If you’re checking out this article, chances are you’re exploring the idea of working with a content marketing agency. You might also be considering whether it makes sense to assign work to freelance writers and manage the editorial process yourself.

As you search for the ideal content partner, it definitely helps to understand what specialized content marketing agencies actually do (and what they don’t do!). After all, it seems like almost everyone these days—your search engine optimization (SEO) firm, PR shop, creative agency, your social media manager cousin, and about a zillion folks in your LinkedIn inbox—seems eager to create your content for you. 

So what separates the true content experts from everyone else who claims to be one? 

To answer that, let’s dive into exactly what’s meant by “content marketing”—and how you can leverage a content agency’s bench of talent, strategic know-how, and wealth of industry experience to reach specific and measurable goals for your brand or organization. 

I’ll also share some of the benefits of working with a content marketing agency versus another kind of agency—or hiring individual content freelancers and managing them directly. 

What Is Content Marketing?

Okay, so this may seem like a no-brainer! But before you seek out any kind of content marketing support, it’s important to do a recap of what content marketing is—and isn’t—so you can choose the right partner.

On the surface, content marketing is the practice of creating and distributing content that motivates your audience, like customers and prospects, to take certain actions. At its core, however, content marketing is actually storytelling with purpose. It’s about using data and research to deeply understand your target audiences and crafting the right kind of content—shared at the right time, in the right places—to fully address their needs, challenges, and goals. 

When it’s done right, content marketing can build the kind of affinity, trust, and long-term loyalty that other forms of marketing and advertising simply can’t. That’s because the best content gives something intrinsically valuable back to your audience rather than attempting to push an immediate sale. 

These days, all marketing leverages content in some way (the two words are actually becoming synonymous!). Even those outside the traditional silos (think customer service, sales, and human resources) are recognizing the value of high-impact messaging designed for a targeted audience. However, content marketing typically doesn’t include pay-to-play tactics like PPC and paid advertising. 

What Does Content Marketing Include?

Content marketing does typically include:

• The development of a content strategy that encompasses one, some, or all of your content channels (site/blog, email, social, live events, etc)

• The creation of content assets (articles, landing pages, newsletters, infographics, white papers, ebooks, reports, social posts, podcasts, videos, speeches…the list goes on!)

• Optimization of previously published content, so that these assets are discoverable and perform well with both search engines and real people 

While the line between “marketing” and “content marketing” has become increasingly blurred in the past few years, one thing is very clear: The job has become too massive for one person—or even a small team—to do entirely on their own. 

That’s why many brands turn to a content marketing agency to support them with some or all of the functions of content marketing. A skilled content agency partner should operate as an extension of your in-house team, providing flexible and scalable support as your needs grow and change. 

What is a Content Marketing Agency?

A content marketing agency is a specialized company that helps businesses create, manage, distribute, and measure the success of content as part of a brand’s overarching marketing strategy. Content marketing is the exclusive focus of a content marketing agency—it’s not something they do on the side as an added service (which is typically the case for creative, PR, SEO and generalized “digital marketing” agencies).

Content marketing agencies typically vet and work closely with a highly vetted team of specialists—including content, SEO, and AI strategists, writers and editors, graphic designers, video production teams and project managers—to provide subject matter expertise across a broad variety of audiences and verticals. 

Because they serve multiple clients working on different projects (and often have a “macro” view of the content marketing space), agencies often bring more insight into content trends and best practices than brands (or the freelancers they might hire) can discover on their own. 

What Services do Content Marketing Agencies Offer?

Content marketing agencies vary in the services provided, but many offer the following:

Content Audit & Strategy 

Whether you’re planning to develop (and/or optimize) 10 content assets or 10,000, you’ll need a content strategy to guide you. This detailed, documented plan ensures that your entire team is aligned on the goals and initiatives ahead—and that the executional work maps back to your brand’s bigger picture goals and KPIs. 

A skilled content marketing agency can lead the charge, developing a comprehensive content strategy in about six to 12 weeks. This time includes stakeholder interviews, an audit of your highest priority content channels, detailed recommendations for content creation and optimization, along with setup documentation for editorial calendars, reporting, and more. 

Developing a content strategy can be a resource-intensive process, which makes it an ideal job for a highly experienced external partner with strong insights and vertical experience. Typically, a content marketing agency will bring together a top project manager, content strategist, SEO specialist, and graphic designer to develop your strategy, executive summary, and final presentation. 

