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Trusted lifestyle publications have learned to walk a fine line between addressing a specific niche and having widespread appeal. The best of them answer felt needs for many…but without becoming too narrow. After all, they are striving to provide valuable insights and information and attract advertising revenue.

Some of the publications on this list are well-known. However, others you may not have heard of previously. They represent a mixture of blogs and magazines, many of them blurring the distinction in the process. Check out the ones that spark your interest. Poke around for a bit. We've listed our top picks in alphabetical order. Enjoy!

Camille Styles

As a college student, Camille Styles thought she was going to use her journalism degree to become a magazine editor. However, along the way, she worked for a catering company. Styles found, to her surprise, that she absolutely loved event planning. In her own words, she found it difficult to believe that she was getting paid to merge her passions for cooking, design, and bringing people together.

On her lifestyle site, Styles currently oversees what is arguably one of the most eye-pleasing, helpful, and fun lifestyle publications. As a result, if you share her passion for food, gathering, design, beauty, wellness, and more, check out CS. It's filled with engaging content, thoughtfully articulated, and beautiful to behold at the same time.

Camille Styles

Conscious Lifestyle

With a core value of believing that we must be the change we wish to see, Conscious Lifestyle seeks to help people overcome challenges common to much of the human race. It's a pretty tall order, but the editors take an open posture toward issues of mind, body, and spirit.

The focus of this lifestyle publication is to provide practical tips, tools, and techniques. Consequently, these help others move in the direction of happiness, health, and healing. The site intentionally provides a platform for the world's leading thinkers, philosophers, and leaders. It zeroes in on material that anyone can access.

Conscious Lifestyle

Entertainment Weekly

Who doesn't enjoy unwinding with some quality entertainment, especially during times of cultural upheaval, heightened stress, and economic uncertainty? The editors behind Entertainment Weekly totally get it. As a result, they strive to make sure we make informed, insightful decisions about the various forms of media on which we spend our time and money.

Wondering if it's worth it to catch Marvel's latest release in the theater? Not sure if the series your best friend won't stop jabbering about is really as good as he says it is? EW can help you sift through all of the attendant hype that surrounds anything in its initial days of release. This is true whether it's a movie, TV series, book, or theatrical tour. However, be warned up front. You might lose track of time once you start digging into the print magazine or website.

Entertainment Weekly

The Financial Diet

Far too many people put off learning about the ins and outs of money management and investments for good reason. On the other hand, many financial publications take as their operating assumption that their readers are already financially savvy. Not so with The Financial Diet. The editors at this lifestyle publication work hard to demystify issues of finance for the average reader looking to learn more.

Whether your intent is to become financially wise or simply to solve an immediate problem related to money, give the Financial Diet website a spin. You'll likely find articles about nailing that important job interview, how to create a simple budget, and even whether or not organic food is worth the hefty price tag. In short, end any embarrassment you might have about money issues today by checking out TFD.

The Financial Diet

Food Network

The folks at Food Network recognize that we all need to eat but are committed to helping us do it well. The namesake magazine shows up in the mail to an astonishing 100 million U.S. households and currently holds the No. 2 position in terms of best-selling magazines on the newsstand racks. Clearly, the editors of this lifestyle publication are doing something right.

Food Network isn't merely a collection of recipes, as the uninitiated might expect. Instead, it seeks to empower readers to move into a higher realm of food preparation and consumption as it seeks to fulfill its goal of being "food's best friend." Consequently, content is educational, helpful, diverse, and (let's just say it) jaw-dropping in its visual appeal. If you've been wanting to take your food habits to the next level, this is the site for you.

Food Network

Good Housekeeping

The very first print issue of Good Housekeeping was published in 1885. With well over a hundred years of experience under its belt, the folks at this magazine obviously know what they are doing. The magazine has never swerved from its original calling to provide helpful information out of a sense of public duty matched by private interest.

