Content curation is a great way to publish high quality, relevant content on a consistent basis. However, content curation can’t stand alone. Original created content is the linchpin of any content marketing strategy.

In organizations with limited staff and budget, content creation can fall by the wayside, or into the lap of marketers with their plates already full. To enlightened marketers, content marketing is no part-time job, and shouldn’t be treated as such. A successful content strategy that keeps potential buyers and customers engaged requires dedicated writers publishing content consistently.

What if an in-House Content Team Is out of Your Budget?

Outsourcing content creation to freelancers or agencies is a popular option for organizations with limited resources. Curata research found 17 percent of marketers are turning to freelance writers for high quality and relevant content. For companies unable to feed the content beast on their own, a content writing service may be a great option for the marketing team.

Below is a list of content creation services that can help get a content strategy off the ground, drive SEO, and improve engagement. It is divided into two broad categories: in-house writing services, and writer marketplaces. In-house writing services employ writers on staff; marketplaces connect you to a writer appropriate for a specific project. Keep in mind the lines can be blurred between the two types of writing services, and that this list is not comprehensive. It has been updated as of September 2017

Have a writing service you use that isn’t mentioned below? Let us know in the comments section.

In-House Writing Services A-D

Articlez
Content at a price competitive with what others outsourcing to non-native English speaking writers charge.
Services: Articles, blog posts, personal stories, anecdotes, newsletters

Brafton
An agency that provides custom content in various formats from full-time content writers and designers.
Services: Landing pages, case studies, analytical news articles, blogs, eBooks, whitepapers, interviews, custom projects, editing services

Brivin Corp 
Original content creation services that are researched by professionals to ensure quality and boost engagement.
Services: Press releases, blog articles, journalistic texts, and web content

Content Cavalry
One solution for coming up with compelling topics, creating and ensuring top-notch quality.
Services: Articles, social media, blog posts

Content Customs
Owned and operated by Internet designers, developers, marketers, and writers. Offers everything needed to create and maintain an Internet presence.
Services: Content writing services, SEO and marketing, design and development

Content Development Pros
Custom content writing services from content development pros within 72 hours.
Services: Web copy, articles, eBooks, blog posts, press releases

Content Writers
High-quality content for all major industries: travel and lifestyle, legal, food and beverage, medical and healthcare, fashion, music and entertainment, tech and internet, government and non-profit, sports, gaming and fitness, finance, business and real estate, education and daycare.
Services: Blog posts, website pages, press releases, social media posts, product descriptions, email newsletters, whitepapers

Creative CopyWriter
Services for writing projects large or small to entice readers and generate leads.
Services: Web copy, blog posts, articles, corporate brochures, direct mail, email campaigns, newsletters, press releases, presentations, sales brochures and letters, slogans, tweets, video scripts

CrowdFlower
Enterprise crowdsourcing. CrowdFlower offers original, high quality content in multiple languages from skilled wordsmiths.
Services: Sentiment analysis, search relevance tuning, data collection and enhancement, data categorization, content moderation

In-House Writing Services E-M

eBook Writing Service
Create an eBook that penetrates the deepest corners of the market, getting interested readers enthralled enough to return to your work again and again.
Services: eBooks

Editor Group
Delivers writing and editing services, proofreading, strategy and training for sales and marketing, thought leadership, content marketing, investor relations, and community campaigns.
Services: ads, annual reports, articles, blogs, brochures, case studies, magazines, media releases, newsletters, proposals, prospectuses, reports, style guides, tenders, audio and video scripts, white papers

Express Writers
Provides a range of professional writing services.
Services: Web pages, blog writing, resumes, product descriptions, article writing, sales pages, landing pages, topics, content planning, meta tags, content auditing, PR distribution, infographics, press release writing

Graphtek
Writing services for original, engaging website copy reflecting brand messaging and providing customer value.
Services: Web copy, PPC content generation or reviews, blog posts, editing, banner ads, newspapers, magazines

Internet Marketing Ninjas 
An online marketing service that provides search engine optimized web content.
Services: Optimized web content services, digital assets, blog management, press release services

iStrategy Labs
Custom content in various formats.
Services: Animation, illustration, photography, videography, live-streaming, video editing, copy writing, blogging, crowdsourcing

iWebContent
Writes, optimizes and designs content for users and businesses looking to boost their content marketing strategy and stand out in search rankings.
Services: Web content, blog posts, press releases, custom eBooks, blog creation, graphic design, web development

Mad Wire Media 
Writing services that help businesses develop their messaging on websites and increase search rank with content created by skilled writers.
Services: Digital marketing

More Than Words Only
A group of creative writers and expert editors who strive to come up with new ideas for your technical writing services needs.
Services: Web content, blogs, articles, copywriting, social media writing, translation, resumes and cover letters, proofreading, press releases, brochures

In-House Writing Services N-S

No. 2 Pen
Helps brands tell their story and establish an online presence through optimized website content and strategy development.
Services: Web copy, social media posts, newsletters, blogging, PR/blogger outreach, eBooks

Outspoken Media
Provides custom content creation in the form of blog posts, authority articles, link bait, press releases and optimized content.
Services: Blogs, authority articles, link bait, optimized press releases, optimized content

Phenomenal Content LLC
Writing services offering high quality, original content in the form of copywriting, article writing, blogging and editing.
Services: Articles, blogs, editing

