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Blogs help businesses generate 67% more leads per month. However, consistently producing high-quality content can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for small- to medium-sized companies.
Thus, many leverage business process outsourcing (BPO) for content writing to alleviate this burden. The strategy offers efficiencies for scaling content production without diverting focus away from core initiatives.
If you want to learn more about outsourcing content writing, this article is for you. It explores the advantages and best practices for leveraging BPO services. Keep reading!
Understanding outsourcing in the context of content writing
What is BPO for content writing? It is the strategy of contracting an external vendor to manage the development of various content formats. The third-party team acts as an extension of your marketing staff, leveraging its expertise and resources to perform the following services:
Digital content creation
Creating captivating and consistent content helps you establish a solid brand identity and engage your target audience in the digital space. According to HubSpot’s 2024 marketing statistics report, businesses that produce blogs gain 67% more leads than those that don’t.
However, you might not have the time to consistently produce such content. Thus, outsourcing digital content writing is a strategic solution.
BPO teams can help you with creating the following formats:
- Blog posts: This involves writing informative, engaging, and search engine-optimized blog posts on various subjects.
- Articles: This involves creating in-depth articles for websites, magazines, or newsletters.
- Website copy: This involves writing compelling copy for websites, including homepages, About Us pages, and product or service descriptions.
- Social media content: This involves crafting engaging content for platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn.
- Email marketing: This involves writing persuasive email copy for newsletters, promotional emails, and customer engagement campaigns.
Technical writing
Consumers do not purchase mindlessly, so your product and service documentation should be easy to understand. Outsourcing technical content writing is a game changer. BPO teams specialize in this type of content and can easily create clear, concise, and accurate documentation.
Here are some technical writing tasks BPO firms can help you with:
- User manuals: This helps make your products and services easier to understand by providing organized visuals, step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips for common issues, and answers to frequently asked questions.
- Technical documentation: This includes application programming interface (API) documentation, white papers, and system documentation, which provides detailed information about your product or service.
- Product descriptions: These are essential for e-commerce marketplaces and should highlight your product’s key features and benefits. They should also be persuasive, search engine-optimized, and visually appealing.
Creative writing
Outsourcing content creation also involves creative writing. This broad field encompasses various forms of storytelling and uses language to evoke emotions, spark imagination, and persuade audiences.
Some primary areas of creative writing BPO teams can help you with are:
- Brand storytelling involves crafting a compelling story that explains your brand’s mission, values, and unique selling proposition, sharing real-life stories of how your product or service has helped customers, and incorporating storytelling in marketing materials.
- Scriptwriting: This involves creating concise and impactful scripts with a strong narrative and vivid language for various media types. Your outsourcing team for content writing can help you with promotional, internal, and training videos; keynote speeches; sales presentations; internal presentations; podcasts; interviews; and webinars.
- Copywriting: This involves developing persuasive copy that understands your target audience and uses strong calls to action to promote products and services. This includes writing catchy slogans and taglines for ads, persuasive sales pitches, compelling email subject lines, and engaging social media posts.
Search engine optimization (SEO) and content optimization
SEO and content optimization are essential strategies for improving your website’s search engine ranking and attracting organic traffic. According to Backlinko, the first organic search result on Google has a 27.6% average click-through rate (CTR).
Outsourcing content writing allows you to leverage external SEO and content optimization expertise. BPO teams can help you with the following:
- On-page SEO: This involves optimizing individual website pages through keyword-rich title tags, compelling meta descriptions, structured header tags, clear URL structure, image optimization, and internal linking.
- Keyword research: This covers identifying relevant keywords and phrases used to search for information online, targeting more specific long-tail keywords to attract niche audiences, and analyzing the keywords your competitors rank for.
- Content strategy: This includes defining specific content goals, understanding the audience’s needs and preferences, planning content production and distribution, determining types of content to create, identifying the best channels to share content, and tracking key metrics to measure content effectiveness.
Five key advantages of outsourcing content writing
Businesses of all sizes and industries increasingly use BPO. According to Statista, the global BPO market could reach a revenue of $390 billion in 2024 and grow to $490 billion by 2029.
What makes it popular, and how does outsourcing content writing benefit your business?
Here are some of the main advantages of BPO services:
1. Significant cost savings
One of the most prominent advantages of outsourcing is its ability to help businesses save on costs. This can be attributed to several factors, such as:
- Lower labor costs: Most BPO providers recruit staff from countries with lower living expenses, such as the Philippines and Mexico. This often translates to lower salaries compared to in-house writers. According to Outsource Accelerator, outsourcing to the Philippines can help you cut labor costs by 70% to 90%.
- Fewer technology investments: Reliable outsourcing vendors leverage and subscribe to the latest tools and software relevant to content writing. Examples include Google Suite, Microsoft Office, Grammarly, Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, and Ahrefs. This lets you avoid costly purchases and investments.