This high calling serves its readers well. Others describe the editorial team at GH as ruthless in its fact-checking and commitment to accuracy. In this way, they help their readers make informed, reliable decisions with just about everything that touches their lives. If you are looking for dependable, authoritative information regarding food, beauty, holidays, and more, this lifestyle publication should be one of the first you consult.

Good Housekeeping

He Spoke Style

If you're a guy looking to give your outward impression a serious upgrade, consider making He Spoke Style your first destination. Unlike many men's style lifestyle publications, the writers and editors at HSS shoot straight. They do so without a lot of fuss or even a hint of pretentiousness. The publication has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, and plenty of additional top-tier media.

The emphasis at HSS is on practicality and attracting "regular guys" as readers. Guys who maybe don't have thousands of spare dollars lying around. Since its launch over a decade ago, HSS has grown to include its own line of menswear. Likewise, the experts at HSS even offer complimentary consultations and personal styling tips via Zoom. If you find it slightly intimidating to walk into a menswear store, give the folks at HSS a shot.

He Spoke Style

Martha Stewart Living

While the emphasis tilts toward the upscale, everyone can find something of interest. Filled with helpful, practical tips and advice, the team at Martha Stewart Living offers up great recipes, DIY projects, beauty tips, gardening expertise, and much more.

Stewart has been an authoritative voice in lifestyle publications since 1982. That was the year her book Entertaining with Martha Stewart first hit the shelves. Since that time, MSL has grown to become a huge international presence. Her enduring commitment to making life easier, inspirational, and a little more beautiful has never wavered. For some of the best advice on health, pets, weddings, food, home design, and more, make MSL a regular destination.

Martha Stewart Living

Men's Health

Print editions of Men's Health are currently available in 25 editions in 35 countries. Add to that more than 21 million readers in print and online, and MH represents a formidable presence in the world of fitness, nutrition, and weight loss. The publication also offers advice on menswear, scientific breakthroughs, gear, movies, and more, all targeted at guys.

The commitment to service journalism runs deep at MH. Rigorous fact-checking, licensed experts, and experienced staff make it a worthwhile read. MH has been awarded many of the top publishing industry honors. These include the Ad Age distinction of being named one of its Magazines of the Year in 2017. The coverage typical of MH is informative while avoiding the trap of being overly promotional.

Men's Health

NewsReports

If you're interested in availing yourself of several life hacks and tips that cover just about any topic making headlines, make NewsReports your next lifestyle publication to visit. The folks behind NR value substance over hype and do their best to steer readers to the latest great apps, technology innovations, health news, and more. NR is an online-only publication committed to helping you become more productive and well-informed.

The NR effort began as a humble website dedicated almost exclusively to helping its readers wade through the mind-numbing array of options available on the Apple Store or Google Play. It never let go of that niche expertise. The writers and editors expanded and now scour the headlines for noteworthy innovations, so you don't have to. If you're looking to move past headlines and hype, give NR a look.

NewsReports

The Pioneer Woman

It might help to think of Ree Drummond's monolithic lifestyle publication as "Martha Stewart for the blue jeans crowd." In addition to the usual sections on food, decorating, health, beauty, and style, Drummond peppers The Pioneer Woman with information and snapshots from her personal life. The overall effect is one of exchanging recipes with your next-door neighbor over a glass of minty iced tea.

Drummond launched her website over 15 years ago. She had zero intention of launching a media behemoth, yet her publication transcends lifestyle genres in a way readers clearly enjoy. TPW answers a market segment that wants the information, yes, but also wants to know a little bit about the people providing it. Here you'll find articles with non-traditional titles such as "Todd Played His Last High School Football Game" and "Photos of Chuck."

The Pioneer Woman

Southern Living

The reach of Southern Living extends far beyond its initial target audience of the southern U.S. without losing its focus on the culture and traditions of the American South. Launched in February of 1966 by The Progressive Farmer Company, SL has stayed true to its vision. It celebrates what's glorious about the South "in all its complexity" and adds diverse and dynamic voices to the conversation.

