If you are considering hiring the services of a content marketing agency, inform yourself as to their purpose, philosophy, the 7 S's, what services you will be entitled to and how much you should expect to pay for those content services.

When seeking to hire the services of a content marketing agency ensure that such is able to "provide services that integrate the tactics of several approaches to ensure the effectiveness of the content marketing strategy. Through content creation, optimization and testing a content marketing agency provides a solution to content marketing that improves the bottom line of the company." (www.idealaunch.com/blog)

Joe Pulizzi of Junta42.com content marketing agency explains the "content revolution" inn marketing. (Courtesy of: juntajoe for YouTube.com)

The philosophy behind a content marketing agency is that "Content is King" in Marketing.. generally the more useful and interesting content a website has the more successful it will be, because more people will want to visit it again and again, this is especially true if a website is constantly adding more and more content on a regular basis, be it articles, tutorials, news and opinion or whatever." (www.v7n.com)

In order to ensure that your new content marketing service is on the "same page" as you, ask them "The 7 S's" questions:

"2 Essentials of Content Marketing

• Strategy - Do you have a Content Marketing Strategy?
• Segment - How do you use Content to engage with different Market Segments?

4 Essentials of Content

• Simple - Is your Content Simple?
• Succinct - Is your Content Succinct?
• Scannable - Is your Content Scannable?
• Steak and Sizzle - Does your Content have both Steak and Sizzle?

1 Bonus must-have for Content Marketing

• Social Media - Is Social Media part of your Content Marketing Plan? " (www.clickdocuments.com)

The most important service that any content marketing agency provides is that of creating a sound content marketing strategy. Once that has been defined, the content marketing agency should then focus on the development and positioning of such on the internet.

Through content creation and marketing the agency should be able to provide material in the language that your target audience "speaks" - i.e., teens, older adults, etc. The content marketing agency of your choice should also use the marketing content it has created to improve your business's presence on search engines. Lastly, your agency should "provide continued monitoring of the content marketing strategy to make sure that the most optimal strategy is being employed to increase conversion of prospects into customers." (www.idealaunch.com/blog)

Additionally, a content marketing agency should provide you with other services such as research, editorial services, media relations management and "PR Metrics" (www.shiftcomm.com) These services should be molded to fit all kinds sized businesses - i.e., start-up, small, medium, etc.

There are three basic approaches that a content marketing agency may employ in charging for its services.

Hourly or Per Diem: The consultant sets an hourly or daily rate. The main concern here is that due to the fact that it per hour/diem, you may want to minimize your contact with you content marketing agency consultant, to keep the charge low. John Goodman believes that this is the least attractive option, ".while the consultant is rewarded for being inefficient. Further, the consultant is required to maintain detailed time records, an extra task." (www.marketingprofs.com)

Retainer Agreement: In this scenario you will enter into an agreement with your content marketing agency to pay X amount over an agreed upon period of time. Again, John Goodman feels that this is not the best situation, "savvy consultants strive to over-deliver on a regular basis so that clients feel they "are receiving very high value for their commitment," claims Goodman. Such arrangements are only feasible after the consultant has proven his or her value to the client." (www.marketingprofs.com)

Project Billing: Here, the content marketing agency charges for the entire project, in one invoice. Goodman, in www.marketingprofs.com, believes that this is the best method for all involved, ""It is the fairest approach for both the client and the consultant," in Goodman's considered opinion. Why? The consultant is motivated to work efficiently, and the client pays for value received rather than hours worked." You will also find agencies who will throw in certain services, such as copywriting, free of charge.

If instead of hiring a content marketing agency you decide to go with freelancers, "Whitney", in www.path101.com, shows us how they figure out their rates, "Find out the length of the contract and at the very least a budget range. From there you can work backwards. Assume you're going to end up working more than 15 hours a week. So if it's a 6-month engagement at 20 hours a week, that's 520 hours. Figure out what is worth it to you, and then add 20%. If that's far outside of their budget, be flexible to figure out what will work for them. But never, ever work for free or charge less than you believe you're worth just to get the job." From the same source,

"StephAg", also from www.path101.com, breaks it down to hourly, "In terms of hourly - I think you have to charge the standard hourly rates for others in your age / experience level. I believe the range is $15 - 20 / hour. A great rule of thumb for figuring out hourly rates for full-time employment is take an estimated annual salary number and divide by 2000. So, for example, an annual salary of $40,000 backs out to ABOUT $20 / hour."