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In any comparison of DIY and DFY Content Repurposing, SEO Optimized content wins. Whether you make your content yourself (DIY) or get it from a third party (DFY), make sure to focus on content that people are already searching for.
Unless you know who your audience is and what they are looking for, both DIY and DFY content won’t work for you. Once you narrow down your ideal customer and understand what they want to consume, you have a choice to make.
Will you make that content yourself or will you have a third party do it for you? That’s the choice between Do it Yourself (DIY) content and Done For You (DFY) content. And this article will help you understand the pros and cons of each choice so you can make the right decision.
DIY Content - What Is It?
DIY Content is content you make yourself. If you don’t pay anyone else to make content for you, you’re making DIY content. For individual creators, this means that they have no editors or assistance. For businesses, DIY content means that all content is made in-house with zero outside help.
The table below shows how DIY content can vary between solo creators and businesses.
| Aspect of DIY Content | Solo Creator | Business |
| Script/Text | Written by the creator. | Written by an employee. |
| Filming | Executed by the creator. | Executed by employees. |
| Editing | Done by the creator. | Done by an employee. |
| Packaging and Publishing. | Done by the creator. | Done by an employee. |
| Assistance | No assistance. | Assistance from within the company. |
| Number of people involved | 1 | 3 to 8 |
As you can see, DIY Content can be more hectic for small businesses and solopreneurs who cannot dedicate as many hours to their content. That’s why they need content repurposing.
DIY Content Repurposing allows you to turn one video into hundreds of clips and graphics to post on your social media. You can 10x your output with just thirty minutes of dedicated repurposing effort.
Try ContentFries, the content multiplication engine, for free and see how much content you can mine from just one video.
What Are The Benefits Of DIY Content?
DIY content is often recommended for new creators and businesses because of perks like:
Low overhead - You don’t have to pay others to make your content.
High adaptability - You can quickly change lanes based on what’s working for you.
Freedom to explore - You can try different things because you’re not limited by a pre-determined strategy.
Content with personality - When you do everything yourself, your content is more uniquely yours.
Quick turnaround - You can pump out videos more quickly when you bootstrap their production.
What Are The Drawbacks Of DIY Content?
At some point, you need to get extra help or even outsource your entire production to professionals. That’s because doing everything yourself can have disadvantages like:
More work - Content creation is a job. With DIY Content, you (or your employees) take on an additional job.
Greater learning curve - Because you have to learn through trial and error.
Lower content quality - At least initially, your content won’t be as polished as DFY content.
Longer production time - While you can pump out DIY content quickly, you need to spend more hours on each video as a DIY creator.
More screen time - Solopreneurs who DIY their content get over a hundred hours of extra screen time.
Who Is DIY Content For?
Now that you know the pros and cons of DIY content, let’s go over whether it is the right choice for your business. We will go over the ideal profile for someone who should DIY their content and you can decide how well it fits you.
Team Size - 1 To 5 People
If you are a solopreneur or have a team of up to five people, you’re still in the bootstrapping phase of your journey. Done For You content can be expensive so it is better to do it yourself at this stage. Businesses with more than 5 employees can have a hybrid approach where they get help from freelancers without outsourcing their entire production.
On the surface, it looks like smaller businesses should be outsourcing their content production. The more employees you have the more people can work on your content, right? Wrong. The more employees you have, the more work there is to be done. And hopefully, you’re making more money and can afford outside assistance.
Content Creation Budget - Under $300/Month
If your content budget is less than $300, you will not get top-shelf DFY content anyway. So it is better that you use that budget to get the best software and make high-quality content yourself.
While strictly DIY content would require zero outside support, you can hire freelancers for editing or writing within that budget. But before you do that, we still recommend doing everything in-house at first. It helps you understand the process and see if you even need any help at all.
Hours To Spare - 4 Hours/Day
You need to dedicate roughly 24 hours per week to make content for your business. That could be four hours per day for one person or one hour per day for four employees. The total amount of work (and hours) can be divided as you see fit.
So, ask yourself if you or your employees can dedicate a total of 24 hours per week to your content. If the answer is yes, then don’t pay outsiders to make content for you. Do it in-house.
Lifetime Customer Value - Under $2500
Finally, the economic question. What do you get from your content? If your videos lead to customer acquisition, you can justify paying for them. And if those customers spend over $2500 on your business, you can splurge on your content.
To calculate the lifetime value of your customers, estimate how long a customer sticks around (in years) and multiply it by how much he spends on your business each year.
**Customer Lifetime Value = Annual Customer Spend x Customer Lifespan (in years) **
If your customer spends $100 on your business each year and stays within your customer pool for 10 years, his lifetime value to your business is $1000.