Rigorous fact-checking and an unwavering commitment to accuracy make SL a lifestyle publication that is both dependable and entertaining. If you are looking for interviews with experts, creative food ideas, home and garden tips, and a whole lot more, look for SL to serve it all up. The editors present it all with a southern flair that is sure to appeal to just about anyone from any walk of life.

Southern Living

Verve

Headquartered in South Bombay, Verve was launched by Anuradha Mahindra in 1995 to offer a platform for the voices of recognized talent to express themselves. The namesake website followed in April 2014. The claim to fame here is being India's very first women's luxury lifestyle monthly. Verve offers its readership a glossy print version and has as its primary emphasis content of consistently high quality.

Verve tailors its content to a very specific niche. Over time, the publication has grown as its articles on arts and culture, people, fashion, travel, events, and more appeal to a considerably larger audience. Do you have an interest in getting a global perspective and approach to service journalism? Verve is a lifestyle publication well worth your attention.

Verve

Wit and Delight

True to its moniker, Wit and Delight advertises itself as "a home to professional feelings feelers, an elevator for glass ceiling breakers, and a soapbox for stories on anything from home decor and tile to battling anxiety and depression." And that pithy description pretty much sums up what you will find within. Never taking itself too terribly seriously, W&D tells important stories with a flair missing from many other website destinations.

The emphasis here is on stories that were developed as a result of real-world experiments out in the world of "adulting." If you're immediately drawn in by a no-nonsense approach to topics of importance, giving yourself 30 minutes with W&D is a dangerous undertaking. You'll pop in for a quick look and maybe miss picking up the kids from school. This lifestyle publication is long on useful information and enjoyable reading.

Wit and Delight

 

Content is an effective marketing strategy to boost SEO rankings, increase visibility, and use writing to build a loyal following. Unfortunately, content writing and content creation that resonates with your audience take up your marketing team's time and effort. This realization often precedes many business owners to seek to outsource their content marketing strategy.

Consequently, the internal costs associated with social media marketing, marketing automation, email marketing, or any other marketing function are why many companies opt to outsource content marketing for enhanced success.

With nearly 5 billion people online and more than 4.5 billion using social media, it's no wonder most companies use content marketing to reach their prospective customers. Harnessing the expertise of a marketing agency for outsourced marketing is becoming more of a necessity than a "nice-to-have."

The internet has empowered today's consumers to conduct their own research on products and brands they want to patronize. As a result, they're more discerning in their solutions to their problems. They know what professional content looks like when they see it. A one-shot blog post no longer cuts the mustard. An effective marketing plan has become absolutely essential and outsourcing content creation has become commonplace.

However, outsourcing content writing and content marketing allow companies to hire a writer to create tailored articles directed at specific audiences to ensure a higher likelihood of conversions.

But marketing agencies are really expensive, right? Well, not necessarily. Outsourcing marketing can actually save your company money even as it leads to an increase in sales. Keep reading to learn why, when, and how small businesses, SaaS companies, and companies of all sizes should outsource content development and content marketing to make the most of this impactful digital strategy.

Key Takeaways

What Does it Mean to Outsource Content Marketing?

Content marketing involves writing and publishing relevant, useful, and engaging content that resonates with an audience's needs. Businesses employ a content writer or content writing services to create blog content, attract a certain following, generate interest in a brand and its products, and convince people to convert to customers.

However, to create meaningful content, companies must know who their audience is, what their needs are, and how those people prefer to receive information. Delivering the right message to the right people at the right time is key to content marketing success. It represents the ultimate marketing goal for any marketing department.

Content outsourcing can include any of the following online marketing staples:

While many companies choose to write their content, most businesses prefer to outsource their content marketing to content agencies and freelancers. They must trust an external freelance writer, marketer, or content marketing agency to create material for their brand.

This company, writer, freelancer, or another marketing team will learn about your business. Any digital marketing agency worth its salt will seek to gain an understanding of your goals.

