The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a B2B Content Agency
Selecting the right B2B content agency to partner with can be a challenging decision for any business. With so many options to choose from, how do you know which one is the best fit?
As a business leader, you understand the power of content marketing. Relevant, high-quality content helps you attract and engage your ideal customers. However, producing enough content internally can be difficult and time-consuming. That’s where working with a content agency comes in.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about choosing the right B2B content agency, including:
Let’s dive in!
Why Work With a B2B Content Agency?
Partnering with a content agency provides many advantages over handling content completely in-house. Some of the key benefits include:
Content Expertise
A qualified content agency has writers who specialize in B2B content. They understand your buyer personas and know how to create content that speaks directly to their pain points and interests. Their expertise saves you time and money compared to training internal staff.
Content Scalability
Your in-house marketing team likely has a lot on their plates already. Creating enough high-quality content to fuel your strategy would require scaling up your team significantly. An agency provides flexibility to ramp content production up or down as needed.
Content Diversity
The right agency has experience creating all different types of content, including blog posts, ebooks, case studies, whitepapers, videos, and more. They bring fresh ideas to the table to meet a variety of content needs.
SEO Value
Agency writers are fluent in writing SEO-friendly content. They incorporate keywords naturally, include internal links to related content, format content for findability, and more. Their optimization expertise improves your SEO results.
Clearly, there are many excellent reasons to work with a content agency. Next, let’s explore how to pick the right one.
6 Factors to Evaluate in a B2B Content Agency
Not all content agencies are created equal. With the right partner, you’ll get a steady stream of high-quality, effective content to fuel your strategy. Here are the key factors to look at when researching potential agencies:
1. Expertise With Your Industry and Buyer Personas
Ideally, the agency already has experience creating content for your particular industry. Even better if they’ve worked with companies similar to yours. This eliminates a learning curve.
Make sure the agency demonstrates a deep understanding of your different buyer personas too. Their content topics and angles should align with persona goals, challenges, and interests.
2. Services That Meet Your Content Needs
What exactly are you looking to outsource? Make sure the agency offers all the services you require. This may include content strategy, blog writing, ebooks, case studies, and more.
Also, consider their capabilities with different content formats like video and podcasts. The more diverse their skills, the more they can bring to the table.
3. Writers With B2B Experience
Ask about the experience of the writers who would be assigned to your account. Do they have backgrounds writing for other B2B companies? Avoid agencies that mainly employ journalists or academic writers unfamiliar with B2B.
Also, inquire if you’ll work with a consistent team or if writers are assigned ad-hoc. Consistency allows writers to get familiar with your brand voice and content needs.
4. SEO Strategy and Expertise
As mentioned earlier, SEO should be top of mind for any content agency you consider. Ask how they incorporate keywords, formatting, meta descriptions, internal linking, and other optimization best practices into their process.
Gauge their knowledge of the latest SEO trends and algorithms. Do they stay on top of Google’s constant changes? The right partner will boost your organic visibility through content.
5. Custom Content That Aligns to Your Strategy
Beware of agencies that recycle the same content for all clients or rely heavily on templates. You want custom content designed specifically for your brand, with your voice, goals, and keywords in mind.
Ask for samples of their work for other B2B brands. Make sure it’s original and not just copied from your website or competitors. Content should clearly map back to your strategic objectives.
6. Clear Processes and Workflows
A solid agency has streamlined its systems and workflows to produce content efficiently. You want transparency into their process for content ideation, writing, editing, approval cycles, revisions, and more.
Ask how they manage project timelines to ensure content is delivered on schedule. Reliable processes prevent delays down the road.
Vetting agencies thoroughly on these factors sets you up for an effective long-term partnership. Next, let’s look at key questions you should ask potential partners.
Questions to Ask Potential B2B Content Agencies
The agency vetting process should involve multiple detailed conversations to find the best fit. Come prepared with questions that probe their experience, strategies, capabilities, and more. Here are some questions worth asking:
- How do you get to know a client’s industry, brand, products, and target personas before creating content?
