The 5 Elements of a Great Content Marketing Package
Table of Contents
Content marketing packages turn content into a service.
Rather than buying a blog here, a white paper there, etc., content marketing packages can put the whole content process (including planning, production, and distribution) into one straightforward contract.
Content marketing packages are often tiered. An agency might sell plans with names like "starter," "pro," and "enterprise" that offer a variety of service levels at different price points.
All these features make content marketing packages the best way for B2B marketing teams to leverage content marketing services for their marketing strategies.
It is usually far more effective and stress-free to get one agency to do your entire content marketing process through a content marketing package than coordinate a bunch of freelancers.
However, not all content marketing packages are designed to deliver results.
Sometimes agencies will wrap up a collection of digital marketing services into a package based on whatever is most convenient and profitable for them to deliver, not on what their clients need.
These kinds of content marketing packages often specify deliverables with no justification as to why you need them other than "growth."
On the other hand, good content marketing packages will be tailored to deliver the outcomes you want.
This means encompassing five key elements:
Content planning
Content production
Some kind of optimization process
A distribution plan or list of activities
Transparent pricing.
This is the "Why," "What," "How,” "Who," and "How much" of content marketing.
This blog post explains why these elements need to be part of a content marketing package and how to find them.
Planning
If there was one rule for content marketing success, it would be this: only create content, or pay someone else to do it for you, if you have a plan.
Content marketing plans should address this rule through two related planning goals:
Research
Execution.
Research
A content marketing package should include significant scope for understanding your target audience and business goals. The amount of time this takes will vary.
A content marketing agency with a depth of experience helping clients in your industry will take less time than a primarily B2C agency that transitions over to the B2B side of things.
Expect a good content marketing package to have a significant allowance for client discovery, i.e., getting to know you and your goals.
Some agencies charge a "set up" fee for this planning phase. Others roll the research cost into their monthly retainer.
Execution
The second part of planning is deciding what to do and how exactly to do it.
This process starts with persona and keyword research (if you haven't already done this) and ends with a content calendar.
Pay careful attention to an agency's approach here. There are essential differences between B2C and B2B buyers, which must be reflected within a content plan.
For example, targeting CISOs with basic explainers of cyber security terms is probably not a good idea.
Production
A core element for almost all content marketing pages is production. This is the "how" of content.
A content marketing package should outline the methodology used to produce high-quality content.
Ideally, this should include interviews with your internal SMEs, independent secondary research, and an explicit content creation and review process (i.e., the writer will take x days to complete an article, and you will get y number of edit rounds).
When purchasing a content marketing package, you also need to know what exactly an agency will be creating.
The term "content" can mean everything from blog posts, articles, and social media posts to videos and infographics. A content marketing package should specify what types of content assets you will receive each month and how many of them to expect, i.e., five blog posts per month.
This goes for extras too.
Do blog posts include images? Will social media posts be provided to promote them? Are infographics going to come with written content or just designs?
If these questions are not already answered on the agency's website, ask them before proceeding.
Optimization
Once a piece of content is published, what happens to it?
Full-service content marketing packages need to include some aspect of content conversion rate optimization.
For example, it's relatively straightforward for an agency to use your analytics tools to track metrics like traffic, bounce rate, and conversions and then change CTAs and copy accordingly.
Although content marketing is not "just" search engine optimization (SEO), content is usually the biggest part of any SEO ranking strategy.
Some content marketing packages will feature a heavy SEO element (i.e., keyword planning, backlink building, etc.), while others are light on SEO or leave it entirely up to you.
In our opinion, every content marketing package must include on-page SEO optimization.
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This means that blog posts should be optimized for a target keyword and include meta-descriptions and title tags--unless they are explicitly being developed as editorial content for publication elsewhere or distribution through newsletters or social channels.
It's true that there are some fantastic content agencies out there that focus entirely on the non-SEO aspect of content marketing. However, because SEO is a core channel for content distribution, content assets should be optimized by default.
Distribution
If you were to divide content marketing into two parts, on one side would be production (i.e., creating content), and on the other would be distribution.
Distribution is the process of getting content in front of the right audiences. It can be done through paid and unpaid ("organic") methods.
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Content marketing packages will often include services such as:
Social media content (LinkedIn) posting/email marketing.
SEO optimization.
And less commonly include:
PPC ads to drive traffic.
Guest posting on third-party sites.
Repurposing and repackaging existing content into new content (i.e., turning a webinar into a podcast or a case study into a whitepaper).
Unless you are handling the distribution element of content marketing in-house or contracting a specialist service provider, purchasing a content marketing package that includes some distribution services is crucial.
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However, you must also ensure that whatever distribution method you purchase fits your business goals.
Price
How much does content marketing cost?
Cost is possibly the most important aspect of any content marketing package.
Generally, prepare to spend between $2k and $20k per month on a content marketing package.
This cost varies based on a range of factors.
A big part of what drives cost will come from the agency you contract, i.e., their experience and track record of delivering client results. Another factor in content package pricing is output (i.e., 10 blogs a month will cost more than 5) and the level of services provided.
Whatever your budget, it's essential to choose a content marketing provider that is upfront and transparent with costs.
Watch out for agencies that charge a retainer plus extras for services, such as SEO optimization or publishing that should come as standard.
The fundamental rule to remember is this: the price of a content marketing package is only relevant to the results that it generates for your businesses.
If a content marketing package costs x, then the net gain to you in terms of leads or traffic that you would have otherwise had to pay for needs to be x + 1 . Content is an investment and needs a clear ROI.
Choosing the Right Content Marketing Package for You
At Content Visit, we tailor our content marketing packages to your business goals.
This is because, in our experience, there is no such thing as a one size fits all content package. Or at least we have yet to find one that works.
As we see it, content marketing success is not a question of producing x number of pieces of content or doing y number of hours of copywriting.
Instead, it is a process of research, planning, production, and iteration. The path between a content marketing strategy and outcomes like lead generation is unique to every B2B business.
Strategies are transferable, but turning potential customers into actual customers means understanding the individuals you are selling to and creating content to match their needs.
We do not offer boilerplate packages to any of our clients.
We also do not charge a set-up fee or lock you into contracts.
And yet our average client contract is over 2.5 years.
Why?
Contact us for a free consultation to find out and learn more about our tailored content marketing package.
Written by Robert Galvin