SEO Advantage
Articles written by SEO professionals to help organizations rank in search for relevant topics.
Services: Web copy, press releases, blogs, social media, articles

SEO Article Writing Pros
A team of professional content writers and copywriters that can complete custom writing projects based on your specific needs.
Services: Articles, blog posts, press releases, website content, eBooks, eReports, social media posts

Simply Done Tech Solutions
Helps grow inbound marketing strategies and improves SEO via blogs, case studies, eBooks, etc.
Services: Veterinary blog posts, Q&As, Veterinary eBooks, infographics, case studies, how to guides, veterinary videos

SM Content Creation
Will tackle any project, as long as it’s creative.
Services: Website content, copywriting, revisions, blogs, social media

SocialSite Media
SocialSite Media repurposes and optimizes existing content, creates new site content, helps with landing page development, and editorial calendaring.
Services: Blog writing, editing, social media posts, landing pages, content optimization,

Socius Marketing
Provides researched, custom articles for businesses looking to extend their digital reach.
Services: Articles, thought pieces, blogs, whitepapers, corporate histories, executive biographies, email blasts, newsletters, B2B communications

SureWriteSEO
A professional content writing services company specializing in high quality, relevant content optimized for search.
Services: Articles, blog posts, SEO content

In-House Writing Services T-Z

TextRoyal
Features professional US-born writers with experience in over 40 genres, providing SEO-favored, original content.
Services: articles, blog posts, product descriptions, SEO and web content, social media posts, press releases, and more

Textun
Textun offers high quality and cost-efficient writing services.
Services: Report, article, blog post, review, web content

Textworkers
Produces web pages, articles, blogs, and product descriptions for hundreds of companies around the world including Avon, Maybelline, DISH Promotions, oDesk Enterprise Solutions, and more.
Services: Blog writing, article writing, copywriting, product descriptions

The Write Content
Offers help creating content strategy plans, custom-branded content, editing assistance and more from content specialists available for short term and long term projects.
Services: Content strategy, content creation, content editing

Vertical Measures 
A content marketing agency specializing in the development of long form and visual content. This includes free guides, case studies, white papers, infographics, resource pages and video.
Services: Articles, blogs, infographics, videos, guides, social media, SEO content

Write Collective
Topic brainstorming and creation as well as keyword optimization.
Services: Blog posts, articles

Writer Marketplaces A-D

Blog Mutt
A hassle-free writing service that uses experienced writers to produce unique blogs for companies who need consistent content.
Services: Blog posts, articles, eBooks, white papers, social media, web copy

ClearVoice
Offers both a software platform, freelance writer marketplace, and in-house services such as content strategy, management, distribution and measurement.
Services: Articles, blogs, eBooks, infographics, videos, freelancer matching and recruiting

Constant Content
Users can commission freelance writers to create custom articles, and buy pre-written articles.
Services: Articles, blogs posts, copy editing, copywriting, eBooks, press releases, product descriptions, review writing, SEO content, social media updates, technical writing, white papers

Contently 
Allows brands to connect with freelancers in new ways to boost content creation and power the next generation of media companies.
Services: Articles, blog posts, social media, web copy

Content Writers
Connects you with freelance writers who produce professional blog posts, website copy, press releases and social media posts for businesses.
Services: Blog posts, press releases, website page, white papers, social media posts, email newspaper, video script

Copify
Assists businesses from around the world to source fast, high quality content from approved copywriters.
Services: Website pages, article writing, blog posts, press releases, ecommerce content

CopyPress
Software, products, and services that help creatives and advertisers.
Services: Expert content, product copy, eBooks, white papers, press releases, infographics, SEO content

Crowd Content
Quality, unique content to elevate your site to page one on Google and get people talking about your brand on social networks.
Services: Blog posts, product descriptions, website content, eBooks, SEO content, press releases, whitepapers, newsletters

CrowdSource 
Manages a crowd of qualified writers, editors, and moderators to perform large-scale content creation quickly and efficiently.
Services: Articles, buying guides, product descriptions, blogs, recipes

Writer Marketplaces E-S

Ebyline
Helps brands and publishers find and hire high quality content creators. Simplifies the freelancer management process.
Services: Photos, videos, infographics, text

fiverr
A worldwide online marketplace offering content creation services beginning at five dollars per job performed.
Services: Business copywriting, creative writing, translation, transcription, resumes, cover letters, proofreading, editing, press releases, articles, blog posts, research, summaries, legal writing

Godot 
Provides reliable, quality content writing services to give your content marketing strategy a boost, no matter your audience.
Services: Articles, blogs, copywriting, eBooks, social media, SEO, whitepapers

inklyo
Find professional journalists, copywriters, and bloggers that create quality content which attracts attention and provides value for readers.
Services: Articles, blogs, copywriting, newsletter, press releases, resume, SEO

iWriter
A service created solely to facilitate the process of hiring someone to write articles for you.
Services: Articles, web copy, blog posts

Mediashower
Content written by professional journalists and edited by SEO experts to ensure it ranks higher and receives more attention.
Services: Articles, blog posts, SEO content

RightlyWritten
Allows you to place an order with a network of highly qualified copywriters. Does not require a contract.
Services: Articles, blogs, web copy, press releases, newsletters, social media, creative writing, technical writing, product descriptions, eBooks, whitepapers, resumes, cover letters, taglines, slogans, script writing, academic writing

