Let’s start by explaining a little bit about what a content marketing agency does.
First and foremost, their focus on content creation. Depending on your needs and marketing strategy, that can include everything from writing blogs and crafting white papers to creating infographics and generating scripts for webinars and podcasts.
But before they ever write a piece of content, they do a lot of research, a lot of strategizing, and a lot of organization. Once the content is created, they then publish and promote it to drive traffic to your site and, ultimately, boost sales.
Some content marketing agencies are great at writing blogs, while others excel in generating videos and graphics. Just keep in mind that not every agency is an experienced B2B content marketing agency. B2B companies need to hire an agency that understands B2B marketing as much as they understand D2C marketing.
Why Is Content Marketing So Important?
Having a content marketing strategy is critical, regardless of your brand, your business, what products you sell, or what services you provide.
Strong content is key to brand marketing and lead generation to attract qualified leads that convert to customers.
But there’s a lot more to it than that …
With a strong content marketing strategy, you can:
Position yourself as a subject matter expert in your field
Become a thought leader in your industry
Create opportunities to educate your customers on your brand
Demonstrate the value that you offer other businesses
A marketing plan that centers on incredible content will drive traffic to your site, spur interest in customers, and increase revenue and sales.
How Do You Vet a Content Marketing Agency?
When you hire a content marketing agency, you’re actually hiring an entire content marketing team. And while you won’t be able to vet each and every individual on the team, you can get a better sense of an agency’s marketing efforts and abilities by asking a few key questions.
Here are some of the key steps in vetting a B2B content marketing agency:
Check Their Online Reviews
The first step is to check their online reviews and client testimonials. Sites like Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp are great places to start and can give you a quick overview of how other customers and clients rank and rate an agency.
It goes without saying that you’ll want to hire an agency with as many 5-star reviews as possible, but you should take the time to read some of their 1-star and 3-star reviews as well (if they have them). This is a good way to get an overview of their capabilities.
Ask How They Conduct SEO
Any agency worth its salt should be able to give you an in-depth explanation of how they conduct SEO. They should be keenly aware of the importance of link building, know how to properly research keywords and topics, and help to build your content strategy from the ground up.
Inquire about their process and ask to see examples or case studies of results they’ve provided to other clients.
Learn how link building drives results: How Link Building Helped Scale a Hosting Business 35% in 3 Months
Discuss Expectations
Building a strong content marketing strategy that generates results won’t happen overnight. Ask the agency how long it should take to see results.
If an agency quotes you anything less than three to six months, you’re likely to end up disappointed with the results.
In addition, discuss how you can track the progress of your content deliverables. The more involved you want to be in the process, the more important this becomes. An agency should be able to provide you with an editorial calendar outlining the topics and deadlines for upcoming posts.
Ask How They Report Results
One thing that great content agencies excel at is tracking and reporting results. Ask the agency if they provide metrics on backlinks, keyword rankings, and organic traffic results.
While increased sales may be your only measure of success, understanding how, where, and if your content is performing is just as important.
How Much Do YOU Want to be Involved?
Some clients want to be fully involved in content creation, while others prefer to step back and let the agency handle everything. When vetting an agency, be sure to understand how involved they expect or want you to be.
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