Content Mills vs. MarketSmiths
Content mills have experienced a boom in recent years, and there’s no mystery as to why. By opening up their platforms to almost anyone, the number of freelancers available for work skyrockets. To stay competitive, writers need to set enticingly low rates, which can be hard for business-savvy folks to resist.
But just because you find plenty of results when you search “affordable copywriting” in Google doesn’t mean these are the services that will bring the most value to your business. In fact, for today’s marketing consumer, a lot of the content you can buy on freelancer platforms simply won’t cut it.
The drawbacks of content mills
While copy from content mills may seem cheaper than professional agencies at first glance, it can end up costing more in the long run if you need to hire a new team for a rewrite. These quantity-over-quality platforms often create a lose-lose situation, shortchanging both freelancers and the marketing teams that purchase their services.
Since freelancers aren’t being sufficiently compensated for their work, they need to churn content out quickly in order to make your project worth their time. Due to lack of workflow, many freelance writers have inadequate insight into the complexities of your industry, the nuances of your subject matter, and the best ways to approach the type of content you hired them for. Finally, because of the way freelance platforms are set up, these inexperienced writers are working your assignment solo, without a sure-footed guide. As a result, businesses receive subpar content that’s off-strategy, off-message, off-tone—and out of sync with the reader’s likeliest journey.
The issue goes beyond typos and other superficial mistakes. Instead, it comes down to this. You needed a quality piece that flowed out of hard-won business insights. Instead, the work you got was informed by the wrong insights, making the piece a complete miss. Before long, you find yourself at square one, looking for a copywriter that can nail the project the second time around—with less money in your budget than when you started. Here’s where a professional copywriting agency like MarketSmiths comes in.
The alternative to a content mill that’s a “sure thing”
The MarketSmiths writing model is designed to deliver maximum quality at optimal efficiency. It begins with our highly-vetted team of staff writers*, experienced and fluent across industries and content types. With every client, we utilize an in-depth strategy session to uncover applicable insights—so that there’s no chance we’ll veer off strategy. Every piece is meticulously overseen by a seasoned content strategist—each of whom has thousands of insights in their back pocket. To top it off, we apply 35 points of incisive quality control. So you can say goodbye to time-intensive rewrites for good.
Ready to make the switch from content mill to professional agency? Contact MarketSmiths Content Strategists to get started.
* Utilizing writers on staff imparts fierce ownership and accountability—and practiced collaboration.
