The Elastic Workforce and Why More Marketers Are Outsourcing Content

As an arm of the pervasive digital marketing industry, content marketing continues to gain steam. So, it makes sense that 44 percent of marketers are looking for content-creation skills to help cast their digital footprints, according to Mondo’ s The Future of Digital Marketing report.

But in the same study, Mondo also found that 65 percent of companies struggle to find skilled talent. As more marketers continue searching for skilled content professionals, outsourcing is becoming a more efficient and attractive solution.

In fact, only 42 percent of companies are composed of 100 percent permanent workers, and that number is expected to drop to just 23 percent in the next 12 to 18 months. The Mondo study dubs this trend the “elastic workforce,” meaning companies hire a mix of permanent and contract or freelance workers.

According to Laura McGarrity, vice president of digital marketing strategy at Mondo, marketers haven’t traditionally focused on hiring contract resources, so the elastic workforce is a significant trend in the marketing world.

Why Outsourcing Your Thought Leadership Makes Strategic Sense

As a company that specializes in content creation, distribution, and knowledge sharing, we constantly hear feedback on how much time we save clients’ teams.

Two of the top goals companies have with their content marketing efforts are lead generation and thought leadership. But if you don’t have experience in these fields, knowing where to start — and executing flawlessly — can be straining.

This is where outsourcing some of your content marketing efforts can help (and possibly the reason 72 percent of large B2B companies utilize both in-house and outsourced content creation). By turning to specialized content marketing firms, your company goals become more attainable. You have a trained team to extract those grainy details that lead to personable content, organize them into an approachable article, and push articles out to industry publications that reach your intended audiences.

But don’t confuse outsourcing for ghostwriting. If you want your content to ooze personality, appear authentic, and build trust, it has to come from your own insights.

Leave Your Content Strategy to the Experts

Developing and executing a thought leadership strategy is an extensive process, and outsourcing those efforts to specialists will poise your company for success.

By trusting another company with your content marketing and thought leadership strategy, you can reap the following benefits:

1. Earn bylines, not mentions. The content we help clients create and distribute to niche publications is 100 percent owned by the companies or individuals. Rather than having a PR firm write about your company, key individuals in your company are leading the conversation. When your community can interact directly with executives, it generates trust and strengthens relationships over time.
    
2. Attract all-star talent. By positioning your company as an industry leader, you’re telling the most qualified employees you’re worth fighting for. Simply having an impressive client roster won’t draw coveted talent; those employees want to know how spectacular your company and its culture really are. Get in front of them, and reveal what separates your company from the rest.
    
3. Gain a competitive advantage. We work with industries ranging from law to oil and gas, but we constantly encounter untapped industries that aren’t reaping the benefits of thought leadership content. If you think your industry is too bland or restrictive, you’re missing out on a prime opportunity to deviate from the pack. And as more companies start engaging their audiences through guest-contributed content, your first-mover advantage opportunity will only fizzle.
    
4. Hyper-target your audience. Does your company have a niche audience you’ve always wanted to reach but seems inaccessible? Publishing custom content allows you to educate a specific group and speak to the problems they’re facing.
    
5. Cement your reputation as an industry leader. As trends come and go, you need a way to stay on your audience’s radar once the dust settles. Get noticed and be remembered by consistently contributing content and leading your space with emerging trends and industry analysis. That way, you’ll be the one reporting on and reacting to industry changes, not trailing behind them.

As your marketing team plans for the next quarter, evaluate the goals your marketing efforts aren’t driving, and consider hiring an in-house content team or outsourcing your content efforts. But remember: Thought leadership isn’t a short-term solution; building influence through exceptional, engaging content takes persistence to see results. But the notoriety and trust it builds will lead to invaluable long-term benefits.

For a look at our process and how we work with clients to create and publish exceptional content, download the whitepaper below: