Every freelance writer has different strengths, weaknesses, and portfolios. But they all share one thing in common: their desire to deliver their best work to every client, including you.
Unfortunately, without the right guidance, a clash between what writers produce and what clients expect is inevitable.
If you want to know how to succeed when outsourcing writing, keep these 3 tips in mind as you place your orders and communicate with your writer:
Show What Works & Highlight What Doesn’t
Whether it’s a previous piece of content that’s been performing well for your company, or a competitor’s piece that you wish you had thought of first, send your writer a link!
As a writer, having an idea of what you like helps your talent team create new work you’ll love as well. Links to your favorite content pages on the web are an excellent place for writers to get ideas for subject and tone.
If there are certain terms or phrases that particularly catch your eye, mention these too – if you ask your writers to include them, they’ll be happy to!
Additionally, if there are specific sources you’d like your writer to refer to, quote or link back to, it’s best to let them know before they get to work.
Provide Context Around Your Content
While certain content projects are kept hush-hush out of necessity, let your writer know the intention for a piece of content if you’re able to.
They’ll write an article one way if it’s just meant as a light, informative piece to engage the reader, but may structure it differently if the end goal is to sell a specific product.
Just as a story needs a compelling narrative to succeed, if writers breeze through an entertaining conversation about a subject and suddenly push for a hard sell at the end, it will be jarring to your customers and potentially drive them away.
Writers know that a happy, successful client is one that comes back for more content, so clue them in to your master plan whenever you can!
Remind Them of Restrictions
If you have a publishing deadline at 4pm EST on Friday, or work with a website template that can’t take more than 500 words, incorporate that information into your order or creative brief.
When you are outsourcing content creation, being on the same page as your writer is absolutely vital to prevent miscommunication and disappointment.
Knowing specific details about timelines and character count restrictions will keep revisions to a minimum and get you the content you’re looking for more quickly.
WriterAccess provide a feature especially for these occasions with Rulesets! Rulesets allow you to create a checklist for your writer. The writer must review each, and actively confirm they have followed each before sending their deliverable.
In Conclusion
When placing your order for outsourced content creation, remember that your writer has the same goal that you do: fantastic content.
When you define what you’re looking for, let them know about special considerations, and communicate your expectations, the result will be a collaborative content story that always ends in a happily ever after.
What are some pain points you have run into while collaborating with your content team?
Delany M is a freelancer working within the WriterAccess platform who helps guide clients to creating great content. Learn more about the writers you can collaborate with, and how we stack up against the content creation competition!