Skyword
Helps businesses engage audiences with unique content designed to perform in social media and search.
Services: Content strategy, original content creation, content performance management, content amplification

Scripted 
A digital forum connecting organizations with highly qualified freelancers who can write blogs, articles, and bulk social media posts.
Services: Standard blog post, long blog post, white papers, Tweets, Facebook posts, website pages, product descriptions, local content, articles

Writer Marketplaces T-Z

Textbroker 
An online forum for custom-made, original written content with over 100,000 U.S.-based freelance writers who can write on various topics.
Services: Articles, blog posts

TextMaster
TextMaster offers professional translation, proofreading, and web content writing services from native speakers across the globe.
Services: SEO content, articles, branded content, eCommerce, proofreading, editing, translation

TextWriters
An online marketplace connecting more than 50,000 professional freelance writers with clients needing different types of content. Also features a catalogue of thousands of pre-written articles.
Services: Hire freelance writers, buy articles online, use ready-made content

Upwork
A large online marketplace where businesses can hire from over two million freelance writers, designers, web developers, mobile programmers, and more from around the world.
Services: Blogs, articles, web content, technical, creative, copywriting, editing, eBooks, translation, biographies, creative

WriterAccess
Connects businesses with one of thousands of freelance writers in minutes, with a quick turnaround.
Services: Blog posts, Twitter and Facebook posts, white papers, web copy

Writology
A platform combining a freelance marketplace and a professional writing service.
Services: Copywriting, web content, academic writing, rewriting, business writing, technical writing, media writing, SEO/content writing

Zerys
A marketplace for thousands of freelancers to connect with businesses, and also doubles as a project management tool for content.
Services: Content strategy planner, content production platform, professional writer marketplace

If you’re looking for writers, you’re advancing in your content marketing career. To find out how to take the next step, download Curata and LinkedIn’s eBook: The Ultimate Guide to a Content Marketing Career.

It doesn’t like to work hard.

I know, I know… you probably went to college, your degree says you’re pretty smart—and you think you make considered decisions. And the truth is you do—sometimes.

However the dirty little secret is, our brains usually like to take the easy way out. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of a Nobel Prize winning economist.

Nobel Prize Winner Reveals the Importance of Mental Shortcuts

Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work on behavioral economics. He also authored the book Thinking, Fast and Slow. In it, he explains that the brain doesn’t like logical, rational, conscious thinking, and will take any shortcut it can.

As a result, humans exhibit a number of cognitive biases and constantly use decision-making shortcuts. These are actions we perform automatically, instinctively, and reflexively.

We’ve developed these biases and shortcuts over the millennia as a way to conserve mental energy. This is because we couldn’t possibly weigh every bit of information before making a decision—or we’d never make any. Or it’d be too late by the time we did.

So we default to hardwired, automatic actions that make things easy for us.

Look at it this way. Imagine I suddenly sneezed. You would likely say, “Bless you,” or “Gesundheit.” You wouldn’t stop to think about it, you’d just respond. It’s instinctive and easy.

Social scientists have documented dozens and dozens of these automatic behaviors. They affect all kinds of decisions, including what we read, whom we trust, and when we take action. Which is why it’s so important for a content creator to know about them.

If You’re a Content Creator, You Have a Lot of Company—Which Has Consequences

Speaking of content, if you want to be a brain-craving content creator, you also need to know a little something about content.

A 2016 Domo study reported that every minute, Giphy serves 569,217 gifs, YouTube users share 400 hours of new video, and BuzzFeed users view 159,380 pieces of content. And you know those numbers continue to skyrocket.

In fact, according to IBM’s 10 Key Marketing Trends for 2017, experts estimate a full 90 percent of all data ever produced by humans has been produced in the last 12 months.

This is precisely why some content marketing gurus urge us to generate less content: to focus more on quality than quantity.

The truth is, with all the competition today, it’s no longer enough to write something that’s filled with great information, that reflects your brand voice, and that is perfectly produced.

Today you need to do more to ensure people read your writing. That’s where Brain-Craving Content comes in.

But first, some disclosure. You should know I come at content writing influenced by two things: I have a journalism degree and a job in marketing.

My journalism degree taught me to write with objectivity, to write for my audience, and to write using the inverted pyramid. Since we live in an age when reading is often replaced with scanning and the human attention span has dropped below that of a goldfish, these are important skills to have. Not just for journalism, but also for any content creator. (Content marketers desperately need more journalists.)

It doesn’t stop there. My marketing career taught me that words must motivate, that content needs to be consumed, and that ultimately content should build preference and prompt action. Otherwise, what’s the purpose?

Where Does That Leave Us?

If content needs to drive action, and science has proven many actions are automatic, it would be extremely helpful to know which triggers prompt hardwired, automatic actions.

I’d like to share a few of them with you today. You’ll find they fit nicely beneath two key guidelines.

#1 Some Words Count More Than Others

Or as I like to say, in writing—as in Scrabble—some words are worth more than others. These are the words that:

• Increase readership
• Influence the way we absorb information
• Incent response

Four Words That Increase Readership

A number of tests, including in-market, heat mapping, and eye tracking, all prove that some words have the power to pull the human eye in and increase readership. These are ideal words for a content creator to place at the beginning of a headline, title, lead sentence, etc.

