Five simple tricks to get the best out of your B2B content agency (without working anyone to death)
Everything in life revolves around lead generation and by now, most companies have realised that content – whether it is in the form of how-to guides, infographics, visuals or video – is the most important component in content marketing.
51% of B2B marketers say that one of their top content marketing challenges
is a lack of time/bandwidth to create the content they need.
50% say that they struggle with producing enough content variety/volume as well.
(LinkedIn Technology Marketing Community)
Most companies have also realised that generating a constant stream of content for Google to trawl and for social media platforms to consume is time-consuming. It’s tough maintaining a constant flow of fresh content for your website, newsletter, blog, social media channels, plus creating all the sales-enablement marketing materials that other teams require to sell products and service customers. It’s also tough to keep in mind the bigger picture. It takes a highly strategic brain to make sure all your content is guiding customers through their decision-making processes and that all the parts of your content marketing machine keep moving.
This insatiable appetite for content and the need for strategic oversight have given rise to B2B content agencies that take all the legwork, grunt-work, and guesswork out of content creation for you - so that your marketing teams can focus on executing their grand, big-picture marketing plan. Outsourcing your content creation requirements to a B2B copy agency is probably one of the smartest moves you can make, but only if you’re prepared to do it properly.
Outsourcing to a B2B copywriting agency isn’t going to solve all of your challenges or meet all of your needs straight away. They’re going to need a little direction while they find their feet, but once they do - all the time and effort will be worth it, as your marketing machine starts churning out content that works.
So what can you do, to get the best out of your B2B content creation agency outsourcing partner? Hint: it doesn’t involve making anyone work harder.
- Know what you want to achieve.
- Provide clear instructions in your briefs.
- Give constructive feedback.
- Give them time to get better.
- Remember you’re dealing with people.
1. Know what you want to achieve with the content creation that you outsource.
Before you hire your B2B copywriting agency, you must have set clear goals that you intend to accomplish with their help. If you don’t have targets, how will you know whether you’ve met them, or not? Don’t be one of those clients that keeps moving the goalposts. Identify them, define them, and stick to them. Even if you’re not 100% sure what those goals should look like, a B2B agency worth its salt can work with you to set these clearly. All you need to do is factor that into your budget and lean into their expertise to get your money’s worth.
2. Spend time on your briefs. Effective B2B writing is like baking. It requires a decent recipe with logical instructions.
One of the major reasons B2B copywriters produce mediocre copy in an outsourcing relationship is simply because they can’t guess what you’re trying to get out of it. The brief is there to get both of you on the same page, both literally and figuratively. The brief helps the copywriter to know the following three things:
- What you want to get out of the content
- What you want the reader to get out of the content
- What action you want the reader/user to take after reading the content
By telling them these three things, the writer can craft their copy to achieve your goals. Bam. It’s that simple and that effective.
Putting together an informative, instructional brief also means you also need to make sure that the copy team has enough guidance and source material with which to get started. Yes, they’ll have to do their own research, but you should provide them with a framework for each deliverable as a starting point.
3. Give your copywriters constructive feedback.
Don’t be that client that responds “I don’t like it” without explaining why. Your feedback should help the copy team get to know you better, and form a clearer picture of your expectations. Feedback that contains suggestions or instructions on how to improve or rework the piece of content goes a long way toward getting it right, even if it’s on the second or third attempt.
4. Good things take time. Give them that time.
Don’t be unrealistic and expect perfection straight away. Give them time to get things right. Not everyone has the same deep understanding as you do when it comes to your niche company or complicated, highly regulated industry. One of the best things you can do is simply give these writers a bit of time, so that they can do the research, and work to help you find fresh ways of presenting your content to the world.
5. Remember that you’re dealing with people. What you put in is what you get out.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that you're working with people, and it takes everyone time to learn how to work together effectively. You can either put the time into producing a solid brief, or you can spend the time going back and forth on reverts. It’s entirely up to you where to spend that time, but logic says that spending it upfront on a clear brief will reduce the intensity and frequency of reverts.
With patience, solid direction, and regular feedback, you will find that the B2B agency you’ve chosen will deliver content that keeps getting better, the longer you work together. A great agency will take it to the next level, helping you to fine-tune your content so that it’s always on brand and on target. But remember, it’s a give and take: you can't expect to achieve outstanding results from vague instructions.
Treat your B2B content agency like a partner and an extension of your team, and they’ll do everything in their power to give your content what it needs to drive relationships and, ultimately, sales.
Interested in finding out more? Get in touch.
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