sure you could get good feedback on the quality of your work (by not getting paid).
You could also put your services on Fiverr and get 5 bucks for writing something.
Ultimately, it's up to the writer as to how they want to engage the marketplace.
Steve Lazuka 4:36 PM on May 23, 2012
Hi Victoria
Before you judge the system as being harsh to writers, consider the following points:
1. Over 90% of work submitted by writers is approved by buyers. As you mentioned, if the buyer is not happy with the work, they do, however, have the right to reject it.
2. By removing all the risk to buyers, the end result is a lot more work for our writers! The # 1 complaint we get from writers in our network is that they want more work... so this is the single best thing we have done to give writers the steady work that they want.
3. Writers can study the stats of each buyer before accepting their work to see writer ratings and stats to see how often they reject work. If a buyer rejects work too often, writers can choose to avoid taking jobs from them.
4. Zerys is simply a marketplace. We let buyers and writers work together to work things out. We try to give both parties the facts and stats they need to make informed decisions when it comes to working together.
5. Thousands of writers are choosing to take jobs from Zerys buyers because they can earn supplemental income from home each month.
6. While i understand your frustration with the new content technologies that level the playing field and put downward pressure on writing prices, understand that we do not set the market rates. Before Zerys, places like Elance were driving down prices. Writers at elance are taking jobs for far less than on Zerys on average... believe it or not.
Just like in any other marketplace of products or services, there are occasions where a writer misrepresents the quality of work they can provide to the buyer, and the buyer is not happy with their work. In these cases, yes, the buyer can reject it... just as they would reject any other faulty product or service.
As I mentioned however, this represents a small percentage of the orders in our system.
I hope this helps you better understand how the system works.
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