These days, small and mighty marketing teams are often the norm. For busy marketing managers that can mean balancing the demands of both your sales and marketing teams, keeping up with product updates, maintaining an active social media presence and a whole slew of other responsibilities — all with minimal support.
When you’re tasked with being *the* marketing content engine, it can make you wonder how to get it all done.
Luckily, there is help and it’s probably more attainable than you think. The right content marketing agency partner will understand your industry and customer buying cycle, be fluent with the latest marketing trends and come to the table ready to help you tackle any content marketing project…so how can you convince your boss that an agency is just the boost your company needs to create great marketing content?
Here’s how.
Create a marketing tasks to-do list
Yes, you read that correctly. Often, leadership has no idea how many items are on your plate (and maybe you don’t either). Make a list of every marketing request, planned project and even long-term marketing content goals you’d like to achieve and the benefits they will have for the company.
For some reason, having it on paper, or on screen, helps you better visualize and plan a course of action. Once you’ve recorded all the things you have to do, you can realistically identify what is possible to accomplish with the resources you have — and see where a content marketing agency can help you get your marketing deliverables to the finish line.
Add in timing estimates to show how big a lift each project will be. It’s not just a whitepaper, it’s doing research, writing the copy, reviews, and approvals, and then moving it through a whole design process. And it doesn’t stop there! After you have your whitepaper, you’ll want a solid marketing strategy to ensure you get it in front of the customers who need to see it. (Curious about the best way to go about this? Check out What to look for in a marketing agency.)
Now hang onto your list, and arm yourself with a little more support before you make your case.
Understand the value of a content marketing agency
Did you know that when you work with a content marketing agency you gain access to the talents of a full team — for significantly less money than a full-time employee?
With budgets under more scrutiny than ever before, the next thing to do is understand how far your marketing dollars can go when you enlist an agency partner. Before you take your ask to your manager, it can be helpful to understand the breakdown of how much outside help costs versus hiring a new full-time employee or two.
To see how the math adds up, check out our calculator tool to discover just how much you can save by outsourcing to an agency instead of bringing on a new employee.
Compile proof that you need to hire a marketing agency
If you work in marketing, you know — testimonials are gold. There is nothing that says “I got exactly what I needed,” more than an actual customer saying those very words.
Once you’ve narrowed down your options to what outside team you’d like to work with — like say, Content Matterz — don’t forget to collect some validation for your selection. A reputable agency will have glowing reviews from current and former clients, and if they’re smart, a case study or two on their website to support their mission.
It also can’t hurt to familiarize yourself with other work that they have done. Of course, a good partner will do their best to match your brand, but seeing how they tackle a variety of clients, products and campaigns can help add that final zing to help you get your content assistance.
Start a conversation with a marketing agency’s representative
We love meeting new people and hearing about their marketing challenges. We also know what it takes to get the approval to join your team.
If you are looking to hire outside support an agency representative should be more than happy to connect with you and your leadership team to learn about your needs, your company, and you! Chances are, if you’re going to work together, both sides will want to make sure it’s a good fit. A strong agency partner will eagerly take the time to speak with you and maybe even provide you with some stellar resources to make your case, share a pricing guide, or help you with a project scope of exactly what you’ll get for your budget.
(We’re not kidding! Give us a shout and let’s chat).
Ask your boss for permission to hire an agency
Now it’s time to grab your list, jot down some numbers, have a few testimonials, samples, or project scopes handy, and talk to your boss. Once they see how much value your organization and content efforts can gain with outside help — and how much less it can cost than an FTE — they’ll hopefully be ready to approve you to enlist an agency. Pro tip: if your boss is hesitant to set up a full retainer relationship, ask the agency to work with you on a per-project basis to test out the partnerships.
If you’re a busy marketer, you shouldn’t have to go it alone. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help you make some content magic (and convince your boss).