Here are four you should find especially useful:

New

Social scientists know the human brain craves novelty. Why? Because when we find something new it activates our reward center, which releases dopamine. And that feels good. As a result, we are constantly on the lookout for the next new thing.

So use the word “new.” In fact use the entire family of “new” words: “now,” “announcing,” “introducing,” “finally,” and “soon”—to signal to the brain that something novel is on the horizon.

Free

Your next power word is “free.” Dan Ariely, noted behavioral economist and author of the New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational, devotes an entire chapter in his book to the pulling power of the word free. He explains that we place more value on free items than they deserve. We are just automatically drawn to “free.”

So use this word liberally in your content to attract readership. Also, here’s an interesting side note. According to Worldata’s 2016 study on email subject lines “18 Critical Email Marketing Tips Volume 1,” “free” delivers twice the opens of “complimentary.”

You

Your third power word is “you.” Social scientists have found that people are attracted to things that remind them of themselves. And the word “you” certainly does that. In fact a BI Norwegian School of Business study found that self-referencing tweets and ad headlines (those using the words you or yours) lift readership.

So downplay your use of words like “I,” “we” and “our company,” and increase your use of the word “you.”

Secret

Your final power word is “secret.” Why is it so powerful? Scientific research shows that people find information more persuasive if they believe it’s not widely available. The word secret certainly suggests that.

Pro tip: so do phrases like “sneak peek,” “inside story,” and “behind the scenes look.”

Use these words to increase readership. Other words actually have the power to influence how we absorb information.

How Can Words Influence How We Absorb Information?

In a landmark study, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus showed a video of a car accident to two groups of people. Each saw the same video.

Then she asked one group to estimate how fast the cars were going when they “contacted.” She asked the second group to estimate how fast they were going when they “smashed.”

The first group said 31.8 miles per hour. The second group said 40.8 miles per hour. That’s a difference of over 28 percent.

Remember, they all saw the same video. The verb used in the question was the only difference. It literally influenced people’s perception of what they saw.

In another example, the Journal of Consumer Research reported that people given a choice of a “fruit chew” or a “candy chew” ate more fruit chews because they understood them to be healthier.

Sometimes it’s not just the words you choose, but the order you put them in that influences how people absorb the information. For example, researchers at the University of Geneva asked people:

Can you smoke while you pray? And 96 percent said no.

Then they rephrased the question and asked: Can you pray while you smoke? This time 97 percent of respondents said yes.

It was the same two things done simultaneously. But the study results were dramatically different depending on how they asked the question. Social scientists refer to this as “framing,” and you can see how effective it is.

These are just a few examples of the way words can influence how people absorb information. Now let’s look at how some words can actually prompt action.

Certain Words Drive Response

Harvard University researcher Ellen Langer ran the now-famous photocopier study in 1978 that proved just how powerful the word “because” is.

Langer sent someone to the head of a line of people waiting to use a photocopier, and had that person say, “Excuse me, can I cut in front of you?” When the person asked, they were allowed to cut ahead 60 percent of the time.

Then Langer repeated the experiment. This time she instructed the person to say, “Excuse me, can I cut in front of you because I’m in a hurry and have a few copies to make.” People then allowed the person to cut ahead 94 percent of the time.

Now you may be thinking, ‘Well, the person said they were in a hurry.’ But Langer repeated the experiment a third time. This time she instructed the person to say, “Excuse me, can I cut in front of you because I have a few copies to make.”

Here, 93 percent of the people said yes—statistically insignificant from the 94 percent—even though everyone standing in that line had copies to make.

Langer identified the word “because” as a compliance trigger. When we see or hear it, we start to nod like little bobble heads without fully processing the words that come next. We simply assume that they’ll offer a good, logical, legitimate reason.

The word “because” clearly triggers a decision-making shortcut, and can be extremely helpful in getting people to respond positively to content.

“Because” isn’t the only word that prompts action though.

Tap Into Information Gap Theory

Neuroeconomist George Lowenstein coined the phrase “information gap theory” [pdf]. It describes the phenomenon that happens when people encounter a gap between what they already know and what they want to know. They take action to close that gap.

This is important to a content creator, because we want our content to drive responses.

I’ve found one of the most effective ways to help a reader see they have a gap in their information is to use something I was taught as a journalism student at Boston University. And that is the five Ws and one H.

Early in our classes, we were taught to write our articles in a way that quickly answered the five Ws and the one H: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Our instructors explained that readers wanted to know the answers to these questions, so if we provided them, it meant we’d get eyeballs.

Content marketing is no different. Start your headlines or titles with who, what, where, when, why, or how and you’ll drive action. People will automatically start to read what you’ve written.

For example, you can take a headline like, “The Difference Between Marketing Success and Failure” and rewrite it as “What’s the Difference Between Marketing Success and Failure.”

Or you can recast a headline like “Navigating Rocky Terrain” as “How to Navigate Rocky Terrain.” These small changes can make a big difference in getting people to consume your content.

But I do have one word of warning here. Make sure you pay off what you promise. Don’t descend into clickbait.

Do You Know the Surprising Effect of Questions?

A BI Norwegian School of Business study offers another way content marketers can drive action, and that is to use a question instead of a declarative sentence. Their research shows that questions generate a 140-150 percent lift in engagement over declarative sentences.

