Has what used to be manageable writing and editing started to overtake other work you need to do? Did you falsely assume taking over your company’s website and social media account would just be a couple of hours a week that turned into 20 hours? Or perhaps you and other employees haven been struggling to write email copy, blogs, website copy, sales copy, advertising, newsletters, and white papers AND keep up with your primary marketing or managerial duties? Cut down the extended time you’re dedicating to content creation by outsourcing writers and editors, and you’ll have time to eat lunch and never reply to a Twitter troll again.
Whether it’s you taking on increased writing and editing work, or whether you’re noticing incompatibility with your current writers/editors on staff, here are the top 5 signs it’s time to outsource writing content for your business.
1) Your Website Traffic Has Remained the Same Or Decreased In The Last 2 Years
One place the American Dream still exists IS the wild, wild WEB. It’s the place where all kinds of former nobodies, singers, political commentators, intellectual self-help gurus, and unknown KITTENS become famous in ONE HOUR. Well, 24 hours. 15 minutes of fame on the web is just a TAD longer. Anyway, there’s no reason your website traffic should remain stagnant in that kind of culture. You’re just a few steps away from another 10,000 followers.
Hiring new writers who have the benefit of not being over-familiar with your brand often see it your company in a fresh, creative light. They may conceive a road less traveled by in content creation that leads to a continual rise in followers, likes, engagement, reach, and consumers.
2) You’re Having Non-Writers Or “Experts” Write Content (Have a Writer Interview Them Instead!)
Don’t have athletes or celebrities or non-writers write for you unless they actually have a talent and interest. And even then, be wary because it could still be an overwrought ego-stroking article that offers no original perspective or helpful information. Having non-writers write involves far more rewriting and editing that will eat up your time and theirs.
Writers interviewing subjects about their level of expertise is always a better bet because the interviewer can glean the insights from that industry expert and deliver a clear, compelling piece with minimal back and forth. Writers are trained in grammar, fact-checking, proofreading, and conceptual revising that non-writers are not only unaware of, but indifferent to. Further, writers understand the primacy of adhering to word count and deadlines that luminaries think are loose guidelines and often turn in work days or even weeks late.
3) The Person You Hired As A Editor Can’t Cut A 3,000 Word Article to 800 Words
Sometimes you need to outsource EDITORS because the random people at the office editing writing simply have never see Devil Wears Prada or ever heard the phrase “kill your darlings” in regard to editing. I once observed an editor who got paralyzed by cutting 3,000 word article into 800 words. She kept asking me (the copywriter) to behead these babies and couldn’t separate the essential from the non-essential with an objective axe. She felt like it was presumptuous to rewrite a writer’s precious words into a sentence summary rather than their 4 paragraph scene.
First off, of course, she needed to assign a word count so she’d never receive a 3,000 word article that should have been 800 words. But if you have people like this paralyzed by editing and you didn’t happen to have a copywriter like me around to deliver her from stress, then outsourcing copy editors might be a lifesaver!
4) Your Audience Has Been The Same “Type”
You might think it’s a good thing that your audience is baby boomer men in their 60s or 14-year-old girls who like unicorn notebooks but if you have an audience that’s about to grow out of you or lose interest because they’re about to endure knee and hip replacements, you’ve got to expand your reach.
Outsourcing a variety of writing voices that appeal to that unknown consumer is how you diversify your audience. Some consumers enjoy an informative blog post; others will find you from a video; still others will be compelled by an infographic or social media post. But you only get that range of content by dipping into the deep end pool of writers, NOT staying shallow and safe with the same type of content for the same type of audience.
5) You Keep Hiring and Firing Copywriters
If you keep trying on copywriters who don’t fit for you on a full-time level, you may be scared to try freelance copywriters on a part-time level. Why? The latter is so much more low-risk. Moreover, you can play a numbers game far faster by testing a group of outsourced copywriters than by going through the time, paperwork, and investment in hiring full-time or even contract content writers. So, if you’re gun shy about copywriters, outsourcing is the option that gives you the most control with the lowest risk for your company.
Outsourcing exposes you to a wide range of niche or broad-stroke expert writers who can write or edit a variety of collateral to boost your website traffic, heighten engagement and reach, and gain thousands or new customers, consumers, or audiences to your brand’s products, message, or both!
Samantha S writes direct, dynamic, digestible copy for any purpose and any medium. She has written for apps, games, websites, literary journals, trade magazines, newspapers, e-commerce brands and health//nutrition brands. Samantha’s most notable achievements are authoring a guidebook for College Prowler, interviewing Leonardo Dicaprio, Zac Efron, and Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Hollywood Reporter, reviewing books for Publishers Weekly, covering the World Series of Poker, teaching creative writing at Harvard-Westlake, and working as Editor-in-Chief of The Oval literary magazine.
