The content you create in your business can often feel like a highly personal affair. You often don’t want to outsource content creation. If you’re a solopreneur, this is doubly true. But often, even with a team, creating content like blogs, social media posts, videos and newsletters can feel like something that needs to stay in-house. Either you should be doing it yourself or, at the very least, someone on the team should do it for you.
You’re feeling like that for two main reasons. First, you’re reluctant to spend money paying someone to do it for you. If you already pay salaries, outsourcing your content hits even harder. Second, it seems counterintuitive to have your content created by someone who doesn’t know your business as well as you – or your team – do.
But here’s the truth that all business owners realise at some point: you can’t do it all.
You may reach that revelation because you’re wearing a million hats and trying to do all the things in your business alone. Or you could have this epiphany after you task a team member hired for their skills in that thing you actually need them to do with content creation, only to find they can’t string a sentence together. Either way, you find yourself faced with the prospect of outsourcing your content, and you’re not quite sure what you should outsource. All of it? Some of it? Are there things you’re genuinely better off doing yourself?
First, before you think that, as a content creator, I haven’t faced this dilemma myself and therefore have no idea what I’m talking about, I have. Despite being a copywriter, there are times I outsource certain content. Why? Because I’m not just a content creator but also a boss. I have a business to run. And sometimes, it’s just better business sense to outsource it.
Here’s when to outsource your content creation like the boss you are and when to do it yourself or delegate it to a team member…
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Why Outsource Your Content Creation?
As a boss (either of yourself or a team), there are times when it’s better business to outsource content creation than it is to DIY it. While there are always reasons why it’s preferable or practical to outsource (we’ll get to those in a minute), there are also reasons it’s more profitable to outsource, namely:
- When you can earn more in the time you’d need to spend creating it than you’ll pay outsourcing its creation.
- When you would need to buy specialist equipment, software, hardware, etc., which you won’t need to use frequently. Hiring someone with the equipment to work as and when needed can be more cost-effective.
- When specific outcomes (i.e. conversions, SERP rankings, lead generation, sales, etc.) are proportional to the experience level of the person creating the content, your ROI will be significantly improved by having a professional do it.
- When you don’t have the correct location or setup to record high-quality video or audio content.
Profitability aside, there are other times when outsourcing your content creation is of benefit to your business (and your sanity). For example…
You Don’t Have Time To Create It Yourself
With the best will in the world, there are only so many hours in the day. Something has to give when you have too much to do and not enough time to do it. More often than not, that ‘something’ is our own marketing and content creation.
I’ve fallen victim to this one myself, and it’s catastrophic to your lead generation and creating any kind of consistency in your cash flow. It doesn’t matter if you’re a service business, product-based, B2B or B2C; when you’re inconsistent in your marketing, you pay for it.
If you want to create a steady stream of traffic to your website, you need to blog and work on your on-site and off-site SEO regularly. If social media is a source of sales for you, posting consistently is essential. If you rely on email marketing for most of your sales, you’ll need to consistently send out newsletters and consistently work on growing your list through free lead magnets.
All of this requires time, and when time is short, it’s better to outsource your content creation than it is to become inconsistent in your marketing.
You Just Don’t Want To Do It
This may be the most legitimate yet underrated reason on the list. Sometimes, you just don’t like doing things. If writing blogs fills you with dread, or the thought of trying to pen a whole new website brings you out in a cold sweat, getting someone else to do it for you lifts a huge burden.
One reason we choose to work for ourselves is so we have freedom, and the freedom to not do things you don’t enjoy is quite definitely a perk of being a business owner. Most of us can’t afford to outsource right at the start, but at some point, you reach a stage where your cashflow can support it, and even if it costs more than you’re earning in the time, it makes you happy not to have to do it.
That’s priceless.
You’re Procrastinating Over It, And It’s Holding You Back
Ah, procrastination. You know you have to do it, you know how to do it, but for one reason or another, you just keep putting it off. Maybe you don’t really want to do it (in which case, see my previous point). Perhaps you’re concerned you won’t do a good job. Or maybe it’s the first step in upleveling your marketing, and you’re self-sabotaging without realising it.
Whatever the reason, if you’re procrastinating over your content creation, it will hold you back. Your consistency will suffer (again, see above), and it also takes a mental toll.
