Hire a content designer: increase capacity, not headcount
Producing quality content is difficult when you don’t have the team or the time. So, how can you meet content needs without expanding your internal team?
Hiring a content designer from an agency offers a way to publish great content without adding staff.
In this article we’ll explain more about:
- the benefits of hiring a content designer
- how to select the right one
- how to include them in your current workflow
Benefits of hiring a content designer
Hiring a content designer from an agency has multiple benefits.
For a start, content designers are experts at creating good content.
They specialise in:
- using data to understand what people need
- crafting engaging content by using web-writing principles
- using design principles to make services easy to access and navigate
This means content designers can:
- bring expertise – based on proven user experience (UX) design skills
- bring flexibility – allowing you to create new ways of engaging your users without just pushing out more content
Get fresh perspectives and innovation
Skilled content designers can introduce transformative ways of working into your company.
Content designers can inject new life into your content strategy through evidence-proved innovative approaches.
Hiring from an agency
You should think about what you need from an agency before you hire a content designer.
Start by checking:
- relevant experience
- how the agency needs to work
- if the agency can provide analytics
Check relevant experience
Your content design agency must have expertise in user experience design.
You might also find it useful to check the relevance of their previous work to your sector to see if they have transferable approaches and solutions.
Check how the agency needs to work
You should find out more about the provider’s content creation process. This means you can decide if they’re a good fit for your company. Include how the content design agency conducts:
- research
- ideation
- revisions
Use your content design agency’s timelines to see if they match your expectations of project management success.
Check that the content design agency can scale their resources to match your content needs, for example if you take on new clients and need a new website.
Find out how flexible the content design agency is with taking on urgent or time-sensitive projects.
Find out if the agency provide data analytics
Data-driven insights are crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of your content strategy.
Find out if the agency can:
- measure content performance
- provide data and analytics reports
Integrating an external content designer into your workflow
To get the content designer embedded in your content team’s workflow without disruption, you can do the following:
- clearly define roles and expectations
- create useful communication channels
- use company guidelines and resources
Clearly define roles and expectations
Clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and project expectations to the content design provider.
Agree clear guidelines for content objectives, target audience, and project deliverables.
Create useful communication channels
Set up regular communication channels to:
- get feedback going (between temporary staff and other team members)
- check progress on a project
- address any issues or pain points – for example, not being able to contact subject matter experts
You can use project management tools or platforms such as Trello or Monday.com for streamlined collaboration.
Use company guidelines and resources
Share your team’s guidelines and style guide with your external content designer.
Content guidance will help any hired content designers produce consistent work that is stamped with your organisation’s identity.
Consistent style and tone means a better user experience for your audience. This also includes being able to improve by measuring the performance of your hired content designer’s work.
Get in touch to find out how we can improve your content strategy.
