Objectivity
There is a lot to be said for objectivity in the workplace. As we often see with new or highly passionate work teams, employees may be too close to the brand to see content as their readers or customers may see it. Having “drank the Kool-Aid,” founders and loyal staff, though as valuable as their weight in gold, may be missing the bottom line when it comes to focusing on customer pains and problems in order to act as helpful customer advocates.
The Costs of Hiring
If you are looking to raise revenue, it may not be ideal to add costs that come with hiring valuable full-time staff, such as periodic salary increases, vacation time, retirement benefits, and more. Additionally, not all those who can do can also teach. Hiring competent managers and ensuring their continued effectiveness requires additional time and revenue expenditure, and that doesn’t take into account personality conflicts and passionate disagreements that may create a barrier to getting the no-nonsense results you’re looking for.
Diverse Expertise is Required
Few writers are trained or have vast knowledge in the importance of marketing strategy, search engine optimization (SEO), web development and design, marketing system administration, and everything else that should go into developing a quality Inbound Marketing team. Inbound Marketing teams employ multiple folks with experience as writers, website designers, brand developers, sales, and so much more that goes into creating fresh on-brand content for your organization. They take the time to learn about your goals, background and industry, and aim to one day be able to complete your sentences. They come with experienced managers and task masters who can ensure timely, high-quality, professional content output that will keep interested parties impressed and interested in the services that you are looking to provide.
Quick Recap – Pros and Cons
PROS
- They can have a better understanding of the brand (if the brand is clearly defined)
- If a company already has a well trained and certified Inbound Marketing team, a writer can be a helpful addition with the right supervision.
- They can be a lot of fun at parties. Writers are generally very smart and personable.
CONS
- They’re too close to brand, and will likely be influenced to write about company, product, or service instead of focusing on customer pains and problems and being a helpful customer advocate. This often happens as it takes a lot of clear strategy and a cohesive Inbound team to create the right content that gets results.
- Expensive: salary, wage increases, vacation time, retirement benefits, and more.
- More people to manage
- Potential personality conflicts could lead to difficulty getting results
- May not provide the type of content that keeps readers engaged and showing interest (becoming leads).
- They may fill the writing role well, but are not able to fulfill the many other roles needed to implement effective Inbound Marketing (strategy, SEO, development, design, marketing system administration, and more.)