The way I see it, if you’re looking for a content marketing agency and stumble upon one of their articles in a Google search, they’re probably doing something right.

Considerable time and research go into understanding a clients’ target audience so they’ll click on a blog post and fill out their contact information. Consistently. 

Any marketing agency can talk a big game. That’s part of marketing.

But you need examples of real success before you pick an agency.

These are the questions you need to be asking when choosing a content marketing agency:

• What kind of industries does the content marketing agency specialize in? 
• How many employees does it have? 
• What’s their turnaround time for content?

In this guide, I’ll explain how a content marketing agency works, using Kaleidico as a real-life example, and share with you our processes and thoughts behind content marketing.

What is a Content Marketing Agency?

Content marketing agencies, or content studios, specialize in creating digital marketing campaigns that produce original content to boost visibility and increase traffic to their clients’ websites.

Often the main point of contact at a content agency is the account manager, who works with clients to understand the campaign’s goals and objectives so they can begin crafting a content strategy.

Once the strategy has been developed, an account manager will then assign different content creation tasks into a content calendar. These assignments include:

• Blog writing
• Landing page creation
• Website development
• Graphic design

Sometimes content studios are part of a larger full-service marketing agency, while others are small companies that rely on only a few employees to run digital marketing campaigns.

What Services do the Best Content Marketing Companies provide?

A content creation studio isn’t responsible for just writing blogs. It’s also creating a content marketing strategy that includes keyword research and competitive analysis to compete in a crowded, online space.

After the content pieces have been completed, regular reporting and analysis are performed to routinely optimize campaigns and their content for better performance.

Sometimes a client might go to a content marketing agency to get more traffic, only to realize their website needs to be updated first. This is why many content studios are also full-service marketing agencies that can provide a package deal that includes various content marketing services required for the specific campaign.

A full-service content marketing agency should be able to accommodate and execute every necessary step of the marketing strategy all in-house for better efficiency and to provide their clients with more services.

At Kaleidico, we employ a wide-ranging team of talented specialists, from account managers, content writers and editors, to web developers, SEO and PPC specialists, to graphic designers to manage our content marketing campaigns for clients.

In addition to writing high-quality blog posts, content studios also provide these necessary or complimentary content marketing services which includes the following.

Website Design and Development

The blog posts and content pieces are what pull and attract visitors to a website.

But if that website is outdated, not mobile-responsive, or is suspicious, red flags will raise and the person will bounce off the site immediately, even before they read the blog post.

This is referred to in the business as a bounce rate. You’ll want a low bounce rate because that means that your visitors aren’t immediately clicking off your pages.

For this reason, content creation agencies employ their own team of web developers to update or build completely new websites for clients.

The more intuitive and functional a website is, the longer the visitors will stay and engage with the content, eventually converting them into leads.

If your goal is lead generation for your company, an attractive and mobile-friendly website is crucial!

Branding

Some companies may choose to completely reinvent themselves through a new branding effort, while others simply want a branding refresh.

In either case, a graphic designer will propose different logos, colors, and font choices to the client for their approval. 

Once the new designs are approved, logos, favicons, and even boilerplate templates can be designed for use in future marketing materials.

SEO

It’s impossible to have content creation without search engine optimization. 

SEO research is essential for finding keywords and search terms that have enough monthly volume to target a wide enough audience. 

Choosing the wrong keywords means spending money writing articles that don’t perform, because they’re not reaching the audience, or not reaching the right audience.

That’s why every content creation studio needs a dedicated SEO specialist who understands the client’s audience and what they’re looking for.

SEO specialists also perform competitive keyword analysis, and use SEO score checker tools like SEMRush, UberSuggest, or Yoast to make sure their articles will perform well before publishing.

After content has been published, SEO specialists continue to monitor the content’s performance. This extends to monitoring blog posts, video posts, landing pages, and other content that has been posted online. 

An SEO specialist is always analyzing the data to find room for improvement. 

At Kaleidico, we’re a little bit obsessed with SEO, keyword ranking, and article performance.

We’re constantly rewriting or expanding top-performing articles to improve their SEO ranking and get more clicks and engagement from our readers. We also will delete under-performing blogs, or merge their relevant information into a higher-performing article to reach more people.

Optimization, or improving what you already have, is apart of good content marketing strategy.

Setting Up PPC Campaigns and Writing Ads

In addition to blogging, PPC ad campaigns can be set up to speed along the traffic generation process.

Because blogs can take a while to pick up traction, they are usually combined with quick-acting PPC ads that can be written, approved, and posted online in a matter of a few days. This differs greatly from blogs, which usually take weeks to get indexed by Google to appear in search results. 

While PPC advertising is similar to SEO in that it deals with keywords and keyword planning, their approaches are completely different.

Google Ad Manager or Facebook Ads Manager are the most popular pay-per-click platforms used today. And they have steep learning curves! 

