When I first transitioned from journalism to primarily freelancing as a content marketer, my main concern was that I didn’t know how to do everything content marketers were supposed to do. I understood how the media worked and how to position thought leadership bylines to win approval from editors. I learned, by building my own presence, how to connect with an audience on LinkedIn, the main social channel for B2B tech. I knew adtech well enough to guide aspiring thought leaders to consensus-challenging, newsworthy opinions. And, most importantly, I could write very well and fast — as could the colleagues I brought on as freelancers as my business grew.

But there was also plenty I didn’t know. I wasn’t, and still am not, an SEO expert. I know how to pitch a journalist (I have, as it happens, been a working martech journalist for seven years), but it’s not my favorite work item, nor do I have robust relationships with lots of martech editors. I’m much better at thoughtful social content than the kind that generates thousands of likes. And I don’t (sorry, data nerds) love poring over analytics.

When I first started growing my freelance portfolio into an agency, I worried that these gaps in my personal skill set would prevent me from growing a business. Then, even as my business grew, I worried that I would eventually need to learn all the skills of content marketing myself. Then, I realized I wouldn’t need to do everything myself but thought I’d need to hire people who could. I thought my agency would ultimately need to be able to do everything to grow. But even at that point, I was mistaken.

The desire to offer everything was misguided. Not every marketing agency in the expansive universe that is contemporary marketing needs to offer every function — heck, content marketing agencies don’t even need to offer everything that comes with content marketing. In fact, not only do marketing agencies and freelancers not need to do everything — they probably shouldn’t. Here’s why.

You want to sell content marketing clients on an extraordinary product or service

My core competency — and Sharp Pen’s — is writing. I am, by training, a journalist and humanities academic who’s written a 200-page literary theory dissertation and can turn around publishable thought leadership byline copy in under an hour. That’s the elite strength my writers and editors (who have my same background) and I bring to our clients. I would not so humbly say we’re better than nine out of ten marketing agencies, even content marketing agencies, at writing. And, I’ll readily admit, we’re worse than nine out of ten at plenty of other marketing skills and functions. 

There is a huge market opportunity for this one skill: writing. The biggest account on which I’ve ever participated was about $50k/month (through a partner). Essentially, all the client, which was a global company, asked of us was that we deploy our journalistic skills to interview their aspiring thought leaders and produce lucid, captivating, consensus-challenging ghostwriting to boost their presence on social. We didn’t need to do analytics; we didn’t need to do SEO — because, as a very mature company with ample budget, they had other agencies and in-house people who specialized in those functions. What they needed from us was just what we were extraordinarily at: interviewing and writing.

By contrast, the engagements where I’ve experienced the most trouble are those where Sharp Pen has been expected to, well, do everything — essentially, produce a content marketing strategy and multichannel program from scratch that drives steady leads and pays for itself within three to six months. Usually, this expectation comes from early-stage startups with little to no content marketing experience themselves and, at best, one or two marketing people (probably none). 

When you’re starting to grow a business, you want to believe you can serve everyone and do everything. But I’ve learned that the common wisdom on this is right — you can’t. You have to determine what’s extraordinary about your service and serve clients who need that thing — not the many other things you don’t do. If you break that golden rule, you’ll have such a high churn rate that bringing on new clients won’t matter because you’ll lose them as fast as you bring them on.

Principles to bear in mind when building a content marketing program

If we accept that not every content marketing agency or freelancer needs to offer everything that comes with content marketing, how do we — meaning service providers and companies hiring content marketers, whether in-house or externally — build effective content marketing programs? Here are principles to bear in mind.

Company-marketer, or client-agency, fit is paramount. 

As the two scenarios I outlined above illustrate, companies need to work with their marketing teams or prospective providers to identify the minimum talent they need to succeed and ensure the agencies and marketers they bring onboard can supply that talent. 

Want to make inroads in the press? You’ll need thought leadership byline writers (like us) and a media relations freelancer with a track record of placing bylines in publications in your industry. Want to drive organic traffic and website demo requests? You’ll need great blog writers (also something we can do) and probably an SEO strategist who can guide keyword strategy, optimize articles, and mind link building, topic clusters, and the like. 

In an ideal world, you get experts at all these things and put them together. Plus, agencies like mine often collaborate with PR and SEO experts and can assemble a team. But if you want to get all these capabilities in one place, you might also consider hiring an agency that offers all of the above. Just watch out for the common shortcoming of such agencies: jacks of all trades and masters of none.

Content marketing is a long-term play. Be honest about what you need to stick with it.

When I started growing my business, I wanted to work with everyone. Now, I’m increasingly focused on working with clients who need the specific service we provide (great marketing writing), have in-house or will bring on agencies who provide complementary services (like SEO strategy, media relations, and analytics), and can answer the following questions: What is going to allow us to stick with this for the long term — for possibly a year or even longer? What analytics do we need to see to support this program? Do we need to see demo or newsletter sign-ups? Increases in traffic? Byline placements? How can we be sure we’re moving the needle for your business?

Once the marketer and the client have agreed on KPIs, they can identify the talent required to produce and measure success. For example, if demo sign-ups are the primary goal, the client can ensure they have not only great writers who understand their business but also SEO strategists who can optimize for search and analytics professionals who can identify opportunities for improvement and provide proof of progress. If the company can’t afford all the skill players required to build a durable, business-driving team, it probably isn’t ready to make the long-term investment in content marketing.

Getting honest about your goals and team’s capabilities delivers the possibility of scale — for service providers and clients. 

In most businesses and certainly in B2B tech, companies want to scale. Agencies want to enjoy long-lasting, needle-moving relationships with their clients that lead to referrals and steady growth. Clients (or companies hiring content marketers in-house) want their content marketing investments to grow their audiences, leads, and revenue. This is impossible if both parties don’t get honest about their goals, the talent required to meet those goals, and the budget required to hire that talent, which will almost certainly not come in the form of a single person and probably not a single agency.

A company selling an extraordinary service that knows what that service is, what it’s not, and the complementary talents required to make it succeed is a company that can scale. Sharp Pen grew from $10k/month to just under $1 million in annual revenue because we provide timely, reliable, excellent writing to fuel the success of content marketing and PR programs. We’re great interviewers, ideators, and writers. We can’t do everything, and we can’t bring whirring revenue-generating content machines into being without a single other agency or marketer in the room.

We’ll be better off for having recognized that. Our clients (and the prospects we turn away because they’re not a good fit) will be, too.