Why there is a need for separate, specialised content marketing agencies

As content marketing becomes the new buzzword in the new-age business era, and the need for content grows multi-fold, over the years, the market has witnessed the mushrooming of all kinds of agencies that claim to cater to the content needs of brands.

Amid this growth, BuzzInContent.com finds out if there is a need for separate agencies specialising in content marketing and what unique can they bring to the table for brands.

Content continues to get diverse and brands are more and more interested in getting their hands on being the best in these newer ways. In this pursuit, they go on to hire different agencies based on their specialties.

Aashutosh Katre

And this choice, according to Aashutosh Katre, Director, Yellow Seed, depends on varying factors. However, from a brand’s point of view, it is better to have a one-stop shop for content marketing needs.

“Why invest valuable time and resources dealing with multiple specialty agencies when just one can get the job done, right from concept to completion. This way, the firm will have a holistic understanding that will help them create and implement a cohesive strategy across all media channels. This will not only help simplify the process and speed up the projects but also reduce the costs of the company. Moreover, one firm will be accountable for the performance,” he said.

Shrutika Nagpal

Shrutika Nagpal, Creative Director, Scatter, however, feels, “Content marketing is a different animal that needs a different trainer.” She says if a brand believes content marketing is the way forward, there’s no doubt that the brand needs a dedicated partner to drive this mammoth task, 24x7.

Khamir Purohit

According to Khamir Purohit, Founder and Director, LexiConn — a content-first agency offering both B2B and B2C content solutions — the need for specialisation is more important than the volume of content produced.

“As clients embark on their content marketing journey, they realise it is difficult to get agencies that speak their language, especially in the B2B space. Most mainstream advertising and digital marketing agencies struggle with service-specific client requirements in banking, technology, sustainability, cloud, IoT, etc.,” he said.

Neil Krshna

Businesses need continuous assistance to ensure that their content marketing efforts keep growing. And their workforce doesn't really bring marketing knowhow to the table and need to be trained to understand the nuances of marketing, SEO, etc. Companies don't really have the bandwidth to train and educate and so they want trained resources to plug and play, said Neil Krshna, Founder and CEO, Wordplay Content, suggesting that content agencies can fill this gap, provided they are skilled enough to deliver.

Sameer Makani

Representing the fully integrated creative agency, Makani Creatives, its Managing Director, and Co-Founder, Sameer Makani, suggested that agencies that have serviced brands for the longest time and have witnessed the industry evolve are best suited for this job.

“This is largely because such agencies always have the upper hand in ensuring a brand's presence while weaving in the business narrative. However, with growing concerns about privacy, it is imperative for brands to leverage agencies that could potentially churn out more value from offline and online avenues with better ROI,” he said.

Chaitanya Ramalingegowda

Speaking on behalf of brands, Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Director and Co-founder, Wakefit.co, however, said that with the increased significance of content, the need to build capabilities within the department has also increased for brands.

“The decision to create in-house capabilities for certain functions versus outsourcing some aspects of it typically depends on the marketing and business goals of a brand,” he said.

Wakefit.co works with a consultancy to help it conceptualise and strategise brand campaigns and has also outsourced media buying and public relations services, but it believes that a strong in-house team with a deep knowledge of important functions such as content marketing, influencer engagement, social media management, digital and performance marketing, partnerships, public relations and growth marketing are essential to the success of its marketing efforts.

But even if a brand chooses to go ahead with a specialised content marketing agency, what unique stuff would it promise?

Unique offerings of specialised content agencies

Content is a part of both integrated marketing and digital marketing. A digital marketing agency only markets its presence online to attract the customers’ attention. These agencies try different marketing strategies with the help of their websites to display their products, and thereby establishing their digital marketing presence. On the other hand, an integrated marketing agency does not limit a brand’s presence to only online but markets its presence even offline. They devise a unified voice for a brand and ensure all the communication and marketing strategies are consistent across all channels.

When content is needed for both digital and integrated marketing agencies, Katre said why not opt for an organisation that offers you cent per cent unique content, while it also takes care of creativity, marketing strategies and advertising both online as well as offline.

In terms of offerings, Krshna said, firstly it is the scale. Secondly, it is the understanding of SEO and inbound marketing.

“Integrated digital agencies cannot bring in scalable content solutions, for them content is one rung on their ladder of services, that's it. It's 'nice to have'. Their teams don't draw out strategies with content at the fore. Their focus is on other areas like say, link building, or PR, with content being an add-on, an enabler. We, on the other hand, go all out with content-driven SEO strategies that need scalable content solutions to execute. It is very common to see a digital agency outsourcing a volume content deal over to a content agency because it's just not what they do,” Krshna said.

Purohit said digital agencies do a fantastic job of planning and managing campaigns. However, creating business-relevant long-form content is not their area of expertise or interest. “This is especially true for serious stuff like thought leadership articles, white papers, e-books, etc. Such collaterals require writers to deep dive into the brand’s technical products, understand the features and benefits, and positioning. Most brands also know this, so they prefer to keep the planning and execution separate,” Purohit said.

According to Nagpal, there is this ability to look at every business challenge through a content marketing lens rather than a mix of digital + social + offline.

Besides the knowledge and experience of having A/B tested different strategies for different audiences, she said content agencies have the capacity to create content that goes beyond the “snackable” or the “emotional advertisement” kind and looks to provide value rather than just grab eyeballs.

While content strategy is surely a collaborative effort between brand and agency, she said it should be the agency’s responsibility to ensure frequency and agility – not just content at scale but finding opportunities for the brand to tap into conversations as they happen.

Choosing the right content marketing agency

Given the situation where plenty of ad agencies, social media, and SEO firms, among others, have posed themselves as content marketing agencies with an intention to make profits and grow their business, it has for sure gotten hard for brands to choose the right agency that aligns with their goals and vision.

Ramalingegowda said it is important for a brand to have a clear idea of its marketing and business objectives. Based on the goals, a company can decide on building certain capabilities in-house and outsourcing some other functions.

“Selection of marketing agencies should be based on the brand’s view of what capabilities have to be retained in-house versus outsourced and, accordingly, the agencies that can best deliver that job must be chosen,” he added.

Brands have to break out of a rote approach towards getting marketing initiatives off the ground. That way they will know what they want in exact terms.

“When a brand doesn't do this homework and define their expectations thoughtfully, by default they enter the market looking for the cheapest (which is definitely not the best) agency and they get no returns or results and shelve the initiative after a while. Rather, understand what the ideal provider should be bringing to the table, and find that provider at the best price you can afford. This brings results, which is what your marketing initiative is all about in the first place,” advised Krshna.

Apart from this, Purohit added that the subject matter fitment, and the nature of the client’s business – B2B or B2C — is also vital. Both require vastly different writing styles and maturity.

One must also do a thorough research to see if the firm has the attributes the brand needs to grow its business.

“The agency must be an expert in the subject matter. It must understand the dynamics of your industry, challenges your consumers face and the competitive situation you’re in. If you want to land the best content marketing firm, you might want to check for impressive profiles on LinkedIn Groups, Google+ Communities, and other online forums. You must check top-notch strategies they have created in the past, which not only were successfully translated into content but also had delivered bottom-line results for their clients,” Katre added.

Sharing the pointers, Nagpal said an agency that has worked in your category before, which takes a more strategic approach rather than the “save the day” narrative, which believes in content measurement to constantly improve their approach and the one which makes the effort to understand your brand, rather than coming to you with solutions that could work for anyone in your industry, is the right choice.