In-house vs. freelance vs. agency

Explore options when outsourcing content writing

There comes a time in every marketer’s life when the demand for content outweighs their organization’s internal capacity. Maybe you’re in a stage of high-growth and your team can’t keep up. Maybe your team is missing publication deadlines. Or maybe your content needs have outgrown your internal skillset.
At this point, you need to make a tough decision. Should you hire internally? Find freelancers? Connect with an agency? Each option comes with benefits and risks. Let’s explore them.

Hiring internal writers and strategist

Some believe internal hires are easier to manage than freelancers and agencies. After all, you have complete control over their time, can prioritize their work and can train them to create content according to your brand guidelines.

You can also ensure your hire meets specific criteria, such as industry experience or technical skill. And you can make sure they are a match for the team in terms of work style and personality.

Getting approval to hire a full-time employee (FTE) isn’t easy. Most hiring managers must prove the urgent and sustained need for more staff and justify adding “unseen” costs to the payroll, such as equipment, taxes and benefits. Adding headcount is a calculated decision.

Productivity also comes into play. You may find it surprising that while you hire an internal employee for 2,080 hours a year, they may only produce content half of that time. The top reasons for the lower productivity include:

• Learning curve: New employees don’t start producing value on day one. In fact, it’s commonly accepted in the HR community that it takes three to six months to onboard a new employee.
• Weekly meetings: According to recent research, employees at most companies spend up to 33% of their workweek in meetings. And new research from Microsoft notes that nearly two in three people, regardless if they are working remotely, in-person, or in a hybrid role, say they struggle with having the time and energy to do their job because of meetings.
• PTO and sick days: On average, an American employee receives 11 days of PTO a year and takes eight sick days, meaning an internal employee won’t deliver any work for at least 19 days (about two and a half weeks) a year. Plus, most FTEs don’t work on Federally recognized holidays.
• Distractions: Cell phones. Internet browsing. Water cooler talk (even virtual water coolers, like Teams and Slack). Those are the top workplace distractions, according to CareerBuilder. And those impact both remote and on-site employees. Another study suggests that 60% or less of work time is truly productive.

Plus, your writing needs can (and will!) change.

If you are hiring an internal content writer, each person you interview brings different skills, experience and knowledge to the table. And those skills don’t always match your overall needs. One project may require in-depth search engine optimization knowledge and another, interviewing skills. Sometimes, you need impressive short-form copywriting skills; other times, you need long-form technical writing know-how. It’s hard to find all those skills in one hire.

Finding your freelancers

Numerous online platforms make it easy for companies to find freelancers. Content writers on Upwork and Fiverr charge anywhere from $15 an hour to $300 an hour and usually come with some reviews so you can evaluate their quality. You can also place ads for content writers. Either way, you’ll need to find the time to review applications, writing samples, interview and onboard them.

Other companies find freelancers from their industry networks, such as former employees or writers you’ve worked with at different companies or agencies. Tapping into networks can speed up the process since your familiarity means you might not need to vet them as diligently. Working with local freelancers also has unique benefits: you’re supporting local entrepreneurs, they can often come on-site if needed, and they understand their markets’ demographics and community nuances.

While freelancers can often be a cheaper option and provide flexibility to scale up or down depending on your workload, they do come with drawbacks:

• You can’t pay them using your standard payroll.
• They have limited scalability because they are just one person.
• They may not hold insurance at acceptable levels.
• You can’t ensure their commitment to your company.
• It can be hard to build relationships with them.
• It may be more challenging to ensure they follow necessary HIPAA or security regulations.
• You may need to hire multiple freelancers — which becomes a strain on your team as they juggle multiple schedules, multiple submissions and keep multiple workloads filled.

Working successfully with freelancers comes down to the quality of the freelancers you find and your ability to dedicate internal time to project management (assigning tasks, answering questions) and administration (tracking invoices and payment).

The more freelancers you work with, the larger the need to manage their work. Often, each freelancer will have their own work style you’ll need to adapt to. Each has a different skill set, and knowing where they deliver the most value takes time. Even when they say they can write everything, it takes time to evaluate their work and ensure you match your projects with their expertise.

Partnering with a content agency

For many organizations, partnering with a content agency provides the best of both worlds. Having an external partner to help you scale, coordinate and find talent with the right skills in the right areas adds value. It’s a wise investment. Top benefits include:

• Time to hire, onboard and deliver value: Content agencies can start work immediately with pre-vetted writers. As soon as the contract is signed, you could have writers working on your project in just a few days.
  
• Scalability and capacity: With an agency, you can quickly ramp up or down based on your marketing initiatives. If you hire internally, you must ensure the person has a consistent workload, or you risk laying them off when budgets get tight. And conversely, when you have a lot of projects in flight, one person can only do so much.
  
• Skill match: Savvy marketing teams need diverse skills and qualities in a writer. Today, a writer must understand search engine optimization, web writing, readability, accessibility and plain language best practices. They need to be able to interview subject matter experts and have impressive research and editing skills. They need to excel at both conversion copywriting and long-form thought leadership. And they need to know numerous tools and platforms. An agency allows you to tap into a robust bench of writers with different skill sets focused on your specific needs.
  
• Project management: While often overlooked, project management is critical to successfully scaling content operations, regardless of who produces the content. Agencies typically bake in project management as part of the project, so your team doesn’t have to fill those shoes. The best agencies build a team with writing, strategy, editing and creative expertise equipped to meet your unique project goals. They ensure the team understands your brand and voice guidelines. They also perform quality checks to make sure deliverables meet project requirements before going to the client. And, of course, they keep all team members on schedule.
  
• Best practice sharing: Leverage the value of using experts who have done similar projects before. Agencies work with hundreds of clients in similar industries and have learned best practices they can apply to your project. Proven strategies, processes and learnings are all at their fingertips. They can bring ample “what to dos” and “what not to dos” to the table based on years of experience.

The WG Content advantage

WG Content is a seasoned content agency that brings the best of internal resources and freelance writers to your project. Here’s a handy rundown of how we compare to in-house hires and freelancers across numerous factors.

Outsource content writing to the experts

The right answer for your content development needs depends on your budget, project management resources, the number of projects and the level of quality you expect. For many organizations, partnering with a proven content agency like WG Content is the logical choice option. With a content agency, marketers can tap into expert writers with diverse experience without the headache of finding, vetting and training freelancers or onboarding a full-time hire.

Whether you’re looking to fill your blog pipeline, refresh or overhaul your website content or make your thought leadership dreams a reality, WG Content is the complete package. Contact us today to talk about your goals and see what our team of content strategists and creators can do for you.

Frequently asked questions about outsourcing content writing:

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Heather Stanley

A born storyteller, Heather has 20 years of experience managing…