Most global marketing teams reach a point where the volume of content they need across markets outpaces what their in-house team can produce. You need writers in languages your team doesn’t speak, with knowledge of audiences they’ve never marketed to.
That’s where multilingual content writing services come in. This post covers the benefits of outsourcing, how to find and set up the right partnership and what to consider when choosing between a freelancer and an agency.
Here’s our recap:
Benefits of outsourcing content writing for global brands
Creating multilingual content requires investing in resources, either internal or external. You need writers to create original content along with translators to adapt and localize the content effectively for different markets.
Keeping the entire content creation process in-house sounds great in theory. But, in reality, there are many more benefits to choosing to outsource multilingual content writing services, including:
Get consistent, high-quality content
Forming an in-house content writing team requires either a lengthy and costly recruitment process or restructuring your current staff. While restructuring could save money and time compared to hiring new people, it can also create more strain on your employees. If your content team is already managing multiple roles, the quality and frequency of your content could suffer, even with proper training.
When you work with content writing outsourcing agencies, you have a team focused on your project and committed to meeting your deadlines. Some are even subject-matter experts in your chosen field and are well-versed in SEO and other marketing areas.
You can rest assured knowing that your content will be consistently high-quality, appropriate for your audience, written in your brand voice and developed to achieve your goals. This way, you can turn good ideas into long-term campaign strategies.
“We always have two linguists working on every assignment at VeraContent, and we have a two-step content creation process with trusted editors. That way, we have constant feedback for all of our content, for both the actual writing and the technical aspects of the assignment so that we can ensure high quality.”
– Kyler Canastra, former Head of Business Development at VeraContent
Outsourcing is also scalable. If your content marketing meets your goals and you want to increase frequency, channels or languages, it’s easy to adjust your goals with an agency or hire another freelancer.
Create effective multilingual content
If you want to create content in more than one language, many agencies and freelancers specialize in multilingual content writing. They can help you translate and localize content you’ve already made or create brand-new content for your audiences in your target languages.
Multilingual content is a huge opportunity. Research consistently shows that buyers are more likely to engage with, and purchase from, content in their native language. Yet the vast majority of websites are still published in English only, leaving a significant gap for brands willing to invest in local-language content.
Outsourcing your content writing allows you to create content in languages your marketing team may not speak. This also helps you ensure your content is appropriate and engaging for your diverse audiences.
“At VeraContent, we have a large database of trusted editors that speak various target languages. So, even if none of us on the team speak that language, we know we have someone that will effectively translate and localize our projects.”
– Kyler Canastra, former Head of Business Development at VeraContent
It’s budget-friendly
It might not seem so initially, but outsourcing content writing services is usually more budget-friendly than creating an in-house team. Both keeping it in-house and outsourcing requires spending. The process of hiring and training different multilingual content writers can be quite expensive.
Plus, if you want to change your strategy or reach new audiences, having an in-house team can be quite rigid, requiring much more time to scale than outsourcing.
Outsourcing allows you to more precisely control your spending on different parts of your content marketing strategy. Instead of estimating how much a certain project will cost, outsourcing allows you to start with your ideal spend and work from there. It also allows increased flexibility, as you can increase or decrease content production as needed.
When it comes to allocating resources, outsourcing helps you take the guesswork out of your plan.
See also: How to scale content creation without hiring
How to outsource multilingual content writing services: Step-by-step
Now that you know the benefits of outsourcing, you may wonder how to outsource content writing.
How do you find the right content-writing services for you? And how can you ensure you get content that meets your goals?
Here’s a step-by-step guide to outsourcing content creation:
Define your content needs
Before approaching a freelancer or content marketing agency, you should first get clear on exactly what you need.
The most important things you should have prepared are:
- Your content purpose. What are you trying to do with your content marketing? Do you want to increase awareness, drive leads, improve SEO or something else? Define which KPIs are most important to you.
- Preferred platform. What channels do you want to publish your content on, and why? Your outsourced writers or agency can help you with this, but it’s good to have some ideas beforehand to better focus your strategy.
- Buyer persona. Who are you trying to attract with your content? It’s important to have a defined target audience in mind.
- Identify languages. Determine the languages you need for your content based on your target markets.
- Content types: Specify the types of content you require, such as blog posts, social media updates, product descriptions or technical manuals.
Recruit writers
Decide if you want to work with an agency or a freelancer (more on that below!) and find a couple of options you like. When choosing the right partner, it’s a good idea to ask for previous work samples or have them create a test piece of content.
If you’re searching for multilingual content writers, look for native speakers or agencies with a history of working in a particular language or country. Make sure to verify that the writers understand the cultural nuances and local idioms of the target audience.
Set up a contract
Always have a contract in place before starting any work with a freelancer or agency. Your contract should clearly define the scope of work, including the number of pieces of content, word count and any additional services like editing or proofreading.
