It can feel impossible to find the balance between the ongoing demands of content marketing, ambitious company growth goals, and limited resources and team capacities. If you had unlimited money to throw at the problem, it wouldn’t be such a problem. But we’re as aware as anyone that things are tight, the economy is uncertain, and content marketing is in a state of flux. Sorry to be Debbie Downer. AND YET.
End-to-end content solutions that work for your business are out there. When you find the right content marketing company to partner with, you might actually save money—even though the services you engage with are more comprehensive than just outsourcing some blog posts. Find the right option, and you can not only overcome your current content marketing problems but also achieve better, more sustainable (not to mention measurable) success.
In other words, you’d be wise to ditch the DIY approach. Keep reading to learn how a partner like Verblio can help you with content marketing services designed to help your business generate momentum and grow.
The Challenges of DIY and Small Team Content Marketing
For most small teams, there’s never enough time to do all the growth-related activities you want. Quick-win digital campaigns tend to take priority. How could they not? In our speed-obsessed society, patience is a lost art. That makes it tough—if not impossible—to step back and build a long-term content strategy. The pressure to deliver now can crowd out the work that drives lasting results. So even though content marketing is a priority, it’s hard to prioritize on a daily basis.
Stats are fun, and according to the Content Marketing Institute, a lack of resources consistently ranks among the biggest challenges when executing a content and digital marketing strategy. It’s also why scaling quality content can feel impossible.
Against that backdrop, content marketers tend to hit the dreaded search engine optimization plateau. Because they can’t create high-quality content marketing deliverables at a high rate, even their best outputs begin to become stale. Performance stops improving, and few resources are available to reverse the trend and overcome it.
If you think we’re done listing challenges, you’re wrong. Fresh perspectives on existing keywords and larger content marketing priorities become essential but are also difficult to accomplish. Worse, lean content marketing teams can overspend their internal resources to correct the problem. That comes with hidden costs in its own right, leaving fewer resources to fix the underlying issues.
Without the appropriate support, the consistency and quality of your content marketing begin to suffer. Search engine optimization efforts become less effective, leading to even more investments in immediate-result efforts like search engine ads and sponsored content to make up the difference. It’s a vicious cycle, all too familiar to small teams looking to successfully execute their content marketing strategy. Also, SEO has changed a lot, and AI content has thickened the plot. But before you throw your hands up and start drinking at 11 am because what’s the point anyway, let us tell you about a solution.
The Benefits of Full-Service Content Marketing
What we’ve described so far is the doomsday scenario of content marketing. But we’re not nihilists, or even pessimists. We believe in the power of content marketing and what it can do for our clients. End-to-end content solutions are the new norm for good reason: they work. And people need help. Instead of cobbling together a strategy and execution with shoelaces and duct tape, outsource to full-service pros.
Consider the benefits of engaging with a full-service content marketing company:
- Expertise across the board, ranging from the initial goal setting to search engine optimization, building a content calendar, creating new and refreshing existing content, measuring success, and more.
- A strategic partnership, helping businesses not just create high-quality content but also build a smarter content strategy that can benefit your entire business and optimize your digital marketing efforts.
- Specialized industry knowledge, especially when working with a content marketing partner who has experience in your niche and can bring writers into the projects that have created content in that niche.
- Streamlined processes, helping to shepherd every piece of content from conception to publication as well as the larger process of generating, working towards, and reaching goals that benefit your business.
- Balanced speed and quality, ensuring quality content at scale that not only maintains but even elevates your standards to create the backbone of your digital marketing efforts without compromising your brand standards.
Put it all together, and the right content marketing services can take work off your plate and deliver growth results you can’t achieve on your own. Quality content at scale is achievable. Comprehensive solutions maximize your resource spend. Let’s break down the content marketing piece of the ROI equation.
Comparing the Costs and ROI of Content Marketing Approaches
Especially for lean teams on limited budgets, evaluating the ROI of any content marketing strategy is vital to making a call on whether to hire an external content marketing company. Here, it’s important to consider the concept of ROI holistically.
It’s not just about the initial investment. Sure enough, outsourcing any type of content marketing services will be a higher cost initially. But it’s just as important to consider the indirect costs, as well as the potential return, of taking on a strategic content marketing partner.
We’ve already discussed the hidden costs of DIY content marketing. So, let’s talk in more detail about the value that high-impact, SEO-driven content marketing can bring.
One study, for example, shows that content marketing generates up to 3x as many leads as traditional “push” digital marketing and advertising efforts, while costing 62% less. Another study found that content marketing can consistently generate an ROI of 1,000% or more within three years.
The benefit of strategic content marketing services is not just trying to reach those goals. It’s about measuring progress towards them as well. Unlike many internal efforts, where good faith leads to little more than hoping for the best, strategic partners can commit to a measurable ROI that reliably leads to long-term growth.
Advanced SEO Solutions with Full-Service Partners
SEO is, by all accounts, a long-term effort. Strategies that worked years ago may no longer work as algorithms change and Google demands updated content to continue considering your content relevant enough to rank at or near the top of search results.
In today’s digital marketing age, ranking above your competition requires more than just a focus on the right keywords. You need a consistent strategy that encompasses all of the key pieces of successful SEO, including:
- Image optimization
- Contextual keywords
- Alt text and metadata
- Internal and external links
- Content readability and user experience
- Multimedia integration
- Technical SEO components like indexing, mobile-friendliness, page load speed, and schema markup
None of it is easy. Fortunately, many of these efforts can (and probably should) also be applied to your existing content to maximize your impact without having to create all-new content. The right content marketing company can help you identify these components and build a strategy that addresses all of them.
