How to Calculate the Cost of Your Outsourced Project
By Natasha Serafimovska
So, you’ve reached a point where your team can no longer handle the dozens of marketing balls you have up in the air. You have to bite the bullet and hire external help.
First, congrats. That’s a good problem to have. It means things are happening for you and you’re growing as a business.
Awesome.
However, once you venture into the contracting waters, you’re faced with another problem — pricing. If you’ve worked with external agencies or freelancers before, you’ve probably come across the following scenario.
Say you needed a 3,000-word eBook on the state of the customer experience. You’ve contacted several freelancers and agencies and have asked them for a quote.
One came back with a $2,000 price tag.
Another one quoted you $3,500.
The last one came back with $6,000.
How can that be? How can the price for the exact same asset vary so much?
A bottle of Coke is a bottle of Coke regardless of the shop you get it from. There may be a 10-15% price variation if you go to a high-end store, but that’s it.
So, how do you decide what’s a reasonable price to pay for your eBook?
Let’s find out.
The elusive nature of content writing
Unlike physical products where the production cost is known upfront, content writing projects are…a tad more challenging to estimate.
First, the goods haven’t been delivered yet and, often, aren’t even clearly defined yet. Will you provide the outline, or is the onus on the agency to do that?
What’s the timeframe for when you need the asset? A month? A week?
How many revisions would you like included? Would you expect to get on calls with them? How often?
These are some of the questions agencies and contractors think about before sending out a quote. If these are unknown, many would err on the side of caution and give you a higher quote, assuming they’d need to invest the time to do all those things.
A second challenge in pricing content writing projects is the elusive nature of the work itself. Unlike physical products, no two content assets are alike. In fact, you can give two writers the exact same brief, the same topic, and guidelines, and you’d still receive two very different outputs.
That’s because writing isn’t an exact science. There are rules that work, of course, and agencies can create templates and formulas to maximize content performance, but at the end of the day, the writer’s personal experiences, expertise, and writing talent shape the result.
Some may be great subject matter experts but mediocre storytellers. Others may be good at following instructions but not that good at infusing originality into the story. Others yet, if you’re lucky, have all of the above: technical expertise, storytelling ability, and an original perspective.
That’s why there is such a big variability in quotes on content projects. And that’s why the whole “you get what you pay for” thing really boils down to your ability to better define what you’re willing to pay for.
How to prepare your project for outsourcing
You’d be doing yourself and your contractor a favor if you define the project scope as clearly
as possible upfront. This is a generally good practice when collaborating with external partners
since scope creep is a real thing and can both cost you money and strain your
professional relationships.
Here are some things that can be of tremendous help when looking to outsource a marketing
content project:
What are your communication expectations?
Do you expect a kick-off meeting at the start of the project? What’s the frequency of communication you expect throughout? Weekly check-ins? Bi-weekly?
If you’re okay with communicating only via email, say so. If you prefer to use Slack and have the writer available during the day, stipulate that as well.
All these factors will influence the price tag at the end.
Do you anticipate the contractor to use your tools and systems?
Any contractor you hire would have their own workflows and tools to deliver their work to clients. If they have to deviate from that, let them know upfront as that would add complexity to the project (and possibly increase the price).
Would they need to start using ClickUp or Asana? Do you want them to log in to your proprietary software to obtain raw data for the project? Do they need to know how to use Semrush or Ahrefs?
Define what tools you anticipate the contractor to use and, if none, say so as well.
What’s your take on revisions?
Revisions are often a big point of contention, mainly because opinions vary on how many are needed and how quickly they should be completed.
So, set clear expectations around revisions. Would you like to have one round of edits, two, or three? Also, what’s the timeframe in which you can deliver feedback? One week? One month?
If you need more than a month to provide revisions, expect to have an upcharge for that, as well as an extended V2 delivery timeframe, as the contractor may need more time to get back into the text. I
When is it due?
Deadlines are content producers’ best friend. We love deadlines. Our collaborators love them, too. They help us put frames around the project and plan our schedules accordingly.
So, have a good think about the urgency of the project. Did you need this eBook yesterday (in which case, you’re probably going to pay a rush fee), or are you more flexible? Turnaround time can have a significant impact on price.
Always set a deadline, even if you don’t need the eBook for a few months. That will help set clear expectations and put you on the right track to get your needs met.
Do you have a content brief?
This may sound like a trick question — of course I do, duh. But this isn’t the case with all clients. And a kick-off call isn’t and can never be a replacement for a content brief.
Ideally, you’d want to have a written content brief that provides the following details:
- What are you trying to achieve with the project?
- Who’s the target audience?
- What’s the key message and CTA?
- How long should each asset be (if there are more)?
- Are there any SEO considerations the writer needs to take into account?
- What’s your brand’s tone of voice and style guide (if this is your first collaboration)?
- What other stakeholders are involved in the project? Is this partner content or not?
- Outline (optional)
Not all briefs are cut from the same cloth, though. We’ve received briefs anywhere from half a page to five or six pages long. The brief isn’t meant to be long, but it’s meant to be clear. It should give the agency and the writer a clear view of what the end result should look like, who the target audience is, and how you intend to use the content.
A good content brief can reduce the number of revisions as well, as it helps get everyone on the same page from day one.
Content writing, productized
Once you have a clear idea of what you’re looking to achieve, you may want to consider moving away from project pricing altogether and towards productized content packages.
In fact, productized content services are a win-win for all sides. Say, for example, that you’ve hired an agency to develop a white paper, but your needs change, and you want an infographic and two blogs instead. You may develop ten blog posts a month, but once in a while, you may want to replace three of those with an eBook.
Outsourcing individual assets can be a pain, especially at scale. Some agencies (Thrū Content included) have resolved this challenge by offering productized content packages. Clients purchase or subscribe to a certain word count and pick the assets they want delivered. If their needs change before production begins, they can substitute one content type for another easily, based on word count — without drawing up and signing a new SOW with a new set of pricing. This removes the budgeting guesswork and gives you the flexibility to adjust to the needs of your organization.
Getting started
Once you have a clearly defined brief and expectations, it should be easier to estimate how much a certain project would cost. When choosing your content partner, go beyond pricing and look at their overall philosophy around content creation. How do they talk about the content production process? Have they worked in your industry? Do you like published content you’ve found on their site?
All of these factors can help you hire a partner who is not only affordable but is someone with whom you can work in the long run.