Agree on payment terms, whether per word, per hour or per project. Ensure there are confidentiality agreements in place to protect your business information.
See also: UGC usage rights: An introduction for brands
Onboarding
If you don’t already have one, work with your freelancer or agency on a style guide that defines your brand tone, keywords and more to maintain consistency. Share your goals and KPIs and create a content calendar together to set deadlines.
Make sure to set realistic timelines and deadlines for the completion of the project. And establish clear communication channels to ensure smooth collaboration.
Manage the relationship
Long-term relationships with outsourced content creators are key to ensuring consistent returns. To keep your relationship on strong terms, schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress, provide feedback and address any issues.
Outsourcing your multilingual content may sound daunting when you’re just starting. However, if you do careful research when hiring freelance writers or content marketing agencies to partner with and define your specific goals, timeline, and brand style, they’ll be able to create the most effective content for you.
See also: How to choose the right multilingual SEO agency to grow your business
Agency or freelancer: which is right for your multilingual content?
One of the biggest decisions you must make when outsourcing web content writing is hiring one or more freelancers or an agency. While they offer similar services, there are some major differences you should consider.
Freelance writers
Freelancers are independent workers who take on projects or jobs that align with their interests. Thanks in part to websites like Upwork and Fiverr, more companies than ever are using freelancers to fill the gaps in their marketing teams. Many of these freelancers are creating multilingual content.
Advantages
- Cost: Hiring a freelancer is a much more cost-effective option, and they’re usually willing to negotiate before and during their time working with you.
- Flexibility: Being only one person, it’s usually easy to dictate specific terms of your agreement with a freelancer. They’re open to working in different ways.
- Expertise: With the vast number of freelancers, it’s easy to find someone who is an expert in your industry and can write technically specific articles without the need for a lot of training from you.
Disadvantages
- Quality: Freelancers often take on as many jobs as possible, which can affect the quality of their work and increase their turnaround time.
- Lack of control: Freelancers can decide to stop working with you, take other jobs or even get sick, which can cause sudden and serious delays to your content strategy.
- Extra work: If you need to hire multiple freelancers, managing and onboarding all of them can create lots of extra work for your team, which is what you want to avoid by outsourcing!
Download our free interactive guide to help you find – and keep – the best freelancers:
Content marketing agencies
Agencies are teams of marketing specialists who work together to manage and execute your projects. There are tons of different agencies out there, including ones that specialize in multilingual content writing.
Advantages
- Talent pool: Working with an agency means getting access not only to the experts at the agency itself, but also to the pool of subject experts they work with without having to manage all those people yourself. If you’re looking to create content in multiple languages, they have the resources to find high-quality writers in all those languages.
- Scalability: If you want to increase your content output, agencies handle all that for you, and you don’t have to worry about availability or personnel management.
- Time management: Agencies set and follow strict deadlines, so you know you will get your content when you need it most.
- All-inclusivity: Working with an agency’s team means they can help you with your whole content writing strategy instead of just the actual content writing. Having multiple people well-versed in various marketing aspects working together can create more cohesive campaigns.
“Content writing is all about building the right team. Agencies value your relationship like a freelancer, but they can scale. You don’t have to worry about availability, and you have multiple people invested in working on your projects and keeping valuable relationships strong.”
– Kyler Canastra, former Head of Business Development at VeraContent
Disadvantages
- Cost: Working with agencies can be a high cost upfront.
- Lack of choice: You don’t directly choose who will be creating your content when working with an agency. That’s why it’s important to do your research when choosing an agency to ensure they hire the highest-quality writers to work on your projects.
See also: Hire a freelance writer or content agency: What you should know
Which is better?
It depends on your situation. If you’re testing the waters, a freelancer is a low-risk way to start. If you’re committed to multilingual content at scale, an agency gives you the consistency, oversight and capacity that a single freelancer can’t.
The upfront cost of an agency is higher, but so is the return on your time. Your team stays focused on strategy while someone else manages the execution.
The best of both: working with VeraContent
For many teams, the agency vs. freelancer choice doesn’t fully capture what they need. They want the flexibility of an embedded hire with the reliability of an agency behind them.
VeraContent offers three ways to work together, depending on where you are:
- We run everything for you. Full multilingual content production across 20+ languages, managed end-to-end with dedicated project management and editorial QA.
- We work inside your team. Vetted content specialists embedded into your workflows, part-time or full-time, with VeraContent managing quality and continuity in the background.
- We design your systems. Strategy, workflow design and editorial standards for teams building a scalable multilingual content operation from the ground up.
The dedicated specialist model is worth a closer look if you need day-to-day capacity without the hiring overhead. Your specialist works inside your tools and workflows. We handle onboarding, training and oversight.
If you’d like to talk through what multilingual content support could look like for your brand, book a call with the VeraContent team.