Finally, any successful content marketing strategy designed to drive SEO results needs to keep the future in mind. Working with the right partner means being able to stay up to date on current content marketing and SEO trends, leveraging data-driven approaches to track results. Your partner can also keep you informed of Google’s ever-changing algorithm, further helping to future-proof your SEO.
Examples of Full-Service Content Marketing in Action
Enough with theory. Time for real-world examples. When partnering with Verblio’s content marketing services, a wide range of businesses and teams across industries have reached their content and growth goals. For example:
- Dovetail was able to reach 1 million search impressions thanks to a content marketing strategy built and executed by Verblio
- Owner Built Design partnered with Verblio to take his website from zero to 15,000 monthly impressions in just nine months
- Senior Helpers estimates that it saves more than $500,000 each year thanks to its content marketing partnership with Verblio
With the right comprehensive partnership in place, external content marketing services can help transform your SEO and overall digital marketing efforts. Especially in industries like SaaS and eCommerce, scaling up your efforts remains crucial, making a service like Verblio essential to achieving long-lasting content marketing success.
Achieving these goals, of course, requires consistency. Each of our partners mentioned above succeeded in part because they didn’t look at content marketing in isolation. Instead, they partnered with us to generate content for a wide range of channels, all in service of a larger marketing strategy designed to drive audience awareness, education, and engagement.
Why Verblio Stands Out as the Full-Service Content Solution
In business and in life, choosing the right partner matters. In terms of content marketing, you need someone who can help you create a winning strategy, execute it, and then measure the results—along with the necessary expertise to help you succeed in your niche. That’s where Verblio and our Verblio Plus offering enter the equation.
For businesses of all sizes and stages or marketing maturity, Verblio works because it serves as an extension of your team. Rather than thinking of it as outsourced content marketing services, think about it as your dedicated content marketing expert with a twist.
When you hire a content marketing specialist, you get one person. When you work with Verblio, you get access to an extensive pool of writers, with a large enough talent pool to choose from that you can get content experts in even the most niche industries. At the same time, you can still build up a relationship with your writers, ensuring that they’ll write in your style, to your audience, with your goals in mind.
And the writing is only the beginning. We’ll build the strategy, write the content, and then ensure it’s SEO-focused and publish-ready on your platforms. Our approach to content marketing is focused on results, ensuring a clear ROI through monthly analytics that delivers results within ninety days.
Making the Transition to Full-Service Content Marketing
Of course, even the best content marketing company (and we’d like to think Verblio is up there) may not be right for you depending on your situation. Look for a few signs to determine whether it’s time for you to partner up with comprehensive external content marketing services:
- Your content marketing isn’t helping you reach your overall marketing and business growth goals
- You’re hitting the SEO plateau, where you seem stuck at your current rankings with little improvement
- You cannot keep up with the constant demands of content marketing, like regular publication of blog posts and lead magnets
- You struggle to identify content goals that align with your overall marketing goals
- You know content is important, but you just can’t get around to it
When you spot one or more of these signs, start looking for a company like Verblio that can help you overcome your challenges. That’s also the sign for you to start thinking about how you’ll onboard your full-service content marketing agency.
Start by gathering your content guidelines, from brand voice to style guides. Identify some pieces of content you’ve produced (or your competitors have produced) that you particularly like, and write down exactly why you like them. Outline your larger marketing goals and how you hope content marketing can fit into them. Hate writing? Word vomit into a voice note. Just get your thoughts out, pass them along to us, or whoever you decide to partner with.
Keep the big picture in mind at all times. As you and your content marketing partner begin to work together, trust their expertise—but continue to advocate for your marketing goals as the overarching north star of the partnership.
Debunking Misconceptions About Content Marketing Agencies
Do enough research, and you’ll come across plenty of caution about outsourcing to content marketing services. Chances are, the authors of those cautions have had some truly bad experiences, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Consider these misconceptions and how you can fight them with the right partner:
- Losing control of your brand: not a concern if your partner takes the time to learn about your brand and allows you to offer consistent feedback on draft pieces.
- Lack of transparency: not a concern if your partner creates a regular cadence of reporting and check-ins to show their work and continue planning.
- Lack of accountability: not a concern if you have tangible KPIs to track, and your partner commits to tracking and reporting on them.
- Replacing internal expertise: not a concern if you can split up duties in which your partner takes on a defined role for content marketing, and your internal team works with them rather than duplicating work.
Don’t be afraid to address any of these concerns early in the partnership. The right partner will have easy answers on how they can prevent them from becoming reality.
The Bigger Picture – Positioning Your Brand for Success
Ultimately, the granular benefits of an end-to-end content marketing solution are only part of the equation. It’s time to think big picture, and that’s where outsourced content marketing can truly become beneficial.
Great content, after all, can elevate your brand authority. Rising in rankings not only brings more traffic but can also establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
Meanwhile, working with a reliable partner simplifies even the most complex content marketing efforts. From five to fifty or even five hundred pieces of content, you can build a framework that strategically helps you feed the content beast—with reliable, trackable results.
Finally, that constant feed of content can also help all of your digital marketing efforts as a whole. It can be leveraged through all of your channels, from email to social media, helping you build a stronger digital presence across every channel your audience may use to engage with you.
Build a Better Online Presence and Grow Your Business With Full-Service Content Marketing
In the right situation, moving away from DIY and toward partnering with a full-service content marketing company can make all the difference. For businesses and marketers at every level, it can play a major role in solving a complex need while also turning content into the core driver of marketing efforts across the board.
You just have to find the right partner. With Verblio Plus, that partnership becomes attainable even for small businesses, helping you achieve your marketing and business growth goals.
You don’t have to do it alone. As content marketing and SEO continues to become more competitive, it’s time to go big for an even bigger return. Take the smart route and partner with Verblio for a true, end-to-end content marketing partnership.