Content Creation

When you think of content marketing agencies, content creation is probably the service that comes to mind. And you wouldn’t be wrong! Content marketing agencies are purpose-built to conceptualize and create compelling, relevant, and engaging content that inspires audiences to take certain actions that drive business goals.

What might be a little less apparent is what type of content falls in the wheelhouse of a content agency. While written content is definitely on the menu, that’s just the beginning. Here are just the few of the formats content marketing agencies excel at producing: 

• Website content: Blogs, articles, landing pages, product description pages, other website copy

• Graphics: Infographics, motion graphics and interactive graphics

• Video: Sizzle reels, explainer videos, client testimonials and customer stories

• Social media assets: Text- and image-based posts, short-form video, stories and reels, polls and interactive content, influencer-generated content

• Email: Newsletters, promotional emails, sequence or drip campaigns, invitations, and follow ups

• B2B content: White papers, ebooks, trend reports, case studies, decks

• Thought leadership: Articles for industry publications and websites, social posts, guest blogs

• Podcasts: Scripting, production, editing

• Webinars and live events: Webinars, keynotes, firesides, panel discussions and breakout session talk tracks

• Educational content: Interactive training materials for employees 

Video Production

Video content continues to dominate online platforms, capturing attention and driving engagement like no other medium. Content marketing agencies with expertise in video production offer a suite of services, including:

• Sizzle reels: Dynamic, attention-grabbing videos that provide a quick overview of your brand, products, or services, ideal for showcasing at events, on websites, or in presentations.

• Explainer videos: Concise, informative videos that break down complex concepts or processes in a visually engaging manner, helping audiences understand your offerings and value proposition.

• Client testimonials and customer stories: Authentic, compelling videos featuring satisfied customers sharing their experiences and success stories, serving as powerful social proof and building trust with potential clients.

• Product demonstrations: Detailed walkthroughs or demonstrations of your products or services, highlighting features, benefits, and use cases to drive conversions and sales.

• Animated videos: Creative and visually captivating animations that convey information or tell stories in a unique and engaging way, suitable for a wide range of topics and audiences.

Multimedia Production

In addition to video, content marketing agencies may also offer multimedia production services to create interactive and immersive experiences for your audience. These services may include:

• Interactive graphics: Engaging visual elements that allow users to interact with content, such as interactive infographics, charts, maps, and timelines, enhancing understanding and retention of information.

• Motion graphics: Dynamic animations and visual effects that bring static content to life, adding movement and visual interest to presentations, websites, and social media posts.

• Virtual reality and augmented reality experiences: Cutting-edge technologies that provide immersive and interactive experiences, allowing users to explore virtual environments or interact with digital content in the real world, ideal for product demonstrations, training simulations, and experiential marketing campaigns.

• Interactive tools and calculators: Custom-built tools and calculators that provide value to users by helping them solve problems, make decisions, or gain insights, while also collecting valuable data for lead generation and audience segmentation.

SEO & Content Optimization

It’s not enough to create exceptional content for the web—your audience has to actually discover and consume it. That’s why content marketing agencies make it their business to excel at SEO, the practice of maximizing the visibility and impact of your content. When vetting agency partners, make sure they offer the following: 

• Content audits and gap analysis: Reviewing your published content to determine its effectiveness in search and the best opportunities to improve visibility and user experience.

• Keyword research and analysis: Conducting in-depth research to identify relevant search terms and phrases that your target audience is using and analyzing keyword competitiveness and search volume to prioritize target keywords for optimization.

• On-page content optimization: Developing new sections of text and modifying titles, meta descriptions, headings, and body copy to more effectively answer the questions that audiences are really asking.

• Technical SEO: Addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from successfully crawling and indexing your site. This includes site speed optimization, mobile-friendliness, URL structure, and schema markup implementation.

• Analytics monitoring and reporting Monitoring and providing actionable insights around your most important KPIs, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates to track the effectiveness of SEO efforts.

Social Media Content & Management

Social media is the first language—and often the best place to search—for younger generations who want to make connections to brands before buying their products. A great content marketing agency will ensure that your messaging is seamless across both site and social (along with your other channels). They should offer these services: 

• Social strategy: This can be a standalone strategic plan or represent a significant portion of part of your brand’s larger cross-platform content strategy. It involves developing a roadmap to leverage social media effectively, aligning with your brand objectives and audience preferences.

