The influence traditional marketing has on consumers these days is changing, but this does not mean that all hope for traditional marketing methods is lost. You absolutely should not abandon them, but they need to be augmented with content marketing. It's a great way of communicating with your audience without overtly selling anything. Instead, it delivers information that makes your potential customers more informed and establishes you as an expert with the highest quality products or services.

Trouble is, who has the time to strategize and write all of that stuff? Here's where outsourcing your content marketing makes sense, but there are some things to consider before choosing an outside agency to help you.

1) Why do you want an outside agency?

Let's say you'd like to make an informative video to put on your YouTube channel. While you may very well have a way to record video, you may not have a way to produce one that looks professional, has great editing and a clear and concise script. This is where some expert assistance would be fantastic. An outside agency can also help you nail down a solid strategy and focus your efforts on what will resonate with your demographic the most.

2) What to expect from an outside agency

You are an expert in your industry, but you cannot expect an outside agency to have equal expertise. What you're looking for is someone who does some thorough research into your industry, knows your competitors, can identify and relate to your target audience and come up with solid content that fulfills your needs. They should be great listeners who are open to your feedback and are genuinely interested in you and your industry. 

3) Make sure you have a strategy

You're not going anywhere without a strategy, so be careful that you don't get confused. If someone tells you that you need to be on Pinterest or Twitter, that's not a strategy. It's just a part of a strategy. When you talk to an outside agency, make sure that they can develop a strategic framework for you and not just a list of "stuff you can do."

4) Request case studies

Most agencies that are great at content marketing will be more than happy to share some success stories with you. When you go in for a meeting, see if you can either look at some case studies or have them describe ways in which they have solved problems for past clients, how those problems relate to your own specific issues and how they plan to garner similar results for you.

5) Talk with clients

The best way to find out if an outside agency is right for you is to talk with the people they already work with. Any agency worth its salt is going to be able to provide you with plenty of references to help you make a good decision.

Of course, any plan should include ways to measure success. Will you be able to track an increase in the speed of sales, lead generation and revenue? It could take some time before you start seeing results, but some patience and faith in your new partnership should make for great content marketing.