The marketing professional will then write content that resonates with your audience and helps drive marketing strategy success. Additionally, by outsourcing content marketing to an agency, companies can benefit from the expertise of a third-party team. Outsourcing marketing frees you up to focus on other aspects of your business.

The video linked directly below provides further detail about how to go about outsourcing your content marketing.

4 Reasons to Outsource Content Marketing

Size, budget, and marketing needs determine whether outsourcing your content marketing is right for your business.

It's important for any business owner to identify particular challenges that third-party agency writers can solve. Here are four reasons to outsource content marketing and how to recognize when it's time to consider making the move to an external marketing expert, agency, or another marketing firm for outsourced content.

1. Save money.

Growing a business requires significant expenses. That's why 70% of companies outsource tasks to reduce overall costs. By delegating your content marketing to a third-party company, you save the cost of hiring a full-time employee to write your blog post. Through outsourced marketing, you can focus more attention on your sales team. Content outsourcing and marketing also eliminates visible and hidden onboarding costs that average $4,425 per employee.

If you don't have the resources to hire a full-time staff member, it's time to consider outsourcing your content marketing to an agency or other external marketing department. Step one, then, is to compare the cost of hiring a full-time employee against that of engaging with an outsource content writing team. Outsourcing digital marketing is not something you ought to do on a whim.

2. Save time.

Maybe you have several terrific ideas for effective content, but you simply don't have the time to put everything into action. Perhaps writing isn't in your wheelhouse or you don't want to add marketing responsibilities to your work week. This is just one example of where outsourced marketing can represent a solid investment.

Hiring an outside writer or agency to take over your digital marketing services reduces your workload and frees up your time to focus on other job responsibilities. If you're feeling overwhelmed or having trouble getting everything done, you may need to outsource your content marketing.

3. Gain access to more talent.

If you don't have enough people in your marketing department to write your content, or you simply don't have a qualified writer to effectively communicate your ideas to your audience, outsourcing to an agency may be a viable option. Outsourcing content creation gives you access to a wider agency talent pool with various skills, training, expertise, and experience. Oftentimes marketing dollars can even be reallocated to outsourced sales, further improving your bottom line.

Choosing an agency with the necessary background to write meaningful and relevant content for your specific audience cuts down on project completion time. It allows your outsourced marketing team to publish expert content that is effective and efficient.

4. Increase productivity.

When your marketing department must multi-task, their stress levels rise. Distractions actually impair brain function.

Not only does this diminish efficiency, but it also impedes your marketing campaign productivity. When you outsource content writing, you relieve your staff's workload and allow them to give undivided attention to specific tasks.

Outsourcing to a digital marketing service helps your team complete projects sooner. They can tackle new projects more quickly, boosting overall business productivity. If workers are spread too thin, outsourced content creation is a viable solution. In fact, an outsourced marketing department might positively reshape the way you do business.

Outsource Content Marketing in 5 Steps

You can make the shift to outsourced marketing in five easy steps if you feel content outsourcing is right for you.

Step 1: Identify tasks to outsource.

Assess your content marketing plan and determine what projects you should outsource. Maybe all content writing needs to be delegated to a third-party writer. Or maybe you have in-house experts who could tackle some of your topics. Whether it's individual assignments, social media posts, or content marketing in general, you must first identify which tasks you want to outsource.

Step 2: Consider ROI.

Identify which areas of your content marketing efforts are costing your business money, time, and resources. This step alone might help you make your marketing outsource evaluation.

You can resource any part of your strategy with low ROI to a professional writer who can quickly and easily complete the task. Make the most of your outsource content writing investment by ensuring your content marketing plans are full of high ROI tasks.

Step 3: Give clear instructions for content creation.

When you assign content creation to a third-party marketing service, it's imperative that you give clear instructions to your content creator about what you want and what goals you're trying to achieve with your marketing effort.

If you're unclear, the writer at that marketing firm may deliver content irrelevant to your audience and must be rewritten. This takes more agency time and may cost more money, negating the benefits of outsourcing to a content writing agency in the first place. Avoid confusion by providing clear expectations to your content agency for outsourcing marketing from the get-go.