Outsourcing takes it off your To Do list and ensures it’s not preventing progress.
You Need Technical Or Logistical Help
This is a big one for a lot of my clients, usually when they’re trying to work on a new website and have no idea how to build one. Or they need to upload blogs to their site and can’t figure out how. Content creation usually involves writing to some extent, which can be enough to contend with. But it gets ridiculous when your content also means coding, graphic design, hooking up automation sequences, setting up ads, optimising for search, and various other elements.
So many of the clients I write websites for also stress about how to build that site, I created an all-in-one website service to take care of writing, optimising, designing and building everything here under one roof.
Sometimes you just need help getting the tech stuff done.
When To DIY Your Content
As much as outsourcing content can benefit your finances, the quality and success of your content, and your mental wellbeing, there are times when it doesn’t make sense to outsource stuff.
You’re Confident You Can Achieve All Objectives Yourself
Much as I’d like to say it’s cheap and easy to outsource content, the reality is that it does cost money. You may have other priorities you would prefer to spend that money on. If that is the case and you have the time to do it all yourself, that can be the best option if you’re confident that doing so won’t compromise your objectives.
For example, if your goal is to generate organic search traffic and you have no idea how to optimise your website or content for search, doing it yourself isn’t going to achieve your goal. If, on the other hand, you fully understand SEO and are confident in your abilities, or you have additional time to learn how to do it effectively, DIYing can save you some cash.
Just remember that you will have to spend the time on it, so make sure you have it to spare.
It’s Highly Personal
Storytelling is a potent tool in marketing. If you’re using your story as your USP or to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you may find there are certain things you need to write yourself. Nobody knows your story like you do. Even if you explain your stories to your copywriter, you may feel more comfortable telling them in your own words.
You may also find that the process of writing those stories out yourself is helpful to you. On a personal level, it can be both empowering and cathartic. From a business perspective, reflecting on where you started, how far you’ve come, and your journey can help you gain insights, spark new ideas, and ensure that your storytelling is genuinely authentic.
It’s A Joy To Create It Yourself
Just as it’s totally okay to outsource the shit you really don’t want to do yourself, it’s also perfectly fine to keep the stuff you love doing for yourself. I adore blogging and wouldn’t want to outsource it. I love it so much that I run multiple blogs.
Why deprive yourself of the pleasure if you enjoy the content creation process? Even if you feel you cannot get the best results when doing it yourself, you can invest in training to ensure it’s practical and fun. Or, you can outsource the elements of it that you’re not good at and do the fun bits. This brings me to…
How To Get The Best Of Both Worlds
The great thing about outsourcing is that you can hand over exactly as much as you want to. That doesn’t always have to mean deciding which pieces of content you outsource and which you keep in-house. It can mean doing some parts yourself and outsourcing other aspects of the same piece of content to someone else.
For example, having a graphic designer you outsource any graphic creation to can be hugely helpful. You can write your blog, newsletter, or social post while they provide the imagery. Here are a few other ways to get the best of both worlds when it comes to outsourcing:
Hire A Copywriter And Film It Yourself
If you’re looking to create video content – and you should be, as it’s the most powerful form of content going – you may not know what to say in your videos, but be perfectly confident and happy filming them. In that case, you can outsource the writing to a copywriter and film them all yourself.
Write It Yourself And Hire An Editor
This is a great one for when you’re telling your story, and it needs to come from you. There’s no reason you can’t send what you’ve written to an editor for a polish once you’re done. If you’re creating something like a book, this is an absolute MUST for anyone – I write books for other people and still have editors who work on mine for me – but it can be done for any content.
From total edits to light proofreads, having a second pair of eyes look over everything for you and ensure it’s spot-on is super helpful.
Create It Yourself And Outsource The Formating And Scheduling
Similarly, you might want to consider creating the content yourself but handing it over to someone else to format and schedule for you. You write your blogs, and someone else uploads them. You take your photos or shoot your videos for social media, and someone else schedules them and sorts out all the hashtags and captions.
Need To Outsource Your Content Creation?
If you’re looking for help with your content creation and need a writer to pen your blogs, articles, or website, I can help. Get in touch today, and I’ll send you a 15% discount on your first order…
