Contently is a SaaS content marketing platform from the company of the same name headquartered in New York, containing features a collaboration space, calendar, and workflow controls, engagement metrics, and rapid access to a high volume of original content from freelance creative talent, researchers, and journalists.
Contently has received approximately $12.3 million in funding since its founding in 2010.
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WorkMarket by ADP
Score 8.0 out of 10
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WorkMarket was founded in 2010 and in 2018, was acquired by ADP, a global provider of HR technology and services. With ADP resources, WorkMarket continues to be focused on providing enterprise technology to help companies unlock the power of their extended workforce. WorkMarket is freelance management system (FMS) for hiring, onboarding and managing the extended workforce, including freelancers, contractors and contingent workforces.
It's helpful for top of marketing funnel writing that we can sometimes lose sight of because we are so ingrained in the product day to day. Contently is also helpful for long written pieces and ebooks that will take a significant amount of employee time to put together. I avoid using Contently for mid to bottom funnel marketing writing because my team will often have greater insight into the product function or use-case or product release, making them more adroit to the tone of the written piece and able to produce the content quickly.
If you have an emergency that requires a tech, and you don't have the resources in-house, then it's good to be able to call on these guys. I would never use my affiliation with them as a reason to say "we provide nationwide onsite services" because the techs, in the end, don't answer to you and may not work to your standards. It's definitely a band-aid last-resort, and you should let your clients know if you intend to use them.
Consolidating my work in one place to make my work life easier
Contently is unique from other content marketing organizational tools in one key way. It hands you a network of freelance professionals eager for delegated work.
You can search through a database of professionals to find the perfect person for your given project. Find individuals in your budget offering the exact skills and experience you need.
Offers technicians from a large geographical area (most major cities, many smaller cities, a limited international selection).
Creating competition - Mixed bag with this one depends on your outlook. Are you in favor of finding the person who will work for bottom dollar? I'll leave that aspect for your personal view.
Project Tracking: While I should likely have listed this first and I will say they do a better job than most at this it could use some key upgrades.
1099 filings and fiscal tracking -- They got this much down pat gotta admit.
Their mobile platform is not that great. Truthfully, there are some jobs viewable on the mobile under WorkFeed that I cannot apply to because it requires viewing the job from the full website.
If a job has requirements such as uploading GL insurance, background check, or drug test in order to apply for the job, then it should not be viewable at all for the technician who doesn't qualify.
Recently it keeps providing available jobs that are hours away which makes it difficult because when I have to counter, I usually don't get the job because I have to cover the 2-4 hours of driving each way. In short, they need to only list jobs that you are truly qualified to do within the proper distance.
I'm giving them a 10, but honestly, I've never reached out to them. I do see them putting out regular content on social media, so they might be responsive to questions there as well as regular customer support. In their posts and communication, they do seem to value their community, so hopefully, they have good customer support. And I've seen them asking for pitches from their community to publish well-paid articles during this stressful coronavirus time, and I really appreciate that.
If I could drag that slider to a negative number it would be more accurate. There are several canned responses that all resources receive when contacting WM support that you are assured will leave you feeling crushed, disheartened and even as if you are dealing with a Bot. The responses to posts in the support forum were so egregious that unrelated parties would read the posts and feel compelled to chide the WM support rep for inhuman indifference that sickened them. The support by management to its users is comical at best and nearly criminal at worst. This is justified by their very upfront belief that WM is only software and nothing more. Its some misguided attempt to take a company to a purely 1 and 0 mentality that is backfiring on a massive scale. This will likely become the story of legend in business schools worldwide as its a thinking I have seen no other corporation embody so single mindedly that they refuse to view its carnage in its wake.
I also opened an account with Skyword in 2019, which is a similar service. The person that recommended it was a travel writer, and since I've done that as well, I thought it might be a better fit. To this point, I've received no work from it either, and don't hold out a lot of hope. As previously mentioned, where I think Contently does well is by giving you an online portfolio, additional resources like a blog for learning, and a rates database for publications.
Contently contributors have produced some great inbound marking posts and creative materials saving our marketing team significant time allowing them to focus on more strategic plans for the business.
The amount of time Contently has saved our internal creative writing staff has more than paid for itself!
Positively, we can respond to out of state client emergencies with this service.
We actually don't make that much money on a call, it's negligible, so the ability to call them is really the selling point. It can help get contracts and footholds elsewhere, but it won't by itself generate much income if any.
