Freelance Writers vs. MarketSmiths
Finding the ideal copywriter for your content initiatives—someone who can gracefully navigate industry jargon, craft compelling stories that resonate with your target audience, stay true to your campaign strategies and brand voice, and do so on time—is a delightful proposition, rife with potential.
If you’re a corporate marketer, you might be nodding your head vigorously. It’s also possible that you’ve invested in this kind of search before—and struggled. Everything may have looked solid early on. The writer may have seemed flexible and enthusiastic, with the right skillsets and pricing. With short-term projects, you may have also figured you could easily switch to another writer if things didn’t work out.
In theory, this is all good. In practice, the challenges of managing a cohort of freelancers or relying on a single time-pressed person for all your copy needs start to pile up. When needs arise, you may find yourself coming up short for deliverables that hit the mark—and squandering time, budget, and patience in the process.
The drawbacks of freelance writers
The first concern is one of fit and quality. Content marketing is an industry largely without certifications—or any real barrier to entry, for that matter. Because of this, the inexperienced can outnumber the effective. You might think you’ve found someone good, at the right price. But larger issues may lurk below the surface. Maybe they underestimate the time it’ll take to deliver the quality you need—and they run out of bandwidth, or deliver late. Maybe they aren’t familiar with the complexities of your industry, the sophistication of your target readers, or the particular requirements of a business-savvy (B2B) readership. Maybe their project management skills aren’t up to snuff, resulting in multiple unplanned meetings, sloppy work, or a failure to adhere to style guidelines or campaign strategies.
Then there’s an issue of versatility, or format expertise.
For marketing teams that need a diverse array of content, finding a freelance writer who’s adept at every different type of deliverable is a common (and understandable) hurdle. Landing pages. Case studies. Downloadable ebooks and white papers. These are just a few examples from a long list of content types that call for specific, format-related expertise. For example, a seasoned journalist often struggles to produce punchy website copy. A copywriter adept at long-form marketing (articles, ebooks) can be at a loss when it comes to short-form content, such as ad copy, social posts, or creative captions. A specialized email copywriter may need to re-learn what it takes to write a great, SEO-optimized blog post—and it’s rare that any copywriter can become an effective email writer overnight, without a notable learning curve.
As a result, the writing falls short of your goals—and that learning curve takes a toll on you.
Even if your freelancer is as good or versatile as you need—you may still run into issues of availability. Maybe they can’t scale to accommodate your evolving needs. Maybe they’re too crunched with other work to consistently meet your deadlines, or take on new work. Maybe they’ve found a full-time staff role with another company—and are no longer able to help you. What once seemed like a home run turns south.
The freelance writer alternative you need
The MarketSmiths copywriting and content marketing team solves these issues once and for all. When you call MarketSmiths, you can trust that the writer handling your deliverable will be thoroughly vetted (we rigorously test our growing pool of high-quality applicants, and ultimately only hire <2% to our W2 staff) and held accountable for every word, phrase, and deadline. While our staff members are highly capable in their own right, we take a team-based approach that sets us apart from our competitors—and makes the quality a sure thing.
All of our pieces undergo a meticulous quality control process: they’re never filed without passing through the hands of one of our content strategists, who makes adjustments against a 35-point QC checklist to maximize ROI and results. For every new client, we develop a prototype that lets us pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for—voice, tone, message, research, call to action—and eliminate surprises down the road.
There’s built-in versatility, based on years spent cultivating broad-based expertise. Product descriptions, ebooks, emails, brand guides, blog posts, website copy—it’s all within our purview. This applies to industries, too: which has covered clinical trials to espresso machines, chemical manufacturing to artisanal wines, educational research to diversity recruitment. We’ve written about it all. At same time, we never rest on our laurels—and always take time to understand your unique needs and craft content accordingly.
Ready for a partner who can work with you seamlessly through thick and thin? The MarketSmiths team is standing by to tackle your next big project.