Here’s a quick refresher if it’s been a while since you sat through an English class. An example of a declarative sentence is, “Wine may improve your memory.” The question or interrogative version of that would be “Does wine improve your memory?”

Naturally you can’t phrase all your sentences as questions. But consider using one in key pieces of real estate like headlines, subheads, subject lines, etc.

#2 Always Opt for Easy

The second overarching guideline for creating brain-craving content involves the principle of Cognitive Fluency. Simply explained, it means that people prefer things that are easy to think about and easy to understand.

That may not come as a shock to you. However, it gets better.

Not only do people prefer things that are easier to think about and understand, they judge them to be more truthful and accurate. This is important to marketers because people want content they can trust.

And finally, when information is more cognitively fluent, people feel more confident in their ability to make a decision about it. That, of course, tracks nicely to our goal of getting people to take action.

When writing, aim to be clear and orderly. Science indicates that sometimes people actually fear complex, complicated ideas or designs. So stay on the side of concise and meaningful.

To write cognitively fluent copy, write using:

• Short sentences
• Active voice
• Specific benefits
• Information chunks
• Familiar language

In Short, Make it Easy

It’s true this may not be new advice. In fact Nielsen Norman Group reported in 1997 that concise, scannable, and objective copywriting increases a site’s usability by 124 percent. The problem is, this advice is often forgotten.

Sometimes a content creator will sometimes favor jargon, big words, and long, complicated sentences, falsely believing it helps convey their expertise. What they may not realize is that when the brain encounters something that’s hard to process, very often the reaction is to just skip it—to move on to something easier.

With all the content out there these days, there’s always something else to move on to.

Occasionally I’ll make this point while speaking at a conference, and a would-be content creator will raise their hand to ask something like: “Isn’t it different for certain verticals? For example, I work in finance and that’s an area where more complicated words and sentence structures should be used, right?”

True, marketing REITs isn’t quite the same as marketing beer. But remember, people are people, and generally speaking our brains prefer the easy way out.

In fact, a team of researchers from Princeton University conducted a very revealing study that involved the stock market. They looked at the effect of stock names on stock performance. They found that stocks with easier to pronounce names did better in the market than stocks with harder to pronounce names.

This held true even after the data was controlled to allow for factors like company size and industry. So there’s a dollars and sense argument for cognitive fluency.

The Brain Likes What It Sees When It Can Be Read With Ease

A psychologist named Matt McGlone researched cognitive fluency.

He found that people judged phrases that rhyme to be truer and more accurate than similar phrases that don’t rhyme. For example, consider these two sentences: “Woes unite foes,” and “Woes united enemies.” They both mean the same thing. But the first one rhymes, and would be judged the more truthful, more accurate expression.

Social scientists call this the “rhyme as reason bias.” They believe it stems from the fact that rhyming phrases are easier for our brains to process. When something is easier to process, it “feels right.”

To Write Brain-Craving Content, Just Follow These Two Guidelines

Your content has a lot of competition. But you can increase the likelihood it gets read and acted upon by following these two guidelines: “Remember that some words count more than others.” And “Always opt for easy.” If you tap into the proven behavioral science behind each of these, you’ll write more compelling content that’s hard to ignore. To optimize your utilization of brain-craving content, download the eBook: The Content Marketing Pyramid: A Framework to Develop & Execute Your Content Marketing Strategy.

With 75 percent of companies currently increasing their content marketing budget, it’s apparent that content can no longer be treated as a part-time job. Organizations need dedicated writers who are able to consistently publish relevant, high quality content for their audience.

To meet this demand, over 60 percent of companies are now outsourcing content creation to freelancers and agencies (such as those detailed in Curata’s Ultimate List of Content Writing Services). This trend will increase for the foreseeable future. Outsourcing content creation to dedicated writers allows for consistent, high quality publishing, fresh perspectives, insight into best practices, and better leveraging of resources. Not to mention the ability to step on the gas or apply the brakes depending on your need—and available funds.

Where to Outsource Content Creation? A Fully Staffed Agency, or Expert Freelancers?

This post assesses the advantages and disadvantages of using agencies versus freelancers for your content creation process across several criteria:

• Cost
• Time
• Flexibility/Capacity
• Breadth of Services
• Infrastructure

The bottom line is that there are many great agencies and freelancers out there that can produce a great product for your content marketing needs. If you can afford it, try using a hybrid model of both writing sources for a best-in-class content operation.

Cost

When it comes to cost, freelancers are typically less expensive, as they charge by the hour or by the word. You don’t pay them when they’re not writing for you, and rates can be negotiable.

Agencies however, may charge a monthly fee. Agencies may also charge additional costs for planning, strategy, promotion, and analytics, meaning you may pay for services you don’t need if you’re just looking for writers.

Freelancers can save you money, but there is usually (though not always!) a good reason why one freelancer is cheaper than another. When selecting freelancers, make sure you’re asking them the correct questions to assess how well they fit with your needs. Sites like fiverr have freelancers who perform services starting at five dollars an article, but quality isn’t always guaranteed. (In fact, if you’re paying five dollars for an article, it’s guaranteed to not be great.) If you continuously only pay for cheap, low quality content, it will cost you more in the long run. That’s because you’ll just be adding to the ocean of forgettable content proliferating on the Internet, rather than standing out as a beacon of insight and trustworthiness with high quality, relevant content.

