8 Reasons Why Hiring a Content Marketing Agency Is Worth It
Search engine optimization work and content writing appear pretty straightforward: Write an article about your business, wait for traffic to roll in from Google, sell to those customers.
So it might be tempting to skip hiring a content strategy agency and try to DIY your SEO — but is that the right move?
Unfortunately, doing content well is not all that easy. Like so many things, content marketing services only seem effortless from the outside looking in. When a digital marketing agency is really, really good at what it does, it’s because it has logged thousands of hours of practice.
How would you fare at running a marathon without any training? If you’d never consider doing that, you probably shouldn’t try to manage your own SEO either.
What a Content Marketing Agency Does
The best content marketing agencies do more than just content creation — they create, distribute, and optimize content to attract and retain a clearly defined target audience.
Their real value lies in their ability to create content that drives customers to take action. More customer action = greater profits, fuelling your business growth.
Content agencies differ from freelancers or consultants in both scale and scope. While freelancers might excel in specific areas, such as writing or graphic design, and consultants or strategists might help you develop a killer strategy, agencies typically provide a wider range of services that cover everything from strategy development to content creation, distribution, and performance analysis.
Think of a content marketing agency as a one-stop shop. Due to their comprehensive service model, agencies can implement more complex strategies that require coordinated efforts and grow brand awareness across multiple channels.
8 Reasons to Invest in a Content Marketing Agency
Considering if investing in a content marketing service is the right move for your business?
Let’s get into the nitty gritty of how an agency can fuel your business growth.
1. They’re Experts at SEO
Let’s go back to the marathon example. It sounds dramatic — surely there is a huge difference between running a marathon and writing a blog article, right?
Well, if you’re talking about physical toll, of course. But in terms of the number of hours spent preparing, learning, practicing, and honing your skills? Probably not.
So if you’re not willing or able to spend weeks or months preparing to write your first full article, it’s better to outsource to the experts. A content marketing agency understands how Google works and all the ways to position an article to rank as well as it possibly can in organic search.
It’s not just about including the keyword, but how to use headers and related keywords properly, what sentence and paragraph structure work best, how to format images, and even how to prepare your site from a technical standpoint to impress Google.
Anyone can create a piece of content, but a good content marketing team of specialists can make sure it is not only ranking but drawing potential customers to your website.
Because what’s the point of investing in content if no one sees it?
2. They’re Focused on Data-Driven Content Creation When You Can’t Be
Whether you‘re a founder or a marketing director, you’re inevitably responsible for more than just content. When you have a lot on your plate, most of it being (rightfully) more urgent than your brand’s blog, it is hard to find consistent blocks of time to write, edit, and publish content.
We see this all the time. A brand decides to manage its content but doesn’t have the right strategists on staff to create and publish optimized content regularly and on an ongoing basis. Understandably, without a dedicated content creator on the team, urgent issues come up, content becomes deprioritized, you’re not writing your best content, and publishing deadlines get missed.
But here’s the thing: Google doesn’t care what else you’re juggling. It just wants to see consistent, high-quality content. And you know who’s doing that? Your competitors.
A digital content agency has the time, bandwidth, and expertise to focus on your content. They regularly update your blog with authoritative content on a schedule that signals to Google that your blog is one that its users can rely on. Do you know what that translates to? Rankings.
So it’s no surprise that most companies — from startups to multi-departmental organizations — who are outsourcing their content see a much higher ROI than those who try to do it themselves.
3. They Conduct Keyword Research and Optimization
Keyword optimization is the backbone of successful SEO — getting it right can be tricky.
To increase your chances of performing well in organic searches, agencies will typically conduct keyword research. Their goal? To strike a healthy balance between high search volume and low competition.
They can also look at keyword intent to make sure your content aligns with what users are searching for at different stages of the buyer’s journey.
4. They Make Content That Works Harder for You
Nothing phases an agency that has published thousands of articles, pages of email marketing copy, and countless social media marketing deliverables.
They know how to research keywords, write engaging content that drives real traffic to your site, and what to do when your rankings fall or your website traffic starts to plateau.
The team talks about your brand in a way that engages the reader and doesn’t sound advertorial. Their content reaches new audiences that you wouldn’t have reached otherwise.
An agency can also tailor content development to support your business goals, address your customer’s pain points, and highlight your unique messaging and value proposition. These value-adding measures ensure your content works hard to build brand awareness and drive new customer engagement better than a typical blog article.
5. They Perform Content Audits and Analyze Performance
One of the key strengths of a content marketing agency is their ability to conduct detailed audits of your existing content.
By taking a look at how your current content to determine what’s working and what isn’t, they can identify gaps in your content strategy and provide actionable insights to improve performance over time. Plus, at an agency like Growth Machine, we can optimize existing content to help it rank better, so you aren’t losing articles you’re proud of that just aren’t performing.
6. They Give You Time Back in Your Day
Imagine being able to reclaim 2-4 hours of productivity per day. That’s what you’re paying for — on top of marketing campaigns — when you hire content marketing services. A full-service agency even has a digital marketing team that can help you with other tasks like on-page and technical SEO work, pay-per-click search (AKA paid search or PPC), infographics, website design and development, copywriting, and other digital strategy and content marketing services.
Not only can they do these tasks for you, but they also have the personpower and systems in place to do them faster. By turning over your content strategy to an expert agency, you get to publish high-quality content more often than you would if you did it yourself. And you and your in-house marketing team get to spend your time on the tasks that you are an expert at.
7. They Know How to Reach Your Target Audience
The number one rule of writing good website content: All traffic isn’t good traffic.
In other words, you can write content that ranks, even content that people stick around to read, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to new business.
Anyone can write content, but great content that supports your marketing efforts isn’t just about constructing engaging prose. If the content you’re writing isn’t attracting the right kind of organic traffic by addressing the right pain points that your business can solve, you may as well skip publishing altogether.
A good content agency knows how to marry your brand‘s competitive landscape with just enough consumer psychology to conduct effective keyword research. Effective doesn‘t just mean relevant to your business, but also relevant to your target audience and the needs and solutions that are most valuable to them.
Maybe it sounds obvious that the best keywords for lead generation are at the intersection of your brand’s core offering, consumer pain points, and thorough keyword research, but finding that precise balance is easier said than done.
8. They Enhance Your Reputation Through Link Building
One critical aspect of SEO that many businesses overlook is link building. It also happens to be something that content marketing agencies should excel at.
Building effective backlinks involves reaching out to reputable sources to create pathways back to your site. These backlinks not only drive more traffic, but also boost your site’s authority, a key factor that can improve search rankings.
By working with a skilled content agency on your backlink outreach, you can secure quality links through means such as public relations, guest posting, and developing high-quality content that other sites feel compelled to share with their audience.
How to Choose the Right Content Marketing Agency for You
Searching for the right content marketing agency can feel like trying to find a diamond in the rough. But with a few key considerations in mind, you can make the hunt a little easier.
Here’s what to look for when selecting a content agency.
1. Proven Track Record
When vetting agencies to find the right fit for your business, consider a) their years of experience and b) the depth of their portfolio.
A good place to start is by looking for case studies, testimonials (here are ours), and samples of past work that not only showcase their ability to deliver results, but also reflect their expertise.
For instance, experienced SEO agencies like Growth Machine have a proven track record of helping clients across various industries reach their goals — check out this case study to see how we helped an e-commerce site increase traffic by 11,212% in only 10 months!
Pro tip: If you’re not sure where to look for these, a good place to start is the agency’s website or their Google profile where you can peruse reviews customers may have left for them.
2. Industry Expertise
While this isn’t always a necessity, working with an agency that has experience in your specific industry can definitely give you a leg up.
Finding content creators with a robust background in your industry or niche is the secret to great content. This is because they can better understand your target audience, and how to write content that speaks to those people.
One of the most attractive things about hiring an agency to do your content marketing for you is that you don’t have to worry about finding a writer from the millions that flood LinkedIn, Medium, and Upwork. At Growth Machine, we probably already work with writers who are experts in your field. We train them on your style guide, edit their work, and present you with the finished product. We also publish it too — a task most marketing managers are thrilled to pass off.
3. Types of Content They Create
Choosing the right agency to partner with all comes down to your content needs.
The ability to create many different types of content ensures that you’re serving dynamic content that captures your audience’s attention effectively.
For example, at Growth Machine, we offer various types of content (that will all follow SEO best practices) like:
- SEO-optimized blog posts (of course)
- Whitepapers
- Landing pages
- Podcast summaries
- Thought leadership articles
- Interview-based content
- B2C or B2B content
- Blogs that fit in with your latest ad campaign
By investing in a diverse range of content, you’ll not only enhance user experience, but also boost your engagement metrics, which are pivotal to SEO success.
4. Budget
It’s important to have a clear understanding of your marketing budget, including how much you are willing to allocate to your content strategy.
Different digital marketing agencies will offer varying pricing structures. For example, you might encounter:
- Project-based fees
- Retainer models
- Performance-based pricing
Before you commit, collect a quote from the agency to ensure there are no surprises, and that the agency’s pricing model aligns with your financial expectations.
5. Transparency and Reporting
Award-winning agencies know trust isn’t built on promises; it comes from seeing tangible results.
Your content marketing agency should provide clear, regular reporting on metrics that matter for your growth, such as organic traffic and conversion rates. These detailed reports should break down content performance across various marketing campaigns, demonstrating how these results tie to your overall digital strategy.
These numbers are also key for calculating content marketing ROI and ensuring your investment is worthwhile. At Growth Machine, we report weekly and monthly and give you access to a dashboard that you can check as often as you need to.
A proactive agency doesn’t only report on successes; they should also identify areas for improvement and propose adjustments to your content marketing strategy as needed.
6. Scalability
As your business grows, you want to be sure your agency has the capacity to handle your expanding needs. Can they scale up their services in response to increased demand or during peak seasons for your business? Do they have the systems, processes, and infrastructure in place to support larger projects?
Finding the answers to these important questions doesn’t require a ton of detective work.
Simply ask your agency for examples of how they’ve managed scaling requirements for other businesses, or evaluate their track record to see if they’ve worked with clients similar in size to you. This will give you the confidence that they can handle your needs as you evolve.
(So you don’t have to ask: We’ve worked with Fortune 500 companies and brand-new startups alike. We’ve done content plans of up to 50+ articles per month for clients, and we only need about a month to scale up content production.)
Why Growth Machine Is the Right Partner to Help You Scale
DIYing your website and blog might seem like an easy way to save money. But, hiring a content and SEO agency to manage your content buys you more than just completed articles to populate your blog.
The deliverables you’ll receive from Growth Machine and other reputable content marketing services will ensure a steady stream of high-quality blog content tailored to attract qualified prospective customers who are ripe for conversion.
Furthermore, a top content marketing agency knows how to create a custom content plan that supports your bottom line, regularly publishing content that establishes your authority with Google. You can thereby gain rankings for your content and build traffic momentum for months to come.
If you’re ready to start exploring what a content marketing agency partnership could do for your online presence, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you create on-brand content that meets your inbound marketing goals. Whether you’re in e-commerce, healthcare, beauty, travel, SaaS, personal finance, or something else, we’ve got a team of writers and SEO pros ready to go.