Tips for Repurposing DIY Content
In case you’re choosing to DIY your content, then you have to understand content repurposing. It is a cheat code that lets you make more content with less effort. And you don’t have to water down or lower your video quality. Just follow these tips.
Understand Pillar vs Derivate Content - Pillar content is the main content you make (like a podcast or a webinar). Derivative content is content that’s derived from it (like short clips).
Create high-quality pillar content - The better quality your pillar content is, the better your derivative content will look.
Pre-plan derivatives - When you script your pillar content, create specific snippets that you can turn into clips later on.
Use a repurposing program - Finally, remember to use a platform like ContentFries to quickly turn your videos into 30+ pieces of content within minutes.
To learn more about content repurposing, check out this article on How to Repurpose Content For Social Media.
DFY Content - What is it?
DFY Content stands for Done-for-You content. Many businesses choose to hire agencies to do their content for them. It has become a staple in the content marketing space but isn’t necessarily the best option for everyone.
Most businesses take a hybrid approach where they make content in-house but hire extra help from contractors. That is not considered DFY. The table below shows how Hybrid and DFY approaches differ.
| Aspect | Hybrid Content | Done-for-You content |
| Writing | Done by a freelancer (usually) | Done by the agency. |
| Filming | Done in-house | Executed by the agency. |
| Editing | Often outsourced | Done by the agency. |
| Employee Involvement | The business hires a videographer. | The business has a content manager |
| Business Spend per month | Under $2000 | Over $1000 |
As you can see, the $1000 to $2000 range is where you can choose between either type. There are some DFY content providers that charge less than $300 per month. But the content they offer isn’t high quality.
DFY content that you can be proud of will cost you a pretty penny. But it will have advantages that can be worth the money.
What Are The Benefits Of DFY Content?
With DFY content you get your time back alongside specialized expertise from professionals who make content for a living. This results in the following advantages.
No learning curve - Since the content provider has experience the trial and error phase is nominal.
Quicker results - While DFY production can take time, you see results more quickly because of the agency's experience.
Professional-looking content - DFY content providers hire professionals for filming and editing, which can make your content look good.
More time to focus on money-making aspects of your business - finally, your employees can focus on what pays the bills instead of taking on additional content creation duties.
As you can see, a lot of the advantages of DFY content revolve around the agency's experience and manpower. So if you choose this option, make sure to vet the provider before hiring them.
What Are The Drawbacks of DFY Content?
DFY content seems like a great option until you realize that it strips your online presence of its personality. The drawbacks below explain why many businesses avoid DFY content.
It looks like everything else - Because it is made by providers who make content for other businesses, yours can look similar to everything else that's out there.
What makes you special doesn't shine through - Your content not only looks less unique but is also devoid of anything that makes you special.
It can be expensive - Unless you have the customer lifetime value to justify paying a premium for your content, DFY content isn't worth what it costs.
You might hire the wrong agency - Hiring the wrong DFY content provider can ruin your brand. An amateur masquerading as a group of professionals can scam new businesses out of thousands of dollars for subpar content.
Who is DFY Content for?
Sometimes even the best DFY agency is a bad fit for your business because you're better off making content in-house. So before you hire a DFY content provider see if the following profile fits you.
You have more than 8 employees - In larger businesses, everyone has a specialized role. Adding content creation to their duties can be distracting.
You can't set aside 24 hours a week for content creation - You need at least one employee to dedicate 4 hours a day to content creation. Or you can have 4 employees dedicating an hour each. But the total is usually 24 hours. If you can't carve out that much, you need DFY content.
Your customers have a lifetime value of over $2500 - With such a high customer value, you can justify paying a premium for your content. More importantly, you can hire a top-tier provider.
You can vet providers and hire the best one - Finally, you need to be able to vet providers and choose the right DFY content agency for your business.
Tips for Repurposing DFY Content
DFY content agencies charge you by the number of videos they create for you. And one way to keep your DFY costs low is to order 4 long-form videos per month and repurpose them into hundreds of content pieces using a platform like ContentFries.
Here are some tips to get the most out of DFY content.
Create short clips from your video - This is the most common way to repurpose your content. You can do this with ContentFries.
Use AI transcription to create blog posts from your videos - This works for spoken-word content (like Webinars).
Hire a virtual assistant - You'll get the most mileage out of your ContentFries subscription by handing it over to an employee or a freelancer. Let them dedicate all their time to finding creative ways to repurpose your content.
Final Thoughts
DIY content is content you make yourself while DFY content is made for you by an agency or a production company. DIY has advantages like high adaptability and lower costs. It also has a key drawback of being time-intensive. On the other hand, DFY content is hands-free and frees up your time.
However, it does require a larger financial investment. Both types of content come at a price. In one you pay with your time and in the other with your money. To get the most for what you pay, you should begin repurposing your content with ContentFries.