Match your needs to experience when it comes to freelancers. And don’t forget the old adage that you get what you pay for!

Time

The hiring process for freelancers usually consists of merely a few emails back and forth, so if you need a project done by tomorrow, they’re probably your best bet for the short-term. Agencies—especially larger ones—typically have a more complex hierarchy of people and processes to work through, making the on-boarding process slower. However, when building the foundation of a long-term, successful content marketing strategy, it’s important to take your time to select the best partner(s) for your business.

Freelancers are also usually available in a pinch. Maybe you need an extra last minute piece of content during the holidays. A freelancer will be more likely to respond to this request in 24 hours—especially if you’re communicating outside of nine-to-five business hours, or on holidays when agencies are closed.

However, in the larger scheme of things, good freelancers often have other jobs they’re working on, resulting in a slower turnaround for content. Agencies are able to assign a full time writer (or multiple full time writers) to get a project done faster.

Flexibility

There is a lot of flexibility on both ends with freelancers.

• You can easily adjust for full-time, part-time, long-term, etc.
• You have the ability to hire as needed—allowing you to fit various pieces and projects into your schedule
• Freelancers often work on their own time—they have flexible hours

Many freelancers will work on or update content overnight so that it’s complete for the following morning, especially if they’re in a different time zone. However, a pure freelancer strategy may restrict your ability to ramp up your content creation quickly, due to freelancers’ capacity constraints.

Flexibility varies with agencies. But in general, an agency typically has a team of writers they can rapidly pull onto your account for increased content creation capacity (quality concerns aside).

Agencies typically expand more rapidly than freelancers! This may put a strain on an agency’s ability to respond to your needs. Therefore it’s important to establish your communication process with them and determine how responsive they can be as their organization grows. If you need fast response times and open, consistent communication, examine several agencies to get a feel for how each can adjust their schedule to suit your needs.

Breadth of Services

When considering content creation services offered by agencies and freelancers, the most important question to ask yourself is, “What am I going to need?”

Assuming you have a content strategy, determine how much support your strategy needs for success. At Curata we use the content marketing pyramid to plan our content; including research, assets, resource needs, and publishing and promotional plans. We use freelancers for some of our writing, and consider agencies when a broader set of activities is required.

Agencies can serve as a one-stop shop for your content needs if you’re looking for other services in addition to content creation. These could be, for example:

• Marketing strategy
• Web/graphic design
• Video/animation
• Translation
• Public relations
• Social media

If you have the budget for it, an agency can enable you to more cohesively execute a content marketing strategy in a shorter period of time. The collaboration of multiple agency staff members on projects, however, may just as easily inhibit ideas and collaboration if not managed properly.

If you have a more limited need for only writing services, freelancers may be able to provide more personal attention than agencies. You’ll be able to have much more direct interaction with the person creating your content. This may work better for those who want to collaborate directly with writers themselves.

Freelancers have less resources in terms of software, skills, etc. than agencies. However, experienced writers usually have a quality network of contacts whom they’ve worked with in graphic and web design, video, translation, social media, or analytics, and can provide referrals for you.

Niche Areas of Expertise

Freelancers can also be a good option if you need an expert in your specific niche and can handpick people from your field. Do plan on spending a significant amount of time finding the “right” person though.

A great agency or writing service can help you more quickly find that expert, since they provide a larger pool of writers from different backgrounds and industries.

International needs are better addressed by agencies. If you need content for specific geographical locations, use an agency that employs in-country writers and translators so that content can be adjusted for the culture—not just the language. It can be difficult to find and communicate with international, independent freelancers on your own, and could end up costing not just additional funds, but your reputation if it leads to any miscommunications.

Infrastructure (Process and Technology)

Here, you’ll find better infrastructure with agencies when it comes to:

• Content planning
• Editorial calendars
• Writing strategies
• Consistency of writing

As good as many freelancers can be, there are many contractors that will have a difficult time working within your own process and/or requirements. They may not be able to use certain tools or software you require.

Conversely, you may not understand the tools your agency is using, or they may use too many types of applications that don’t integrate with your own applications. This can lead to future problems when your organization is unfamiliar with the process, unable to make last minute edits, or unable to accommodate formatting issues.

In Summary

There are certainly general distinctions to be made between freelancers compared to agency writing services. But as your typical consultant would say—it all depends on your organization’s needs. The best fit depends on your organization, your individual projects, and the type of outsourcing relationship you require. Great content leads to increased traffic and buyer engagement, regardless of whether it’s from an agency staff member or a freelancer. Whichever outsourcing strategy you go with, make sure it fits your audience and your needs.

A smart content marketing executive has a stable of content writers to tap into as needed, with a mixture of both freelancers and agencies. Select a go-to writing service—which may change based upon the type of writing you need, such as an eBook, infographic, or blog post—and have one as a back-up. In addition, build up a team of expert freelancers that know your industry and your buyers’ needs. Using a hybrid model of both types of writing sources will increase the depth and flexibility of your content creation.

Want more information on how to upgrade your content marketing strategy? Download Curata’s eBook, the 2016 Content Marketing Staffing & Tactics Study for additional best practices, successful tactics, and new insights.

