What to Look for in Science and Technical Content Marketing Agencies
things to identify when looking for science and technical content agencies.
There are many different marketing agencies or content agencies available for hire. As there are so many, it can often be tricky to know which agency would be the best fit for your organisation. Choosing the right agency might not always be an easy task.
Scientific content marketing requires an analytical approach. As a marketing approach, content marketing has been a successful tactic in the scientific and technical sectors for many years. It attracts website visitors and generates leads - both required for effective digital marketing.
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With up-to-date content, more traffic will be pointed towards the website. And as the traffic increases on the website, so does conversation and interest in other articles or services the organisation provides.
7 things to Look for in Science and Technical Content Marketing Agencies
Here are some of our thoughts on the things to look for in science and technical content marketing agencies.
1. Similar company values
Working with an agency that values the same aspirations and goals, but also operates in a similar environment as your organisation, is important. This should allow you to collaborate well as a team. At Orientation Marketing, our values derive from ensuring attention to detail, this is also reflected in all of our content projects, to the same level of detail and scrutiny, no matter how small. We go into depth with information so you fully understand everything we do and why. At Orientation Marketing we like to consider the agency as an extension of your business, we work to build close relationships with our clients, working towards the same attributes and goals as each other. Seek out the values of the agencies you are looking to work with to determine if they are a fit.
2. No wild or exaggerated promises
A marketing agency will give you results based on a campaign that has previously run should the results have come back to them. These results will be based on the agreed target audience and offer an idea of how any objectives that were discussed at the beginning have worked. Targets should be agreed at the offset of any project and there should be no wildly exaggerated promises in regards to the results. For instance, an agency could claim you have the top spot in Google Ads statistics for the organic google search result but this is likely never achieved on a long-term basis. This would show the lack of understanding of both long-term and short-term marketing strategies and goals. It would be best to stick with a marketing agency that offers transparency and realistic promises and results for your company. Discuss the objectives and the outputs early on with your agency and challenge any outlandish or seemingly exaggerated promises made, if any.
3. A great agency blog
A content marketing agency should have a blog. A blog shows that they have a clear content marketing strategy in place - creating content for specific marketing reasons - which shows insights into the industry and sector. The agency blog should be up-to-date with regular publishing to the website. Both the tone and the writing style should be in a friendly and inviting tone, but must also accurately and clearly communicate the key points (similar to technical documents themselves). Within the agency, there should be a range of different people and agency team members publishing blogs, showing that there are different perspectives within an industry or sector. If an agency has these things in place (a structured content marketing program that has clear signs of strategy) then it is a promising sign that they should have the same exact approach when working with your organisation.
4. Do they share previous content work?
Being able to see case studies and other previous successful content pieces from the agency will give you insight into the content that the agency has successfully completed. Key information to try and find out is: (1) Have they had a long-lasting collaboration with clients, (2) do they have relevant and current case studies and (3) do they have clients in the same industry and sector as your company? This information can help you get an insight into what the agency can be like when working together, as well as what the potential end product may look like. The agency should have up-to-date case studies showing previous client work on their website which you can access. If no examples are available, it is likely that upon request you would be granted access to these examples.
5. EXPERIENCED WRITERS IN THE SECTOR
Content creation for your scientific or technical organisation should come from dedicated and experienced writers in your field. Every writer should have an understanding of the content that your company needs to create, which requires experience in the sector to be able to achieve this in the full. The writer needs to be aware of technical terms, and their appropriate uses in context, that are being used throughout the content, whatever its format. If the content piece does not hold up from a technical perspective - meaning it is likely written from a non-technical writer - then it will not resonate with the technical audience for which it was created for.
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6. Do they discuss content marketing ROI?
Carrying on from the point above; if the content piece isn’t resonating with its intended user, then it would likely become worthless, meaning that it won’t produce any real marketing results. ROI is hugely important in the scientific and technical sectors, simply because there is likely a cost associated with the creation of that content. Content should be created for a purpose; to find out more about a topic or to submit some details. If the content agencies do not discuss results, statistics and ROI in relation to the content they speak of, then this would be a primer to look further into the services offered. Ask about content marketing ROI or how their content can influence a typical buyer’s journey.
7. Attention to (technical) detail
Technical and scientific content, for it to be effective, would need to be highly detailed, thorough, up-to-date and consistent with market commentary as well as other content pieces. All technical and scientific terms, abbreviations and references all need to be consistent with one another - any inconsistencies would suggest a lack of attention to detail. Something a scientific audience would likely pick up on when reviewing and reading the final content document. You would likely be able to identify any inconsistencies as such by reading articles and pages on the agency website, before diving deeper into the technical case studies and examples which you also might be able to access.
What to look for in science and technical content marketing agencies (Summary)
The post above summarises some of the things to identify when you are reviewing content marketing agencies. The main criteria is to identify a provider who understands complex topics and then be capable of producing marketing content related to such topics. The clues above can help you identify this from the outset. If you would like to know more about our content marketing capabilities, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
For more on marketing approaches in the pharmaceutical sectors, and how we can help you, visit our agency section.