- Walk me through your typical process for creating a blog post, ebook, case study, etc. from start to finish.
- How do you ideate compelling, relevant content topic ideas tailored to our goals and audience interests?
- What is your process for researching and incorporating keywords?
- What best practices do you use to optimize content for SEO?
- How do you ensure content is on-brand for clients? Do you have a review process?
- What formats and types of content have you created for other B2B clients? Can I see samples?
- Who are the writers that would work on our account and what is their background/experience?
- What is your process for ensuring writers follow our brand voice guidelines?
- How do you ensure content quality and accuracy before delivery?
- How do you communicate with clients during the content creation process? How many revisions or reviews are included?
- Do you have the capacity to handle an ongoing content calendar of X articles/month?
- What are your timelines for delivering different content formats?
Their responses will reveal a lot about their approach to content development, expertise level, and company culture. Pay attention to how knowledgeable they sound about B2B content specifically.
Watch for any vague answers that don’t provide real insight into their process. This may be a sign they lack structure or aren’t a true expert.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
Some content agencies sound great on the surface but fall short upon closer inspection. Be vigilant for these red flags during your search:
Lack of B2B experience
As mentioned earlier, beware of agencies that primarily create content for journalism, academia, or other fields. The B2B space is a different animal entirely. Look for substantial experience working with complex B2B topics and buyer journeys.
Reliance on templates
Pre-written templates signal low-quality, cookie-cutter content. You want custom work designed specifically for your brand’s persona and goals. Make sure they don’t take shortcuts.
No clear content process
A disorganized agency leads to missed deadlines and content that doesn’t align with strategy. Ask detailed questions to probe their ideation, writing, and editing workflows. The lack of structure is a big red flag.
Limited content formats
If their past work is all blog posts, run the other way. Look for demonstrated experience with case studies, ebooks, whitepapers, and beyond. Varied content formats help engage audiences in different ways.
Keyword stuffing
While SEO is important, some agencies go overboard stuffing content with keywords until it no longer reads naturally. Quality should never be sacrificed. Watch for awkward, forced keyword use in their samples.
Outsourcing writers
Some agencies claim to have exceptional writers but actually outsource work to cheap freelancers. Make sure you know exactly who writes your content. Vet their expertise carefully.
Trust your instincts during the vetting process. One of these red flags is a sign to dig deeper or consider other options.
Tips for Getting the Most From Your Content Agency
Once you’ve selected the right partner, the real work begins! Follow these tips to ensure you get maximum impact from the relationship:
Provide robust branding guidelines
Supplying detailed brand messaging, voice guidelines, persona descriptions, and channel strategies gives writers everything they need to craft aligned content. Brief them thoroughly upfront.
Set clear expectations
Leave no question about what you want delivered and when. Convey expected timelines, reviews required, branding guidelines, optimal word counts, and any other specifics upfront.
Share past content
Give agency writers access to your existing content library to analyze. It helps them learn what performed well and identify content gaps.
Stay involved
Don’t hand off all content creation entirely. Loop your internal team in for reviews and provide regular feedback. Meet frequently to align on strategy.
Communicate goals
Share your current business objectives, metrics, and KPIs. Writers need context on goals to create content that ladders up to their targets. Keep them in the loop on progress.
Build long-term relationships
The most successful partnerships span several years of working together. Expect a learning curve at first. Once writers get up to speed on your business, the benefits grow exponentially.
Measure performance
Evaluate content performance across metrics like engagement, leads, rankings, and conversions. Share insights with the agency. Together, use data to inform an ever-improving content strategy.
The right B2B content agency becomes an invaluable part of your marketing team. Take time to find the perfect fit by evaluating experience, capabilities, processes, and more during the selection process. Once in place, keep an open dialogue on what’s working and optimize efforts over time. With their help, you’ll reach new heights with your content marketing.
