Balancing scale and authenticity in content marketing is the new normal – see how brands use content services to nail the equilibrium.
Maintaining the Human Touch
Unless you’re living under a rock, you know how AI is already changing how brands and marketers view the content creation process.
The good news?
AI-powered content creation tools can automate many tasks for creating and distributing content, including:
- keyword research
- ideation
- scheduling
- … and more!
This can free you and your team up to focus on more creative and strategic tasks, including developing personas, crafting messaging, writing drafts, and measuring results.
That catch?
There’s always the danger of AI-powered content becoming too impersonal and robotic. Consumers expect personalized experiences, and they can spot a fake a mile away. That’s where leveraging content services and a pool of elite freelance writers comes in. Content creation services help you balance automation and personalization by providing a layer of human expertise and creativity on top of AI-powered tools.
How?
- Consistent brand messaging: Deliver consistent brand messaging across all channels, both automated and human-led. This is important for building trust and loyalty with customers.
- Content strategy: They work with strategists who can help you develop and implement content strategies aligned with your business goals. This includes understanding your brand’s target audience, identifying the right content formats and channels, and creating a content calendar.
- Content creation at scale: Tap into a community of freelance writers, editors, social media managers, and designers to create high-quality content. They can also help with content localization and translation.
How Content Services Help Brands Balance Automation and Personalization
Brands must maintain their content production schedules to stay relevant and engaging.
The problem?
You might not have the luxury of time or enough resources. A common challenge is striking a balance between automation, which helps scale content efforts, and personalization, which ensures the content meets the audience’s expectations.
Katie Staveley, mabl’s former Head of Marketing, discussed a concern you can probably relate to, “Our content creation process was slow. We had a ton of ideas but simply didn’t have the bandwidth or resources to complete things quickly enough.”
She continued, “And like so many other businesses, our subject matter experts were focused on their own daily tasks. So asking them to create content consistently wasn’t an option. Our lean team needed a way to boost our content output capabilities.”
Outsourcing to content services and engaging freelancer writers is a solution for many. But to ensure quality, you must set the right expectations.
Dan McDermott, Epsilon’s former Senior Director of Content Marketing, provided a glimpse into how his team manages external content creators. “Everyone on my content marketing team has either been a freelancer or managed them in the past. All that experience has helped us create a written content brief that gets filled for each project.”
He continued, “We don’t want to throw freelancers in the middle of a lake where they’re going to drown. The brief gives them the direction and SME source material necessary to deliver quality work.”
The Challenges of Balancing Automation and Personalization
Balancing automation and personalization isn’t just about managing resources. It’s about delivering quality content that achieves your brand’s goals.
Nina McIntyre, ETQ’s former CMO, outlined challenges she and her team faced before engaging with nDash’s talent pool. “At ETQ, we’re developing content for many different personas and industries — and while there are some general pieces, the vast majority of our content needs to address specialized concerns. The demand gen beast is a ravenous engine!” she explained. “Our content creation pace is fast, so we need to have fresh offers all the time.”
Some challenges you might face include the following:
- Loss of personal touch: Over-reliance on automation can lead to generic content, missing out on the brand’s unique voice and tone.
- Quality control: When mass-producing content, there’s a risk that the quality may diminish, making it less engaging or off-brand.
- Data overload: Automation often relies on data, and an overabundance can lead to analysis paralysis or misinterpretation.
- Training and adaptability: Freelancers need guidance and understanding to align with the brand’s vision.
Speaking of quality control, Michael Kaisin-Morin, Ask Media Group’s former Senior Managing Editor weighed in on the challenges he and his team faced with that.
“Our previous freelance agency was a double-blind, anonymous platform that didn’t allow us to communicate with writers directly. The quality was low, and the turnaround time could take months. Plus, we had to deal with a constant back-and-forth between writers and our in-house editors as we struggled to get their content up to par,” he said. “And at the same time, our content needs were huge — we were regularly publishing 100 articles a month.”
The Benefits of Striking the Right Balance With Content Services
Human touch doesn’t mean eliminating automation tools entirely. There are dozens that help us manage our content strategy – here are some of our go-to resources and tools:
- Analytics: Google Analytics and Google Search Console
- Plagiarism checkers: Copyscape and Grammarly
- Recording and transcription: Otter
- SEO: Ahrefs and Semrush
- Social media scheduling and analytics: Buffer
- Task management: nDash’s Kanban and ClickUp
So, with that in mind, how can the content services we offer help your brand strike the right balance between automation and personalization?
Some benefits include:
- Scalability: Working with a team of freelance writers allows your brand to produce more content in shorter timeframes.
- Consistent quality: With a detailed brief and the right processes in place, you can ensure consistency in the quality of content.
- Resource management: You can allocate internal resources to core activities while outsourcing content needs.
- Flexibility: With external content creators, you can be more agile, adapting to changes in strategy or market dynamics faster.
- Diverse voices: Engaging a range of freelancers can bring different perspectives and styles to your brand’s content, enriching its appeal.
nDash: Ensuring Authenticity in the Age of Automation
There’s no denying that automation plays an integral role in marketing – including the content creation process. However, authenticity should always remain the priority. Contact us today to learn how our content services can match you with elite freelance writers to help you maintain that human touch.