Semrush’s “State of Content Ops & Outsourcing Report 2021” sheds light on companies’ content outsourcing practices.
The study found that 51.3% of companies do not outsource at all. While 37% use a hybrid model – a combination of in-house writing and outsourcing, only 11.7% of businesses outsource 100% of their content writing needs. 51.6% of companies said they outsource content as needed to scale up content production, while 36.9% said high costs of hiring internal writers, and another 36.9% said they do not have enough in-house writers.
When asked why companies do not outsource content, 24.2% of marketers said it is more manageable to write the content in-house. 22.6% said it is difficult to explain their products/services to outsiders, 19.5% said only they could do storytelling, and 13.6% said they do not do content. Around 11.1% of marketers said they tried outsourcing, but it did not work out.
Nearly half of companies outsource content to freelance writers, with reputable brands coming from referrals. 27.3% of companies outsource content to digital marketing/content agencies, 24.4% outsource to content writing service providers, and 16.8% outsource to writers from freelance gig sites.
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