Building a content department from zero to $500,000
I built a content department at an agency from nothing. Here's what I'd tell anyone starting one.
At Baunfire, a digital agency for technology companies, I was hired to build something that didn't exist: a content department. There was no team, process or line on the price sheet. Two years later, it had brought in more than $500,000 in new revenue, with zero staff turnover.
Here's what made the difference.
Sell the work before you hire for it
It's tempting to build the team first and find the work later. That's backward. Early on, I was the department. I wrote, edited, sat in on sales calls and showed clients what strong content strategy did for their sites.
Once clients started asking for it by name, hiring was easy to justify.
Those early projects also became our proof. Every successful engagement gave sales a new example to share and gave me a clearer picture of what clients valued most.
Make content a paid deliverable
Agencies often treat copy as something thrown in at the end of a design project. That's how you end up with placeholder text in a final review. We turned content strategy and copywriting into defined, priced services with a clear process and clear outputs.
When content has a price, it gets a schedule. When it has a schedule, it gets respect.
Pricing it also forced us to define the work. What does a messaging framework include? How many rounds of revisions come with a website project? Clear answers made it easier to sell, easier to staff and easier to deliver on time.
“When content has a price, it gets a schedule. When it has a schedule, it gets respect.”
Hire for judgment, then teach the rest
The writers I hired weren't all experts in technology or security. They were curious, took feedback well and had good judgment about what mattered on a page. You can teach someone a subject. It's much harder to teach them taste.
I also hired for range. Agency work moves fast between industries, formats and stakeholders. A writer who can shift from a security homepage to a product launch email in the same afternoon is worth a lot.
Build the process early
Even with a small team, we needed a shared way of working:
- A consistent discovery process for every client
- Templates for messaging, page outlines and copy decks
- A clear editing workflow, so quality didn't depend on who wrote the copy
- Regular check-ins with design, so we planned words and visuals together
That last one changed the agency's work. When content and design started together, projects moved faster, and the final sites felt more cohesive. Clients noticed.
Show the work inside the company
A new department needs internal champions as much as clients. I made a point of sharing wins with leadership, sales and design: a client compliment, a strong launch or a project that led to more work.
That visibility helped the department grow. People are more likely to sell and support something they understand.
Grow your people
I edited closely, mentored constantly and promoted direct reports into senior roles when they were ready. Zero turnover wasn't luck. People stay when they're growing and know someone is in their corner.
Mentoring took time, and it was worth every hour. Writers who grew into senior roles took on more clients, trained newer hires and raised the quality bar for the whole team.
Know what to say no to
A new department gets pulled in every direction. Everyone has a project that needs words, and every request feels urgent. If you say yes to all of it, the team burns out, and the work that actually grows revenue gets squeezed.
I set clear priorities early. Client work that fit our services came first. Internal requests got a simple intake process and an honest timeline. Some requests got a polite no, with a suggestion for another way to get them done.
Saying no protected the team's time and kept the department focused on what it was built to do. It also made our yeses more valuable. When the content team took something on, people knew it would get real attention.
It also helped the team grow its skills in the right direction. Every project we took on built expertise in the work clients were paying for, which made the next pitch stronger and the department more valuable to the agency.
The short version
Prove the value before you build the team, and price content like it matters. Hire for judgment and range, and set up the process early. Share wins inside the company, and invest in your people, because they're the department.