• Social asset creation: Producing high-quality, engaging content customized for each social media platform, including text posts, images, videos, and interactive content. 

• Community engagement and moderation: Actively monitoring social channels for audience interactions, comments, questions, and messages; engaging with followers, responding to inquiries, and addressing feedback to foster positive relationships and enhance brand reputation.

• Influencer collabs and partnerships: Identifying relevant influencers and thought leaders within your industry or niche; building strategic partnerships and collaborations to amplify brand reach, credibility, and engagement through influencer-generated content.

• Performance tracking and reporting: Analyzing key performance metrics, such as reach, engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates, to evaluate the effectiveness of social media efforts. Providing regular performance reports and insights to inform strategy updates and optimization tactics.

Why Should You Hire a Content Marketing Agency (vs Freelancers)?

While you’ll likely have no shortage of vendors and freelancers willing to develop your content, there are specific benefits to working with a dedicated content marketing agency:

Deep Expertise and Experience

Unlike partners that specialize in something else, like PR, or SEO, a content marketing agency is exclusively dedicated to the planning and development of the highest-quality content. Content agencies bring together a specific set of disciplines—including project management; content and SEO strategy; and content development, optimization, and analytics—to ensure your content achieves specific and measurable results. 

Rigorous Vetting Process

One of the biggest pain points for brands is that freelancers will often look experienced on paper, but the submitted content requires a ton of fixing (making you question why you didn’t just do the work yourself!) Content agencies like Masthead, founded by editorial leaders from major publishers, spend significant time sourcing and vetting creative and strategic talent across a broad range of disciplines, from editors to video producers to designers. 

This means you’ll be working with teams of proven specialists, rather than testing individual contributors on high-stakes projects.

Scalability

Your content marketing needs probably fluctuate throughout the year—sometimes last minute—due to new brand initiatives, product launches, and breaking news. Content marketing agencies enable you to flex and adapt quickly to meet the changing demands and bring in the right talent for the job. 

The right partner ensures that content remains consistent and high-quality, regardless of the scale or urgency of the project. 

Lighter Lift

Managing a crew of individual freelancers can definitely be a full-time job—for a few people! Beyond sourcing and vetting talent, handling agreements, invoicing, and correspondence, your team will need to assign out, review, edit, route, optimize, publish, and report on the impact of the content. In contrast, a content marketing agency expertly executes all of these functions and more, allowing your team to focus on overall management and program success.

Access to Specialized Tools and Resources

Content marketing agencies are equipped with more than just laptops and coffee—they've cultivated a content-specific tech stack that makes every execution more successful. This includes project management systems that streamline workflows, analytics platforms that create stories out of raw data, SEO tools that decipher Google’s whims, and design software that transforms even the most ordinary concepts into visual masterpieces. 

Fresh Outside Perspective

Because content marketing agencies work across a variety of clients, industries, and verticals, they often bring a unique perspective that can influence your content strategy and execution. They can identify areas for improvement, suggest innovative ideas, and provide insights based on content marketing best practices and trends.

How Do Content Marketing Agency Fees Work?

There are a few pricing models that content marketing agencies typically use:

Project Fee

When you have a specific execution in mind—for example, you want to produce the launch content for a blog or a series of white papers—you’ll likely work with a content agency on a project fee basis. 

The final cost will depend on the number of strategic documents or assets you’d like to develop and your timeframe for executing the project. 

Retainer

If you’re working with an agency on an ongoing basis to produce a predictable amount of content (e.g., six assets per month with strategic support and regular reporting), you’ll typically move to a retainer model. If your needs increase, you can often add on additional work for an additional fee. 

Declining Balance

This model works best when you’re not sure exactly how much or what type of content support you’ll need—but want to secure a partner to handle the work. Typically, the brand and content marketing agency will agree to a certain fee, and as work is activated, the cost for that work is subtracted from the total using a predetermined rate card. 

Talent Agency Model

Some content marketing agencies (like Masthead) also allow you to access their highly skilled talent and manage them directly. You’ll pay the agency a markup on top of the freelancer’s rate to account for the sourcing, contracting, and payment of those freelancers. 

Regardless of the pricing model that you agree upon, you and your agency partner will draft an agreement outlining the cadence of payments and expected deliverables.