With the popularity of content marketing steadily on the rise, it seems there are reams of people ready to take your money, claiming they can get results. So, how do you separate the hype from the facts and make the right decision when selecting a content marketing partner?
Here are the top five things your business should consider when making this crucial decision.
1. Experience
Do your research. Look into the experience of each content marketing firm you are considering. The best teams combine an even mix of folks with journalism and writing backgrounds, along with talented graphic designers and professional marketers. Consider asking for details about the experience that each member of the team brings to the table. Request samples of past projects to get an idea of what your custom publishing solutions would look like.
2. Successes
Case studies not only provide a tangible visual, but they also can settle pressing ROI questions. It’s one thing to produce a fancy, glossy magazine with lots of pretty pictures, but it is a completely different thing to create one that delivers quality results. Ask questions about the amount of new customers and revenue increases that these publications generated. If your content marketing firm is just churning out flashy magazines and doesn’t have concrete data concerning the successes of their published works, then it is best to look elsewhere.
3. Longevity
Although the term, content marketing, may be relatively new to many people, the ideas behind it are not. Working with a company that has a solid track record in custom publishing, as well as one that has adapted to the modern methodologies of content marketing, can be a wise move. An established company is also more likely to have a stable staff and finances, meaning there is less of a chance that your team will change over or, even worse, the entire company vaporizes before it’s time to create your next content marketing piece.
4. Breadth
It is stressful dealing with separate teams of writers, designers, printers and delivery people, so finding a custom publishing content marketing agency that handles it all in-house is a huge advantage. You’ll want to have a core group of people — no more than a handful — working on your account who will communicate with you. It is too much unnecessary effort and stress to deal with five, different companies calling you and trying to coordinate all of the details of magazine publishing through you.
5. Realistic
Is the content marketing agency over-promising? Be wary of agencies that guarantee or provide unrealistic promises about the results you will see, especially if they make it seem like they will handle it all. You should be focused on finding someone who works with you to establish goals without making lofty assumptions about your business. Also, consider quality versus cost — if a firm’s rate seems too good to be true, it probably is, and you’ll end up with sub-par content, design and printing.
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