Search engine optimization work and content writing appear pretty straightforward: Write an article about your business, wait for traffic to roll in from Google, sell to those customers.

So it might be tempting to skip hiring a content strategy agency and try to DIY your SEO — but is that the right move?

Unfortunately, doing content well is not all that easy. Like so many things, content marketing services only seem effortless from the outside looking in. When a digital marketing agency is really, really good at what it does, it’s because it has logged thousands of hours of practice.

How would you fare at running a marathon without any training? If you’d never consider doing that, you probably shouldn’t try to manage your own SEO either.

What Does a Content Marketing Agency Do?

Content marketing is a term that can be applied to many different types of content, from social media marketing to copywriting for landing pages, white papers, case studies, and even physical collateral like brochures or press releases. Even social media influencers and video production companies are considered content marketing partners.

When we at Growth Machine talk about content marketing, however, we’re referring to a specific kind of inbound marketing, which is using keyword-optimized articles on your brand’s website or blog to attract qualified leads to your business.

Why Trust an Agency With Your Content Marketing Strategy?

It might seem daunting to let someone else voice your brand, but in addition to the obvious benefits of allowing someone to deliver fully-optimized content to you instead of doing it yourself, there are a few benefits to working with a content strategy agency that you may not have considered. 

1. They’re Experts at SEO

Let’s go back to the marathon example. It sounds dramatic — surely there is a huge difference between running a marathon and writing a blog article, right?

Well, if you’re talking about physical toll, of course. But in terms of the number of hours spent preparing, learning, practicing, and honing your skills? Probably not.

So if you’re not willing or able to spend weeks or months preparing to write your first full article, it’s better to outsource to the experts. A content marketing agency understands how Google works and all the ways to position an article to rank as well as it possibly can in organic search.

It’s not just about including the keyword, but how to use headers and related keywords properly, what sentence and paragraph structure work best, how to format images, and even how to prepare your site from a technical standpoint to impress Google.

Anyone can create a piece of content, but a good content marketing team of specialists can make sure it is not only ranking but drawing potential customers to your website.

Because what’s the point of investing in content if no one sees it?

2. They’re Focused On Content Creation When You Can’t Be

Whether you‘re a founder or a marketing director, you’re inevitably responsible for more than just content. When you have a lot on your plate, most of it being (rightfully) more urgent than your brand’s blog, it is hard to find consistent blocks of time to write, edit, and publish content.

We see this all the time. A brand decides to manage its content but doesn’t have the right strategists on staff to create and publish optimized content regularly and on an ongoing basis. Understandably, without a dedicated content creator on the team, urgent issues come up, content becomes de-prioritized, you’re not writing your best content, and publishing deadlines get missed.

But here’s the thing: Google doesn’t care what else you’re juggling. It just wants to see consistent, high-quality content. And you know who’s doing that? Your competitors.

A digital content agency has the time, bandwidth, and expertise to focus on your content. They regularly update your blog with authoritative content on a schedule that signals to Google that your blog is one that its users can rely on. Do you know what that translates to? Rankings.

So it’s no surprise that most companies — from startups to multi-departmental organizations —  outsourcing their content see a much higher ROI than those who try to do it themselves.

3. They Make Content That Works Harder for You

Nothing phases an agency that has published thousands of articles, pages of email marketing copy, and countless social media posts.

They know how to research keywords, write engaging content that drives real traffic to your site, and what to do when your rankings fall or your website traffic starts to plateau.

The team talks about your brand in a way that engages the reader and doesn’t sound advertorial. Their content reaches new audiences that you wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

An agency can also tailor content development to support your business goals, address your customer’s pain points, and highlight your unique messaging and value proposition. These value-adding measures ensure your content works hard to build brand awareness and drive new customer engagement better than a typical blog article.

4. They Give You Time Back in Your Day

Imagine being able to reclaim 2-4 hours of productivity per day. That’s what you’re paying for — on top of marketing campaigns — when you hire content marketing services. A full-service agency even has a full digital marketing team, which can help you with other tasks like pay-per-click search (AKA paid search or PPC), infographics, website design and development, copywriting, and other digital strategy and content marketing services.

Not only can they do these tasks for you, but they also have the personpower and systems in place to do them faster. By turning over your content strategy to an expert agency, you get to publish high-quality content more often than you would if you did it yourself. And you get to spend your time on the tasks that you are an expert at.

5. They Know How to Reach Your Target Audience

The number one rule of writing good website content: All traffic isn’t good traffic.

In other words, you can write content that ranks, even content that people stick around to read, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to new business.

Anyone can write content, but great content that supports your marketing efforts isn’t just about constructing engaging prose. If the content you’re writing isn’t attracting the right kind of organic traffic by addressing the right pain points that your business can solve, you may as well skip publishing altogether.

A good content agency knows how to marry your brand‘s competitive landscape with just enough consumer psychology to conduct effective keyword research. Effective doesn‘t just mean relevant to your business, but also relevant to your target audience and the needs and solutions that are most valuable to them.

Maybe it sounds obvious that the best keywords for lead generation are at the intersection of your brand’s core offering, consumer pain points, and thorough keyword research, but finding that precise balance is easier said than done.

6. They Have the Right Brains for the Job

The person who does the best keyword research isn’t the same person who does the best edits, and neither of those people may be you. Very few people are great strategists, writers, and editors all at once, which is why most agencies (including Growth Machine) have dedicated personnel for each step of the publishing process. Our strategists don’t write, and our writers don‘t edit.

You know what they say about a Jack of all trades, right?

Take Your Content to the Next Level by Outsourcing It

DIYing your website and blog might seem like an easy way to save money. But, hiring a content and SEO agency to manage your content buys you more than just completed articles to populate your blog.

The deliverables you’ll receive from Growth Machine and other reputable content marketing services will ensure a steady stream of high-quality blog content tailored to attract qualified prospective customers who are ripe for conversion.

Furthermore, a content marketing agency knows how to create a custom content plan that supports your bottom line, regularly publishing content that establishes your authority with Google. You can thereby gain rankings for your content and build traffic momentum for months to come.

To explore what a content marketing agency partnership could look like for your business, we’d love to hear from you! Click here to fill out our contact form and chat with one of our experts.