An interesting shift is occurring in the advertising and marketing world.

More and more businesses are continuing to move marketing dollars in a move to support their content marketing efforts.

As this is happening, many businesses are going an extra mile in search of funds and budget reallocation.

Content marketing budgets are increasing due to the fact that it has proven to be an effective strategy of building web traffic, leads and sales. In addition, it is reducing the cost of lead generation when done right.

The phrase “content marketing” was used as early as 1996, when John F. Oppedahl led a roundtable for journalists at the American Society for Newspaper Editors.

Businesses greatly interested in leveraging the numerous benefits of content marketing appear to have an ever-growing list of strategies and content solutions to select from. They can outsource their content to an agency, hire freelancers or train their in-house teams or a combination thereof.

With the numerous options available, selecting the best option for your business can be difficult.

However, understanding how each of the available solutions can best align with your business goals, customer needs and budgeting restrictions is important prior to making a leap into brand promotion with content driven strategies.

Although most of the content marketing strategies have been successful for various business models, not each and every tactic will be effective for your specific needs.

Identify Your Content Needs

The very first step towards determining the amount you should be spending on content marketing is identifying all your content needs. A content marketing audit is recommended.

According to a research carried out by the Content Marketing Institute, less than 21% percent of marketers can track their return on investment from content marketing.

The key to a fruitful content marketing effort is ability to measure and keep track of your ROI to avoid being among the eighty percent of marketers who are not sure whether they are succeeding on failing.

To avoid this lack of understanding on the kind of content marketing solution that will be most effective for your business, be sure to make decision based on your customers’ needs.

Budget for All Your Goals

Once you have established your business needs and goals, you can commence budgeting for your content marketing techniques. There are different prices you can encounter while doing your research but the rule of thumb is that you should receive optimal vale for what you pay for.

Read on for an insight on what you should expect to spend with different content marketing ventures.

1. Hiring an Internal Content Marketing Expert

Hiring team of professionals or a single content manager to work on a full-time basis can be an expensive route to take.

Especially if you are just beginning with content marketing. Taking into account the training time, this can be very expensive. However, with adequate resources at your disposal, this can prove to be the most cost-effective investment for your long-term content marketing needs.

Hiring an internal content marketing expert can cost you about $48,000 to $150,000 or more per year. In most cases, the costs associated with such hiring is mainly based on their track record, years of experience and of course their geographical location.

Such individuals should also have some extra skillsets such as social media know-how, digital marketing, copywriting and search engine optimization among many others.

2. Outsourcing to a Content Marketing Agency

In most cases, a powerful content marketing strategy usually includes a healthy mix of content types. Some of them can be accomplished on a short-term basis whereas the in-depth content types require more time to develop and heavily strain your staff resources.

In addition, your team might not have the expertise to develop a content marketing strategy. For in-depth specialty projects, outsourcing to a consultancy or agency can be the best solution.

Majority of the content marketing agencies pride themselves of service diversity to encompass your business needs. In addition, agencies hire professional staff with great expertise in their job.

Outsourcing can cost you as low as $1500 per month and can go up to $10,000 or more per month. Prior to hiring a content agency, ascertain that their services and package offerings align perfectly with your business goals. Standalone numbers are not meaningful. Only when put into context of the objectives, process and results does it matter. Some of these factors will not be known up front. That’s part of the marketing game.

3. Contracting with Copywriters and Freelancers

This is one area where pricing can be a bit complicated since quality of work, experience level and speed of delivery affect the entire cost.

There are numerous websites where you can publish your content needs with a budget and wait for freelancers to bid.

If your business has specific needs that require fast project turnaround, specific industry knowledge or attention to detail, it is advisable to look for content marketers specializing in your needs for optimal results. In this case, a content marketing project can go for as low as $50 and as high as $3000.

Content marketing is here to stay and knowing how much you can spend is extremely important. It is important to understand how to incorporate it into your entire marketing strategy and not end up spending heavily.

If you need a content marketing project and cost assessment for your business, get in touch with our consultants:

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