- Minimized overhead: Outsourcing often entails remote work, especially for creating content. You can save on the costs of maintaining an office, such as rent, utility bills, maintenance fees, furniture, equipment, and other tools.
2. Improved time efficiency
Outsourcing content writing helps accelerate your content production process through:
- Dedicated content writing team: Outsourcing lets you access an exclusive team of content writers for your brand. They have specialized knowledge in various formats, which ensures consistent quality standards across all content pieces.
- Efficient workflows: BPO teams leverage streamlined workflows to quickly produce high-quality content. These include detailed content briefs, effective time management, and quality control processes.
- Automation tools: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the BPO industry has increased over the years. This technology allows outsourcing teams to automate some content writing tasks, such as generating basic content outlines and drafts and checking grammar.
3. Enhanced content quality
As mentioned, content writing BPO teams have rigorous quality control processes that allow them to maintain consistent quality standards. They deliver content that is informative, engaging, and aligned with the client’s specific needs and brand guidelines.
An outsourcing team’s quality assessment processes for content writing might include the following:
- Editorial reviews: BPO teams’ content editors review their writers’ content for clarity, coherence, accuracy of information, and alignment with brand voice and style guidelines.
- Style guides: These provide a framework for consistent terminology, formatting, grammar, and punctuation. They also help maintain a consistent brand voice and tone.
- SEO: With the team’s use of SEO tools, they can help you improve your strategies. BPO content writers can strategically place keywords in your content to improve visibility.
4. Increased scalability and flexibility
Outsourcing content writing allows you to quickly scale your production to meet fluctuating demands. That’s how outsourcing works. For example, during peak seasons or promotional campaigns, businesses can quickly increase their content output through the following:
- Strategic hiring: BPO providers, especially those specializing in content writing, have a talent pool of pre-vetted writers. They can simply contact one of these candidates when you need additional staff. They also find freelance writers for short-term projects.
- Flexible staff schedules: Outsourcing vendors distribute their content writers across various shifts to ensure round-the-clock coverage. They can adjust their writers’ schedules to meet your needs. For instance, when you need more writers at night, they’ll bring more staff from the morning shift.
- Technology use: AI and machine learning (ML) can handle basic content creation tasks such as product descriptions and blog outlines. They can also personalize content, reducing manual effort. Meanwhile, cloud technology, such as Google Docs and Microsoft 365, enables seamless collaboration regardless of location.
5. Boosted creativity and innovation
Outsourcing content writing can be a powerful strategy to foster creativity and innovation within a business. By collaborating with writers from diverse backgrounds and cultures, you can gain unique perspectives on content creation.
BPO writers are also less likely to be constrained by internal biases or organizational culture. They can challenge existing assumptions and offer innovative approaches.
In addition, outsourcing staff specializing in content writing stay current with the latest industry trends and formats. They can quickly adapt to trends such as short-form videos, interactive content, and podcasts.
Tips for a Successful Outsourcing Initiative
Although BPO services offer many advantages, adequate preparation and monitoring is key to a successful outsourcing endeavor. Here are some best practices you can apply in your partnership to maximize the features and benefits of outsourcing content writing:
1. Define content needs
Before diving into outsourcing, you must clearly understand your content requirements. Consider the following:
- Content types: Identify the specific types of content you need, such as blog posts, articles, product descriptions, social media posts, or email newsletters.
- Content goals: Determine the objectives of your content, whether to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or educate your audience.
- Target audience: Define your ideal reader to tailor your content to their interests and needs.
- Content calendar: Create a content calendar to plan your content production schedule and ensure consistency.
2. Set clear expectations and guidelines
To ensure a smooth process when outsourcing content writing, establish clear expectations and guidelines:
- Style guide: Develop a style guide that outlines your brand voice, tone, and formatting preferences.
- Content briefs: Provide detailed content briefs for each project, including the topic, target audience, keywords, and desired length.
- Deadlines: Set realistic deadlines to maintain a consistent content flow.
- Communication channels: Establish clear communication channels to facilitate efficient collaboration and feedback.
3. Regularly manage outsourcing processes
Effective project management is crucial for success when outsourcing content writing. Here are some tips to keep your projects on track:
- Use project management tools. Employ tools such as Asana, Trello, or Basecamp to organize tasks, track progress, and manage deadlines.
- Conduct regular check-ins. Schedule regular check-ins with your writers to discuss project updates, address any concerns, and provide feedback.
- Ensure quality control. Implement a rigorous quality control process to ensure all content meets your standards.
- Assess payment terms. Establish clear payment terms and a reliable payment system to maintain a positive working relationship with your writers.
The bottom line
Outsourcing content writing is an invaluable tool to help your business stay on top of digital marketing. It allows you to attract more leads without compromising your internal team’s focus on core competencies.
With proper preparation and management, you can enjoy improved cost savings, efficiencies, content quality, scalability, flexibility, and creativity.
Are you considering outsourcing content writing? Let’s connect and find the best solution for your brand’s needs.