Step 4: Supply helpful content writing resources.

An outsourced marketing writer armed with plenty of helpful resources is more likely to succeed at their inbound marketing task, whether that's blog writing, visual content, or other high quality content.

Prior to beginning content production, supply your agency writing team with any information that would be useful in broadening their knowledge of your company, your audience, or the topic of the assignment. The less an agency writer has to research on their own, the lower the chances of the designated content team delivering erroneous or mistaken information as part of your outsourced marketing package.

Step 5: Track progress.

It's important to know whether your hired writers are hitting the mark with great content for your audience. This is where marketing technology (such as Google Analytics) can lend a hand as you make an outsourced marketing decision. Marketing agencies will be quick to ask you for these numbers at your first meeting. Don't attempt to build your marketing plan or brand awareness strategy without them!

Track the progress of your outsourced content with metrics that reveal click-through rates, engagement, and how long people remain on your blog post or web pages to read your content. From these results, you'll be able to tell whether your readers are finding your content useful, which marketing materials are resonating, and what areas need improvement.

Outsource Your Content Marketing Strategy

Outsourcing your content marketing strategy can be difficult at first. Any outsourced marketing should not be viewed as a cure-all. Marketing agencies will need your advice and partnership to generate quality content. However, once you start the outsourced marketing process, you'll see content is just another piece of your marketing activity puzzle to solve.

Struggling to start with your own content strategy? Thinking you might benefit from outsourced marketing services? Outsourcing content creation might be a solid first step in the right direction. Maybe you do need to look into a growth marketing agency to help pick up some of your public relations slack. We're here to help!

Image Credit: Lukas; Pexels. Video Credit: Jason Whaling. (2019, September 23). Stop Working So Hard To Make Content! (How To Outsource Content Creation) [Video]. YouTube.

Content continues its reign as the king in marketing, and rightfully so. Seventy percent of marketers actively invest in content marketing. Likewise, 72% claim that having a solid content strategy is a major element of their success. As a result, emerging and established brands alike are taking advantage of the benefits of content marketing to help grow their business.

What is content marketing?

Simply put, content marketing is defined as a strategic marketing approach that helps form strong relationships with your audience. This relationship is nurtured through valuable and relevant content (in a variety of formats) on a consistent basis.

Content marketing is essentially when you put useful information in the hands of your target audience. Traditional marketing, on the contrary, is when you go after your audience and attract them with the information you want them to receive.

Because content marketing is defined by the audience's interest, it is usually far more effective than traditional digital marketing approaches such as paid advertising, email campaigns, and sponsored marketing.

Some of the most popular formats for content marketing include blog articles, videos, infographics, case studies, e-books, webinars, podcasts, social media posts, email newsletters, presentations, brochures, and more. Potential customers are already looking for high quality content, your job is to make sure they find it via email marketing, video content, and/or paid ads.

As a small business, you might fall into the trap of thinking that producing quality content that stands out is the prerogative of big brand names with big budgets, large marketing teams, and lots of resources on their hands. But a content marketing strategy is possibly even more crucial for small companies. Even the smallest businesses can engage in outbound marketing, launch a popular social media channel, crank out good content, and use its brand personality to draw audiences into the sales funnel.

When compared to other forms of promotion, content marketing delivers some of the highest ROI for every dollar spent. Great content also offers benefits far outweighing the time and money that goes into it. Proven to be a cost-effective strategy, content marketing generates three times the leads at 62% less cost compared to traditional marketing approaches.

What are some of the main benefits of content marketing for your small business?

It will deliver ongoing value to your audience and drive engagement.

By providing your target audience with valuable content on an ongoing basis, you are giving them powerful motivation to come back for more. Fresh, relevant, trending content is your shot at boosting your audience's engagement whilst continuously enhancing your brand image.

It will build authority and trust.

Producing content that helps educate your audience about your business instead of blatantly promoting your services will help establish your authority and expertise. The more insight-driven, quality-focused content your company produces, the more people will consider you a thought leader within your niche.