Created content should stand as the backbone of your content marketing strategy, since original material helps differentiate your brand from the competition. But the reality is that limited budgets, staff, and time often make it nearly impossible to create enough original content and keep all your channels updated on a consistent basis. Too much created content can be a morale-killer because it often requires a back-breaking pace of constant creation for employees. Plus, not all organizations have strong storytellers who can create high-quality content on a consistent basis.

These are just a few of the reasons why many savvy content marketers include a combination of created content and curated content in their strategy. Our recent survey of top marketers found that on average, they use 65 percent created content and 25 percent curated content, with 10 percent of content syndicated from third party sources.

Curated content solves some of the pain points created by a 100 percent creation strategy, and when done well, curated content actually includes elements of creation such as incorporating additional context, opinions, and so on. It’s also more realistic for marketers with a limited budget or small staff to supplement their created content with curation rather than to create it all themselves.

Curation Complements Creation

Here’s why curation is the ultimate complement to created content:

• Solves resource issues: Unlike created content, curated content doesn’t have the resource challenges mentioned above. It’s not as expensive or time-consuming to produce and doesn’t require a huge team of writers. Curated content allows you to get more content out the door and ultimately increase leads without a proportionate amount more original content. When news breaks, it’s easier to curate articles on the topic in real time versus producing them yourself.

• Gives readers other perspectives: Your readers or customers don’t want egocentric marketing that focuses entirely on your products, your perspective, you, you, you. They want to hear from third-party sources who can offer a different point of view, and curation affords you this opportunity. Annotating curation by adding your own point of view or commentary helps drive thought leadership. In fact, 55 percent of the marketers we surveyed said curation has helped improve thought leadership, while 63 percent said it has helped boost brand visibility.

Content Mix Best Practices

Now that we’ve convinced you of curation’s value, here are some best practices for content curation:

• Curate consistently: To get the best results from content curation, you need to curate content on a consistent basis – ideally every day. Sixteen percent of the marketers we surveyed curate third-party sources for their audience every day, while about half are curating from third-party sources at least once a week.

• Devote time each day to curation: To maintain reasonable frequency, set aside time each day for curation. Use tools to streamline your curation process, easily distribute content to multiple channels and ultimately, save time. Our survey found that nearly half of marketers are spending over two hours per day on curation. These marketers are likely wasting time annotating content that isn’t brand relevant or manually sharing to multiple channels. We recommend spending about 30 minutes per day on curation and using content specific technology that can help you find, annotate, organize and share content efficiently.

• Publish across multiple channels: The top three places that marketers publish curated content is on social media, their blogs and newsletters. But posting manually to these channels isn’t necessary. One-click to multi-channel publishing can help you get more mileage out of every piece you curate in a fraction of the time.

For more insight on content marketing strategies, including the latest statistics on best practices and what top content marketers are doing this year, download Curata’s Content Marketing Tactics Planner 2014.

• “Content Creation and Management is the #2 Digital Marketing spend area for marketers based upon Gartner’s latest research.” No doubt that content marketing is here to stay.  The question is, how will companies best leverage their investment in this area?
• “As you execute your content marketing strategy to deliver content to your audience, don’t just think like a publisher; think like a journalist and artist to rise above the noise.” [Sorofman] Not an easy feat, no doubt.  However, this is what is needed to stay ahead of the competition and capture your audience’s attention. I’ll take this a step further and say that you need to think like an analyst, especially as you’re contextualizing content for your audience.
• How do you ensure your content engages your audience?  Tips from Gartner. . . make it Human, Neutral, Simple, Visual, Curated and Conversational.
• As expected, Gartner offered up a good framework to help us get to content marketing excellence:  The 3 C’s of Content Marketing: Create, Curate, Cultivate (read more here) But the 3 C’s are just the start as the Sourcing part of content marketing.  Sourcing needs to be followed up with Manufacturing (optimizing internal and external resources) and Distribution (reaching the right audiences). [Gartner]
• “If content is king, than context is God!” [Afshar]  Well said by Vala. The bottom line is that we need to produce content that is not just high quality, but also highly relevant to our audience.  Best-in-class marketers have taken this a step further.  Not only do they produce their own content, but they curate and contextualize other people’s content to add more value for their readers and to reduce resources needed for their own content creation engine. (refer to STOP Egocentric Marketing)
• “A good curator adds value as part of the content curation process – providing annotation, contextualization.” [Deshpande] (read more about content curation annotation methods)
• “To deliver compelling and inspiring content, you need to struggle. . . . to push yourself to be interesting.” [Afshar]
• What’s your favorite example of great content marketing?:  HubSpot; IBM’s Big Data Hub; Green Data Center News (by Verne Global)
• What’s your content management outsourcing strategy?: “Your own marketing team should develop the content strategy and the high value content (e.g., eBooks, important posts), and you should outsource the lower value items.” (read more)
• What about content governance?:  “You must not let control stifle innovation, real-time response, and content relevance.” Craig Dowley

Check out Jake Sorofman’s post for additional take-aways from this event, and certainly contribute any of your thoughts below.

To read more about content marketing, check out Curata’s resource area.