For this reason, a PPC professional usually only creates campaigns and ads, and doesn’t write blog posts or do SEO work on the website.

Data Analysis and Conversion Tracking

After the blogs, case studies, and lead magnets have been published, the SEO specialist or account manager will monitor what kinds of engagement data and metrics are generated.

It’s not enough to just create and publish content. Content must be measured and analyzed to see what traffic it’s bringing in, and to evaluate if that traffic is targeting the right people.

Using this data is necessary for incremental improvement and optimization of content marketing campaigns.

At Kaleidico, we create monthly reports using Google Analytics and Search Console, CallRail, SEMRush, and Google Ads to show important metrics such as:

• Calls generated
• Leads converted from website
• Ad spend on PPC
• Organic leads generated
• Blog performance and ranking

What Kind of Content Marketing does an Agency Produce?

One of the mottos of content marketing is to “meet your audience where they are.”

The audience is usually browsing different websites all the time, reading blog posts, searching Google, watching videos, or reading forums.

Every target audience is different and has its own preferences.

For instance, a younger audience may spend more time on social media sites, whereas a strictly professional audience spends more time on LinkedIn or researching blogs.

Using this information about the target audience, a content strategy can be implemented to decide which types of content to produce, which keywords to focus on, and what topics to create content about.

Besides the ubiquitous blog, there are numerous other content marketing formats, such as:

• Case studies
• Podcasts
• YouTube or Facebook videos
• Social media posts
• Forum answers, such as Quora and Reddit
• Lead magnets, or content upgrades
• Downloadable templates
• Infographics
• Landing pages
• Guides
• Webinars
• Reviews

Each one of these content pieces has a specific application and an audience that can pull a visitor to your website to begin their customer journey.

Some of these content pieces, such as a blog, can catch people who are in the exploratory phase. Other content such as downloadable templates and case studies attract visitors with more intent who are further along the sales funnel.

At Kaleidico, our account managers research keywords and our clients’ top competitors to analyze what types of content perform best. Then the account manager will assign content assignments in the calendar to ensure production is meeting our deadlines.

How Much Do Content Marketing Agencies Charge for Their Work?

It can be hard to give a general estimated range for content marketing work because there are so many factors to consider when a client comes to us.

Most clients who work with us want to generate more leads to fuel their business. 

The first step is usually redesigning their website. This improves the sites’ SEO and user experience, which reduces the bounce rate and keeps readers on the website longer, resulting in higher quality leads.

In other instances, a client simply wishes to have blogs written for them regularly, with no major redesign or branding work done. 

The price really depends on the client, their industry, the competitive space, and the number of blogs and content pieces they want to be done each month.

However, the price of hiring a content marketing agency is far below the cost of hiring a new employee. An experienced SEO specialist can make around $50,000 a year, before benefits. For most clients, the cost of hiring a content marketing agency is cheaper than this.

For the price of hiring one new employee, you could hire an entire team of marketing professionals and still save money!

How to Pick and Find the Best Content Marketing Agency that Delivers Results

Every marketing agency is currently trying to get a piece of the content marketing pie, offering services that they may not be qualified to offer. This happens a lot in marketing.

Perhaps a small agency that’s primarily focused on web design or branding begins to offer blogging services to their clients.

Is this company equipped to handle blog writing as well? Do they have a dedicated team of writers and editors who specialize?

This is one of the hardest parts of content marketing — choosing an agency that’s properly staffed and trained to deliver results.

Before making your decision, ask the content marketing agency these questions:

• How many years of experience do you have with digital marketing and content marketing?
• What strategies or proven frameworks do you implement?
• What are your internal systems?
• Can we see some case studies of previous clients who have experienced results?
• Which of your clients are on the first page of Google results?
• Which of your clients’ keywords appear on the first page of Google results?
• What do your previous clients have to say about working with you?
• How many leads can you generate for us?

How To Set Up a First Meeting with a Content Marketing Agency

Once you’ve narrowed down your search for potential content marketing agencies, you’ll need to arrange a meeting so you can formally introduce yourself and learn more about the company. 

This is a great opportunity to ask those qualifying questions to see if the company is experienced enough to handle your project. 

At Kaleidico, we begin each of our new projects with a client Discovery session. 

Typically, Discovery sessions are done over Zoom calls or phone and are usually 30 minutes to an hour-long. 

They’re a nice way to introduce ourselves to potential clients and understand their motivations, share case studies, and discuss realistic and achievable marketing goals.

Take the First Step — Schedule a Discovery Session with Kaleidico

Kaleidico is a full-service marketing agency that specializes in lead generation for law firms, mortgage lenders, and fintech companies.

Do you want your business to reach more people online? Or perhaps you work at a marketing agency looking to offer white label content creation to your existing clients? 

If so, then we want to work with you!

Contact us today to book your no-cost Discovery session.

Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash