The Importance Of an In-house Content team A content-led brand today can leverage an in-house content team for an online home brand

Online startups with creative and unique ideas work tirelessly to grow their brand presence digitally. However, not all startups manage to survive the wrath of the highly competitive world. Nine out of 10 startups fail, which is why pondering over pre-opening startup costs and post-opening startup costs and strategies becomes a must. Additionally, what they also have to give prime importance to is the kind of content they are placing before their potential customers. As they say, content makes or breaks a brand.

The content establishes a link between the startups and the potential customers, especially for the content-led online home brands, and the best way to reach them is through inbound marketing and content marketing.

The first step is inbound marketing, which helps a brand in penetrating the market, as it majorly focuses on providing the right content to the right customer at the right time. Inbound marketing revolves around websites, and the content published on the website attracts visitors. If the content is compelling, it can easily draw them to take action. So, content is the backbone for the four stages of inbound marketing: attract, convert, close and delight.

Therefore, one of the post-opening startup costs is deciding to build an in-house content team or outsource it to improve organizational cost-efficiency. Content is necessary for a business to survive, but it doesn't have to be expensive. Cost-effective strategies need to be laid out to grow the business.

But the big question is what will be cost-effective and beneficial—the creation of an in-house content team or outsourcing resources?

The exclusive content and its unique presentation could be a boon for an organization. It can help them in standing out in the overcrowded digital space where others may also target the same customers as you are. Hence, optimization of the resources to carve a niche could be the best way to divert the right crowd to your websites because unique content can promise a higher growth rate and better user retention.

Having said that, startups in the online home brand sphere have to decide on the affordability of an in-house content team and how to use them to their advantage. Because content is required for everything - branding, marketing campaigns, and promotions, a bouquet of texts, videos, photographs, graphics, etc. has to be created. Quality and deadlines play a crucial role as each action needs the expertise of professionals.

Before arriving at any decision, weighing up the benefits and challenges of an in-house content team would be beneficial.

Key benefits

Nimbleness and diligence: An in-house team increases the chances of risk-taking and experimenting with the content that goes up, and nimbly too. The ability of teams to focus on one brand reflects positively in terms of efficiency and diligence. The in-house team adds swiftness in making core and vital decisions and brainstorming sessions.

The flow of ideas and synergy: The easy access of the creative team to the larger business teams makes it easier for them to connect the dots and bring out the brand story in the best possible way. Interactions between multiple creative individuals from different design verticals like graphic design, product design, and photography and discussing concepts together also creates synergy.

Deep understanding of the brand: The scope of the team dedicating time and efforts to one brand increases their knowledge of the product and services offered as well as the tone and language used as a part of the brand placement.

Quality within deadlines: For the brands, deadlines are sacrosanct and the quality of the content is equally valuable to maintain the uniqueness of the products or services. A team within reach usually helps in striking the right balance between the two extremes.

We may count the benefits of the in-house content team, but can't deny the challenges of having one.

Challenges

Creative block: In-house content team works relentlessly to enhance the content, but they can face creative blocks that can lead to potential monotony. Active upskilling, open-mindedness, experimentation, and apt external sources of inspiration can curb this. Additionally, new members in every team periodically helps to freshen things up, bringing in a wider gamut of ideas and perspectives.

Resources cost: Startups kick off with finite resources, therefore, weighing cost and benefit is a must for them. As a result, having a huge team in every department becomes challenging as it adds up to the cost. The challenges of resource cost can be thus met with outsourcing to agencies and freelancers who would also bring in fresh ideas and strategies.

Balancing act: The key to a good strategy lies in finding what works best for your brand, depending upon the segment, nature of work, and goals and objectives of the business and funds. There should be in-depth research of the pros and cons of both in-house content creation and outsourcing content to agencies and freelancers to find out the right mix that works the best.