In an AMA webinar  I hosted with Rick Burnes at HubSpot, a third of attendees said time to do it was the biggest challenges they faced in creating content. A quarter said having staff to create content was their biggest challenge. Creating content doesn’t have to be this hard. Here are some content-creation strategies that were shared:

1. Get into the content mindset. Anytime you’re thinking about your business or industry, be looking for inspiration. Could the discussion you had in a marketing meeting last week be turned into a blog post? Could that answer your colleague posted on Quora? What about that presentation you gave at a conference last month? Look for these kinds of opportunities.

2. Create tweetable facts. Compile a list of statistics and include a “click to tweet” link next to each one. Include the link back to the original post. Here’s an example called 10 Tweetable Facts from 2nd Annual B2B Marketing Trends 2012 Report. This strategy creates multiple entry points into a blog post and allows readers to easily tweet the stat they find most interesting. The ease with which readers can share your content boosts the potential for it to go viral.

3. Don’t be Hemingway, just be useful. A lot of people who are new to content marketing try to turn their content into an art form. This places a ton of pressure to craft the Great American Novel or something worthy of a National Poetry Award, and it’s not necessary. If you find yourself getting sucked into this mindset, simply ask yourself, “Will my target customer find this useful?” If the answer is yes, you’ve done your job.

4. Conduct a poll or survey. Write a blog post and ask readers some questions about your topic. Then you can take the responses and craft another blog post, so you’re getting two pieces of content out of one idea. For instance, Boston.com’s Daily Dose blog published a reader poll to tie in with new research on headphone-related accidents.

5. Don’t make one person carry the load. Often at companies, the blog manager will carry the whole load of the blog, which isn’t scalable. Instead, find creative ways of enlisting people throughout the company to contribute to the blog. At Hubspot, 130 out of 300 employees blog and they give awards to the top bloggers. Take advantage of people’s vanity or competitiveness to motivate them.

6. Create guest blog posts. Invite a guest blogger to write on your site or contribute guest posts to another site. When you publish guest posts, it’s an easy way to create content with minimal effort. When you contribute a guest post yourself, it exposes you to a new audience and boosts your SEO. For instance, here’s a guest post I wrote for HubSpot about curating B2B content.

7. Re-use your best old content. Repurposing content you’ve already created is far easier than creating brand new content. Another variation on re-publishing older content is taking it through the content marketing pyramid. If you have a 20-page ebook, chop it up into 20 blog posts. Or you could take 20 blog posts and turn them into an ebook.

8. Conduct an interview. The beauty of interviews is that it requires minimal time and effort to email an expert in your industry, type up questions, and clean up their responses before publishing. However, your interview subject gets exposed to a new audience and gets the SEO benefits of links, while you get to expose your readers to a new perspective. Here’s an interview with Craig Zabodijnk, Marketing Manager at DPT Labs who sends out a regular curated email where he discusses his curation methods.

9. Create an infographic. Infographics have a far reach and are easy to embed on other sites, which creates the potential for your content to go viral. Include your brand’s name and logo and make the infographic available under Creative Commons so others can easily share it, giving you more exposure. Here’s an example of an infographic from Eloqua about the content grid.

10. Test your content. Don’t rest on assumptions of what types of content works. Test those assumptions to make sure that you’re not killing yourself over content that won’t get read as much as another type of content. You might assume that your readers would enjoy video clips, but videos are time- and resource-intensive to produce, so if cartoons require less effort and get much more clicks from readers, you should do that instead.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I wanted to also invite you to join our upcoming AMA webinar on August 20th 1pm EST to learn how to Optimize Your Lead Nurturing Process: The Right Content to the Right Audience. Register and reserve your spot >>

Today’s web technology makes it very simple to download any image that you’d like, and then use that image (or a thumbnail) in your own content. As a good content marketer knows, articles curated with pictures get 47% more click-thru activity than content without, as shown in Curata’s Curation Habits Report 2012. At the same time, some of those images have copyrights and licensing fees associated with them.

A select few third party image licensing companies have been known to target unlicensed usage of their images.  Not only may they ask you to stop using the images in question, they may attempt to charge retroactive usage fees.

There are two ways to proactively protect yourself in such scenarios:

• Pay royalties for any applicable images you use so that all the images you use are using it in a licensed manner.
• Avoid copyrighted images. Rather than license the images in question, you can instead avoid using such images altogether and instead solely use images that have public domain or creative commons licenses that require no royalty payments.

For most cost-conscious curators, the second option is more amenable.  However, in either case, you need to know which images are licensed and which are not, so you can then act accordingly (by either licensing the image, or choosing not to use it).

We’ve found two great options for locating the right image for you.

1. TinEye: Allows you to do a reverse image search, looking up the license tied to an online image and can generally detect which images are licensed and which are not.
2. Zemanta (also integrated with the Curata product’s dashboard) is a smart search, allowing bloggers and other content creators and curators to find the right image based on a few key terms through image recommendations.

Deciding what to do if you find a licensed image

If you determine an image you’d like to use is does not require a license and provides you with rights to use it for your use case, then you’re good to go.

However, if TinEye or Zemanta indicates that the image belongs to a stock photo site and requires a license, you must make a decision on whether you want to pay for the use of this image. If you decide to license it, you’ll need to do so with the stock photo site that is mentioned in the result set.  If not, you should choose to use a different image.

The bottom line is that we want you to make sure you’re protecting yourself as an ethical and responsible curator. Are there other licensing products out there that you use? Post a comment and share!