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What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Content Specialist

Ginny Dwyer December 20, 2024 1431 Views 4 min read Share

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In short…

• Define Your Content Goals and Needs First: Before hiring, clarify what you want to achieve—such as brand awareness, lead generation, SEO, or thought leadership—and what types of content you need (e.g., blogs, emails, whitepapers). This ensures you find a specialist with the right expertise.
• Look for Strategy and Storytelling Skills, Not Just Writing: A strong content specialist doesn’t just write well—they understand how to craft messages that align with your brand voice, engage your audience, and support your marketing funnel.
• Assess Their Ability to Work with Tools and Teams: Ensure they’re familiar with content management systems, SEO tools, and analytics platforms—and can collaborate effectively with designers, marketers, and subject matter experts to deliver consistent, results-driven content.

Whether you’re a B2B trying to build a brand, drive website traffic, or engage your audience, having high-quality, strategic content is not just important; it’s essential. But how do you ensure you get the right content and expertise?

For many businesses, the immediate solution to their content needs is hiring an in-house content specialist. However, before you make that decision, it’s worth considering why a growth-driven agency might be a more suitable choice for your needs.

First, let’s jump into what a content specialist does.

What Does a Content Specialist Do?

Content Specialists are the hands-on creators in the content marketing field. They are experts in developing content strategies and planning and creating content for various formats, bringing their creativity and practical skills to the forefront.

A content specialist’s primary role is to create, manage, and optimize content that aligns with your business goals. This can include blog posts, social media updates, email campaigns, website copy, and more. A strong content specialist also understands SEO, audience targeting, and how to measure their work performance.

It’s important to note that the title ‘content specialist’ can surround a wide range of roles and responsibilities. Some may focus primarily on writing, while others may specialize in strategy, analytics, or multimedia creation. This diversity underscores the need to carefully assess your needs and the specialist’s skill set to ensure a good match.

Content Specialists should have a proven track record, and understanding search engine optimization is non-negotiable. They need to show their knowledge of keyword research and optimizing content for search visibility.

Your content specialist should be comfortable with tools like Google Analytics 4 and able to interpret metrics like engagement, traffic acquisition (organic search, direct, referral, email, social, etc.) events, and conversion rates.

Bringing in an in-house content specialist can significantly boost your marketing and communications efforts. However, it’s crucial to effectively navigate the challenges that can come with this decision.

Challenges of Hiring an In-House Content Specialist

Building a strong marketing team, whether composed of freelancers, agencies, internal staff, or a combination, is crucial for business success. The video outlines essential qualities to seek in marketers and strategies to address typical obstacles encountered by expanding businesses and their marketing teams. . .

While hiring an in-house content specialist may seem like the obvious choice, there are potential pitfalls to consider:

• Limited Skill Sets: One person may not be able to cover all your content needs, which can include researching, writing, editing and graphic design.
• Training and Development: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, requiring continuous learning that can be time-consuming and costly.
• Cost: Hiring a full-time employee entails salary, benefits and other overhead expenses.
• Scalability Issues: As your content needs grow, a single content specialist may struggle to keep up with the demand.

As lead generation, customer engagement, and brand building becomes more demanding and time-consuming, consider buyers. . .

Consume an average of thirteen pieces of content before making a purchase decision. (MarTech)
That is a lot of content for one person to handle. With limited resources, day-to-day tasks can quickly become overwhelming and stressful.

Outsourcing content creation offers numerous benefits for businesses looking to elevate their content marketing efforts without straining internal resources.

Why an Agency Might Be a Better Fit

Working with a content marketing agency can alleviate many of the challenges associated with hiring an in-house specialist. Here are some advantages:

1. Access to a Team of Experts: Agencies typically employ a variety of specialists, including writers, strategists, designers, and SEO experts. This ensures that all areas of your content strategy are covered. Many agencies and freelancers specialize in B2B niches, providing industry-specific insights.
2. Cost-Effective Scalability: With an agency, you only pay for the services you need when you need them, eliminating the ongoing costs of a full-time employee. Scale up or down based on your content requirements without long-term commitments.
3. Fresh Perspectives: Agencies work with a diverse range of clients across different industries, enabling them to bring fresh ideas and best practices to your content strategy. External writers also bring a fresh viewpoint, avoiding the potential stagnation of in-house efforts.
4. Faster Turnaround: A team of professionals can often produce content more quickly and efficiently than an individual. They have established workflows and the experience.
5. Up-to-date Expertise: Agencies make it their business to stay on top of industry trends, tools, and best practices, ensuring your content strategy remains competitive.
6. Improved Quality: Outsourced creators often have experience crafting polished, audience-targeted content. Many agencies employ rigorous quality control processes to ensure consistency and accuracy.
7. Enhanced ROI: Experienced creators focus on delivering content aligned with your marketing goals, driving measurable results. Agencies have multi-channel expertise so they are familiar with optimizing content for websites, social media, email, and other platforms.
8. Reduced risk of burnout: You can avoid overloading your team members. Partnering with an agency will free your in-house people from juggling content creation with their other responsibilities.

Final Thoughts Hiring a Content Specialist

Content marketing is a crucial element for modern business success. Whether you decide to hire a content specialist or partner with an agency, it’s important to ensure that your content aligns with your brand’s goals and resonates with your audience. By carefully weighing your options, you can make a decision that delivers long-term value for your business.

Responsify helps B2B organizations grow by creating educational and engaging content for their audience to drive traffic, generate leads faster, and rank higher. With Responsify, you’ll immediately have an entire team of dependable and cost-effective talent at your fingertips. We’d love to understand your challenges and help you explore new opportunities. Get an assessment now.