How to (Effectively) Use Freelance Writers 

One of the things many businesses do when they start down the road of building a real content marketing effort is hire freelance writers. It seems like such a sensible solution: pay out a low per-word rate and get good-quality content from professional writers without the added overhead of a new hire. No pesky insurance, no new desks or computers. Just great content from skilled pros delivered right to your inbox when you need it.

But then it starts coming in, and it’s almost worthless. Displaying the absolutely barest level of comprehension of the subject matter (if that), your freelance writers are turning around content that isn’t worth what you’re paying for – and that’s when it’s actually intelligible English.

The fact is that finding quality freelance writers can be extremely difficult. The barrier for entry into the marketplace is nonexistent, and the lowest prices (the ones you might be tempted to take) usually deliver exactly what you pay for.

If you want really superior, high-quality content that can set your company apart, attract new business, and build your brand, you need a higher level of commitment – and a dedication to sourcing great writers. Using freelancers is a strategy, not a shortcut, and great results only come when you treat it that way.

Otherwise, you’re only wasting both time and money. And nobody can afford to waste either.

Committing to a freelance strategy requires two basic components: being judicious in the hiring process and being committed to making great work possible.

Hiring Smart

I can’t say this often enough: don’t just hire the cheapest writer. Outsourcing can lower your costs, but you still get what you pay for, and that means your content strategy needs a budget that makes it worth the time of the writers you want. Because if you aren’t paying for great content, you should assume your competitors are.

Hiring inexperienced, inexpert writers with a shaky grasp of composition is only going to make your company look foolish at best, and deeply incompetent at worst.

So be intelligent in your hiring process instead of spending ten minutes looking for the lowest rate. Get referrals, ask for samples, up your budget, look for subject-matter expertise; if a writer has worked with your industry before, you’re going to save yourself a lot of energy (and resources) in knowledge transfer, and almost certainly get better content in the process. Familiarity is a valuable asset, and it’s all out there.

Additionally, you’re going to want to find writers with web experience. Writing for internet consumption and writing for print or other media are entirely different affairs; web copy has its own rules and best practices that are often entirely foreign to writers of more traditional forms of media. Blogging’s the same way. You need a writer who knows how to drive engagement and participation, rather than simply talking at people.

Commit to Great Work

Freelancers aren’t an asset you hire and forget about; this isn’t a microwave oven that does all the work for you. If you don’t put real effort into the process, you will never get real, satisfying content; this is especially true for large, highly technical brands. If you expect your writers (who are not often experts on your subject matter) to educate themselves and do primary source research on $.05 a word, well, you’re going to have a bad time.

Committing means committing: you have to treat your freelancer like a real employee and give them all the tools (and attention) they need to thrive. A simple way to make sure you’re doing this is to take the following steps:

• Let your writers know in advance where you want them to focus, and provide them with credible source material. This gives them time to familiarize themselves with the subject matter and develop potential topics for your review and approval.
  
  
• Develop the framework of the piece with your writer. That means providing them with copious, detailed notes on proposed content outlines and providing real-life anecdotes, examples, data, and personal insights. This helps make their content really expert.
  
  
• Take time with the content they provide, and offer actionable feedback. That doesn’t mean focusing on grammar or spelling, but helping them to refine it so it becomes something real and useful, both to you and to your audience.

That’s how you make it possible for a good writer to turn out valuable, relevant, industry-specific content. It leverages both your experience and expertise as well as that of your writer to develop exactly the kind of content that you can turn into the backbone of a real strategy.

Assuming you have one. Which brings us to an important point:

Your freelancer isn’t responsible for developing your marketing strategy.

This happens all the time; a company hires a marketing writer under the impression they’re getting full-service marketing and not, well, a marketing writer. You can’t expect your writer to develop the entire framework of the plan; they’re implementers of a strategy that both precedes and exceeds them. Your content marketing will not be successful unless driven by real, thought-out strategy that helps accomplish concrete business goals.

You can get a look at how to develop those goals here. Once you have these goals in mind, you only bring in a freelance content writer when it actually serves them instead of expecting them to spearhead a plan they cut out of whole cloth.

In other words, the key to a successful freelance-based marketing strategy is building an active partnership where each side is delivering what the other needs. The important thing to remember is the oldest rule in the world: if garbage goes in, garbage comes out. Refusing to put in the effort that makes great work possible not only hobbles your content writer, but your company as well. Treat your freelancers as major strategic assets, and you’ll get great content in return.