We’ve heard this story from potential clients time and time again: up to this point, they’ve resisted working with a content partner, keeping the majority of their marketing and copywriting efforts internal. They desperately need support crafting content, but when the idea of bringing in an outside agency is introduced, trepidation sets in.
It’s natural to feel a little apprehensive when trusting someone new with your content. After all, you’ve poured countless hours into understanding your audience and creating a unique identity for your brand.
The desire to protect the brand you’ve spent so much time building is admirable, and the unknown can be daunting. But consider this: partnering with a content agency may just be one of the best decisions you ever make for your brand. Let’s explore why bringing a content partner into the fold isn’t anything to fear—it’s a strategic move filled with exciting possibilities.
Pulling back the veil: understanding a content partner’s role.
Fear often stems from the unknown. You may find yourself thinking: What will this partnership look like? Can they truly understand my brand? Will they take the brand in a direction I’m not comfortable with? When you don’t yet know the outcome, it’s easy for your mind to jump to the worst.
The first step in overcoming your fear is understanding what a content partner does. Their role is not to take over. Instead, they are an extension of your internal team. A great content partner brings marketing expertise, fresh perspectives, and new capabilities—complementing your in-house efforts and working alongside your team to reach collective goals.
Let’s debunk a few myths that can perpetuate fear of working with a content partner:
Myth 1: Bringing in an outside agency means handing over complete creative control.
Reality: Working with a content partner is fundamentally about creative collaboration. Your partner is there to help you realize your vision and strategize approaches you may not have considered—not to take the reins and run.
Working towards common objectives, you’ll put your heads together to devise impactful content that generates results. Ideas should flow freely between your content partner and your internal team, gathering a range of useful perspectives. And rest assured, you can always have the final say over whatever goes out into the world.
Myth 2: You’re opening the door to a lack of consistency.
Reality: A strong content partner knows that consistency is key for building trust with your audience—and they’ll work to ensure that every piece of content they create aligns with your brand’s unique identity.
At MarketSmiths, we start client relationships with questionnaires on voice and tone and comb through past work to get a solid understanding of what hit the mark and why. Your style guide becomes our new best friend. (And if your brand doesn’t have one, we’ll help you create one to ensure that voice, tone, and punctuation preferences stay consistent across anyone writing content for your brand, both internal and external.)
Myth 3: An outsider can’t understand your business.
Reality: For a great content creator, doing thorough research, asking the right questions, and gaining an expert-level understanding of your voice and audience is all an essential part of the job. Without putting in that work to understand, it’s impossible to write strategically, and content falls flat.
At MarketSmiths, our onboarding process is designed to immerse us in your world. We begin every client relationship with a “Kick Off”—a 1-2 hour conversation in which we delve deep into your story, audience, and goals. We interview key members of your team as subject matter experts on what makes your brand tick.
But the work doesn’t stop there. Every initial piece we write becomes an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of your brand until we’re bonafide brand experts.
The benefits of working with a content partner
1. Fresh ideas backed by expertise
Content partners are experts in devising new and exciting ways to connect with your audience. When you consistently rely on the same small internal team to craft all of your brand’s messaging, it can become easy to miss key opportunities that may be obvious to an outsider. A fresh set of perspectives can reveal overlooked factors, lead to new angles, and spark true innovation.
At MarketSmiths, we often find that our clients are sitting on marketing gold. They just needed us to help them mine it. Take, for example, this time when a simple conversation with a client led to a bold tagline.
2. Greater efficiency
Creating content takes time. And it’s often time your internal team does not have. Consider this: if your marketing manager is spending their afternoons writing marketing emails, you’re losing out on time that could be spent strategizing campaigns geared towards growing your business.
Delegating content creation to a trusted partner can free up your internal team to focus on their core duties—allowing your business to operate more effectively, and be better poised to tackle broader business goals.
3. Scalability
One of the greatest advantages of working with a content partner is scalability. Your partner is there when you need them—poised to tackle those press releases, sales collateral, and consumer-facing content in time for your product launch—and can also easily scale back on slower weeks.
With a team of rock-solid writers at your disposal, you can take on both large and small projects with ease and speed, and say goodbye to missed deadlines and opportunities.
Ready to face your fears and tap into the power of creative collaboration?
Let’s partner up. We’re MarketSmiths, a results-driven copy agency poised to help you connect more deeply with your audience and achieve your goals. Let’s get to know each other.
