If you’re planning to produce content to promote your products and services, increase your online visibility, or generate leads, you’ll need to build a content team. This means you’ll need to decide whether it’s better for you to hire in-house writers vs outsourcing to a freelancer or an agency.

Every business is unique which is why what works for one company might not work for another.

In this article, we’ll highlight the key differences between hiring in-house writers vs outsourcing to a freelance writer vs outsourcing to an agency to help you make an informed decision for your own content team.

Let’s get started.

Hiring In-House Writers vs Outsourcing

If you’re planning on working with writers to plan and produce content, you have three options available to you – hire in-house writers, outsource to a freelance writer, or outsource to an agency.

#1: Hiring In-House Writers

Most of the time, when content managers or CMOs think of building a content team for their company, they think of hiring in-house writers. And understandably so. It’s the ‘traditional way’ of doing things. Not to mention, it gives you better control over your content team considering you have immediate (physical) access to your team of writers.

Here’s the deal: for a lot of growth-minded companies and startups, hiring in-house writers isn’t the best option.

For starters, recruiting new talent is expensive. The costs of hiring, onboarding, and training a full-time (or even part-time) employee are far greater than outsourcing to a freelancer, independent contractor, or agency. In fact, according to a recent study by Glassdoor, the average company in the United States spends around $4,000 to hire a new employee and it takes 52 days to fill a position. In terms of time, it takes employees several weeks to achieve full productivity. You’re essentially losing money before they provide a positive return on investment.

Cost of Hiring an In-House Writer

According to figures taken from 18 different employment websites and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring an in-house writer in 2020 can cost you:

  • Hiring: $4,000
  • Salary: $49,982 (on average)
  • Benefits: $21,625
  • Payroll Taxes: $4,119
  • Equipment: $2,800

That’s a total of $82,526 per year!

To put things into perspective, you can get a content writing agency to write 45 articles per month for the same amount of money.

As a manager, you also have to consider your budget. Let’s say that initially, you have the budget to hire one person to produce content for your company. Finding someone who understands your product (or service), is familiar with best industry practices, and can plan and create content will be difficult, to say the least.

Hiring in-house writers – or, more accurately, an in-house content team – makes sense for big companies that plan on hiring several content writers, an in-house editor, an outreach specialist, and a creative director.

It’s also important to keep in mind that in-house writers can potentially introduce internal bias into their writing. An outsourced content writing agency will likely be more objective and be able to help you identify hidden opportunities.

#2: Outsourcing to a Freelance Writer

If you’re just starting out, you might consider working with a freelance writer to get the (content) ball rolling. This way, you can rest assured that you’ll get to work with someone that:

  • Has expertise in your industry.
  • Is flexible in terms of the workload you assign.
  • Will be cost-effective.

The benefits of outsourcing content to a freelance writer(s) are two-fold: flexibility and scalability.

Depending on your budget and content needs, you can choose to hire one freelance writer or build your own team of freelance writers. For example, you can work with writers with different writing styles and abilities to see what resonates best with your target audience. Or, you can assign different types of content to different writers. Some might have experience with thought leadership pieces while others might excel at writing more technical content.

However, keep in mind that you’ll also have to hire an editor who will be in charge of:

  • Assigning work to writers.
  • Ensuring deadlines are met.
  • Making sure all written content aligns with your brand messaging and strategy.
  • Getting it ready to be published i.e. uploading it to your CMS, adding images, formatting, etc….

When working with freelance writers, you also have to consider how they charge for their services. Some charge flat rates while others charge a per-word or hourly rate.

#3: Outsourcing to an Agency

There are companies whose content production needs lie somewhere between hiring in-house writers and outsourcing to freelance writers. These companies often go for the middle approach: outsourcing to an agency.

The key benefit of working with an established content writing agency is that you get a fully managed service. This means that someone on the team will be responsible for making sure the content ideas you assign gets:

  • Outlined
  • Written
  • Edited
  • Drafted
  • Uploaded to your CMS

This also includes finding and adding images or screenshots to your content to enhance readability and making sure formatting guidelines are met. In short, you get publish-ready content every single time.

Put simply, outsourcing to a content writing company is incredibly convenient. You don’t have to worry about training writers, making sure deadlines are met, or providing edits. All you really have to do is give direction on the type of content you’re looking to publish. This might involve sharing any keywords you’d like them to focus on. It’s really that simple!

The best part is that most content writing agencies have been in the business for many years. They probably also work with several different companies (like yours) at a time. What this means for you is that you can rely on their industry expertise. It also means you can rest assured their process is in-line with industry best practices. They know what works and what doesn’t.

A content writing agency brings experience to the table. And with experience comes speed.

In addition, content writing agencies are able to cater to your growing content demand. For example, if you’d like to start out with, say, four blog posts per month but then gradually move to six blog posts, a case study, and a few content upgrades, your content writing agency will likely be able to meet your demands head-on.

Build Your Content Team

When it comes to deciding between hiring in-house writers vs outsourcing to a freelance writer or a content writing agency, the first step is to understand your content production needs and set a budget.

  • If you have a physical office space, a team to help you find and hire employees, and a big budget, you might consider hiring in-house writers.
  • However, if you’re just getting started and would like to test out the content production waters, perhaps outsourcing to a freelance writer would be in your best interests.
  • And, if you’re a growing company looking for an easy way to get content published regularly with the least amount of hassle, outsourcing content writing to an agency is the best option for you.

Ready to work with a team of expert writers to produce content for your business? Outsource content writing to BloggInc today!