Unfortunately, it takes significant time and expertise to become an expert in content marketing. That’s why 84% of companies outsource their processes to specialists and agencies. Notably, it’s not just content creation that companies need assistance with, but also every part of the content plan—from keyword research to promotion planning.
Clearly, most organizations need the assistance of a content marketing freelancer.
The Benefits of a Content Marketing Consultant
A content marketing freelancer can come in many different forms, from graphic artists committed to creating and promoting visual content to expert copywriters. A content marketing expert who defines themselves as a “consultant” is a professional, dedicated to the strategic part of your content plan.
A content marketing consultant is essentially someone with in-depth knowledge of the content landscape as well as a clear understanding of how customers respond to certain types of content. They’re capable of analyzing and auditing existing content strategies and providing guidance on how to improve your results.
Content marketing consultants can help companies to determine the right content strategy for their needs. For instance, while 81% of marketers actively use content marketing, not all of these companies know whether video, audio, or written content will yield the best results. The right consultants can also improve the ROI on your existing content assets, train your team members, and improve your company’s voice.
Some of the biggest benefits of working with a content marketing consultant include:
- Audit and Improve Your Existing Content Assets
About 60% of companies today measure the success of their content marketing strategies through sales. However, many struggle to get a clear view on the types of content capable of delivering the biggest return on investment. A content marketing freelancer from the Growth Collective can help to audit your existing content strategies and determine which options will work best for you.
The right content marketing expert will be able to determine how people interact with your content and where you can improve conversion performance, boost rankings, and draw more traffic. Additionally, they’ll be able to offer advice on how to internally link content to improve your standing with Google and other search engines.
An experienced content marketing consultant can provide an objective assessment of the quality of a website and how it can be improved. They will also examine competitor websites and offer insights into how they generate traffic, allowing you to capitalize on similar opportunities. A consultant can even detect technical errors which influence how Google crawls your website and how your pages appear in search results. With the right freelancer, you can ensure that your marketing budget is spent on the strategies that are most likely to succeed.
- Enhance your Brand Persona and Tone of Voice
Content marketing is more than just a way of improving awareness of your company and increasing the amount of time customers spend on your website pages. It can also be a valuable tool for showcasing your brand personality. A strong personality improves your engagement with your target audience, enhancing the opportunities for repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
A content marketing consultant can help to improve the impact of your brand voice by conducting research into your target audience and the kind of content they consume, as well as the language and media they prefer to use. Content marketing experts can help you to develop brand guidelines which will keep your tone of voice consistent across all channels.
The right professionals will also provide you with insights into the kinds of topics you should be covering to attract and engage the right audience. This could mean you end up with more inspiration for your content calendar and a better production rate. A content marketing consultant could even work with you to build an entire content calendar, including insights into the types of posts you’re going to produce, where you’re going to promote them, and more.
Content marketing experts are skilled at producing both trending and evergreen content so they can help you build a more diverse content plan.
- Strengthen and Build your Content Strategy
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of hiring a content marketing expert from a site like Growth Collective is that they’ll help to develop a clear content strategy for your business. Currently, only around 19% of companies say they have an “advanced content strategy” in place.
Content marketing consultants get to know your business, target audience, and competitors before collaborating with you to create a content plan. Everything from article writing and videos to email blasts and social media content can be covered in your strategy. Your consultant will ensure each piece of content you produce is relevant to your goals and audience.
While some companies believe they don’t need a strategy to get started with content production, the reality is that content development of any kind is both time and resource intensive. It’s important to have a plan in place ahead of time to ensure you’re not only producing the right content, but also publishing it at the correct times and promoting it through the right channels.
A content marketing consultant can even assist you in determining which goals to set for your content and who should be responsible for editing and optimizing each piece. You can even work with your specialist to produce different strategies for various channels.
- Optimize Your Content Marketing ROI
As mentioned above, a content marketing consultant is a professional dedicated to helping you get the most out of your content strategy. This means they can implement strategies to help improve the quality and impact of your content. This might start with conducting SEO analysis to determine how you can improve your standing with the search engines by using the right keywords and links.
Your consultant can also advise you on how to format your content, what sort of “Call to Action” phrases and links to use, and how to measure the effectiveness of your content using tools like Google Analytics. Content marketing experts are excellent at leveraging a wide range of tools to calculate the ROI of each campaign.
If you use various forms of content marketing, a consultant can also ensure that each piece of content is properly optimized for the platform on which it is published. For instance, your strategy for promoting content on YouTube may be very different from your strategy for attracting attention on Facebook and Instagram. During the early stages of working with your content marketing consultant, you may find you spend a lot of time setting up reporting tools to track your performance in each space. This will help you use your marketing budget more effectively in the future.
- Train and Support your Content Marketing Team
A content marketing freelancer hired through a platformlike Growth Collective may offer both consulting and content creation in one package.. In other situations, you may hire a content marketing expert to work alongside your existing employees. If you decide to hire a specialist to work with your team, you can ask them to provide tools and training to your existing staff.
A content marketing freelancer can provide guidance and support to your in-house content marketing team on how to leverage different advertising techniques. They can show specialists how to analyze the outcomes of different types of work and develop guidelines to ensure that the team produces consistent work.
Thanks to their specialist skills, a pre-vetted and reputable content marketing consultant can also provide behind-the-scenes guidance into the more technical aspects of content creation. They can help you to build backlinking and internal linking strategies for your team, and give you advice on how to explore new channels for content creation and promotion.
At the very least, the assets produced by your content marketing consultant should make your content creators more efficient and aligned when working together toward a clear set of business goals.
- Save Time and Money
Much like any other professional digital freelancer in today’s world, a content marketing consultant can also help your business save significant time and money. First and foremost, hiring a content marketing freelancer over an in-house employee means you’ll need to spend significantly less on hiring, training, and overhead costs. For businesses on a tight budget, hiring a freelancer is often a much more affordable and flexible option.
Content marketing consultants can also save you a lot of time by ensuring that you don’t have to do routine and repetitive content tasks like research and promotion on your own. They can develop step-by-step roadmaps for content producers to use when implementing a content plan, so you’re less likely to make mistakes in the future.
A content marketing consultant will show you how to keep track of your content assets, reuse various solutions in different formats going forward, and get the most from your promotions. They’ll also save you significant time and money when it comes to training your internal employees in common optimization techniques.
Further, your content marketing consultant will ensure that you’re not wasting your content budget on strategies that won’t work for your business. They can steer you away from poor-quality strategies because they begin their process with a comprehensive analysis of your business and audience.
Should You Hire a Content Marketing Freelancer?
Today’s businesses know content is still king when it comes to standing out and earning conversions in the digital world. However, while most organizations recognize the importance of content, few understand how to use it effectively. The right content marketing consultant from Growth Collective could be the solution. These experts optimize and enhance your content marketing strategy.
With the right content marketing expert, you can analyze, audit, and enhance your existing business assets to ensure you’re getting the best results from every campaign. You can also develop stronger strategies capable of enhancing your search engine visibility.
Partnering with a vetted and experienced content marketing consultant ensures that every marketing asset you build for your business generates the desired results. Hire the right content marketing expert with Growth Collective today.