Once your business is recognized as a go-to resource for valuable, expert information, you will gain your customers' long-term trust and loyalty. Every piece of relevant content you share will solidify your reputation as a reliable authority. This is true whether you are conducting a B2C or B2B content marketing effort.

Content is what will make your clients return when they have questions and eventually when they are ready to make a purchase.

It will support your digital marketing channels.

Successful marketers know that 100% original content goes a long way. That super-informative blog article that you just wrote can be shared on your social media channels, transformed into an impressive infographic, or featured in your newsletter, fueling the traction across all these platforms.

It will generate leads.

Lead generation is one of the benefits of content marketing. Think blogging, smart gated quality content, and strategically placed calls-to-action (CTAs).

Consistently publishing blog posts is an effective content marketing strategy. Expect your lead generation efforts to rise by 88% or 67% respectively, depending on whether you are a B2C or a B2B company, giving you unparalleled ROI for every marketing dollar spent.

Gated content usually comes in the form of e-books, blog articles, white papers, and even videos. Sought-after gated content generates leads by expanding your email contact list. Visitors fill out a contact form that provides their email address in exchange for access to the gated resource. These visitors willingly subscribe to your emails and look forward to them.

Strategically placed CTAs within your relevant and engaging content can also generate inbound marketing leads. By clicking on your CTA, visitors will move through the sales pipeline. This is perhaps the single greatest content marketing benefit.

It will boost your search engine rankings.

Without exaggeration, content marketing is the soul of your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

Influential content that visitors engage with contributes to your website's domain authority, strengthening your search engine rankings. Additionally, unique, creative content built around the right keywords and targeting the right audience via social media marketing gets indexed quickly and ranks better on Google.

Higher rankings, in turn, will lead to more traffic to your website.

How do I make content marketing work for my small business?

If you are looking to implement a content marketing strategy for your small business, here's how to do it.

Define and set SMART goals for your marketing campaign.

Most marketers already know that defining your purpose and setting goals are vital for content marketing.

Content strategy goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. In other words, they need to be SMART. Here are good examples of SMART content marketing goals as you seek to raise brand awareness.

Identify and track your key metrics.

Define the key metrics that help you understand if your content marketing campaign is moving in the direction of your goals.

Content performance indicators include website traffic, unique pageviews, likes and shares, conversion rates, number of downloads, and bounce rate. According to the Content Marketing Institute, there are at least four content audit metrics to track over time.

Learn from the data. Adjust your content strategy and keyword research accordingly.

Select your target audience and marketing channel.

Before you start creating or promoting any type of content, make sure you clearly understand who your target audience is. Define their demographics, interests, personality types, and followings.

Once you figure out the who, identify where your audience is most likely to spend their time. Then pick the right digital channels to distribute your content. Consider blogs, social media platforms, email campaigns, and online forums to boost brand awareness.

Keep your content creation team to a publishing schedule.

Create a posting schedule and (as any experienced content marketer will tell you) stick to it. You can't significantly raise brand awareness and build customer loyalty with an occasional social media post.

Consistency is key when it comes to publishing great content. Similarly, avoid posting too often, not posting enough, or posting irregularly. Your end goal is to engage, not to overwhelm. Better to generate one killer blog post per week than 10 boring posts per day. Use your content marketing effort to drive long-term audience engagement.

Create. Adjust. Repeat.

To make the benefits of content marketing work, the quality of your ideas must translate into well-researched, valuable, engaging content.

Your great content needs to educate your audience and answer their questions. Produce fresh content with the same vigor you examine your target audience and marketing channels.

By continuously learning from your KPIs and tweaking your content strategy, you will develop a solid foundation of evergreen, relevant, and valuable information. Likewise, you will also build trust with your audience.

Content marketing can mean the difference between struggling to grow your customer base and taking your small business to the next level.

Whether you create the content in-house or hire a content marketing agency to do it for you, now is the time to embark on your content marketing journey.

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