69% of in-house marketers and 75% of marketing agencies are sourcing help from either freelancers or content marketplaces.
This is according to content creation platform Verblio, which surveyed more than 400 content marketers to find out about the current state of digital content marketing.
The study into how freelancers, agencies and in-house digital marketers are using the tools of their industry, found that 21% of agencies said that content creation makes up more than ¾ of their revenue. Looking more closely at those agencies, the majority (67%) have more than 10 employees. 62% of agencies are producing one-nine pieces of content per client per month.
When it comes to frequency of content creation, few agencies are producing over 15 pieces of content per client per month (16%) with 39% producing one-four pieces, and the majority (41%) producing five-14 pieces.
The biggest blockers to agencies creating quality content are revealed to be industry/ audience knowledge (28%), managing client expectations (24%) and not enough resources (20%). 75% of agencies are getting help from either freelancers or content marketplaces, with the majority of those (54%) working with freelancers exclusively.
When it comes to outsourcing, the main pain points for agencies were similar; getting content which is authentic and industry-specific (43%), and client satisfaction (29%). On average, it was found that in-house marketers are producing more pieces of content per month than an agency would for a single client, with almost half (49%) producing five-14 pieces.
Half of all in-house teams are outsourcing their content creation, proving that the hybrid content creation model is becoming increasingly normal. In-house teams are more than twice as likely to use freelancers over content platforms or agencies, and 35% work exclusively with freelancers.
Looking at where content teams sit within their larger corporate structure, we can see that the majority (38%) are part of the growth team, 29% are seen as an in-house-creative agency, and 17% sit with the brand team.
Pain points for in-house teams that outsource are similar to those felt by agencies, with 40% claiming the hardest part is getting content that is authentic and industry-specific. In-house marketers and agencies reported they were finding it slightly harder to build successful content, with 71% in-house agreeing and 68% of agencies agreeing.
Ultimately, the survey revealed that it’s harder than ever to build great content, with most content marketers outsourcing at least some of their content needs. Content drives growth, so it’s important that digital marketers continue to invest and develop their skills.
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