When you picture your ideal content writer, what do you think of? You want someone who can handle all of your writing needs, right? That way you don’t have to look for a big team of people who are all doing different things, and you don’t have to keep going through the hiring process. If you have several niche areas, you could end up with one writer for this, another for that…and eventually it all just gets confusing and overwhelming. While niche writers can be great choices for very specific markets, your needs could be far better served in many cases by hiring a generalist writer who also has mad skills when it comes to finding quality information and learning quickly.
Do You Really Need Someone in Your Niche?
You can definitely hire someone in your niche. There are writers available who have years of experience in everything from real estate to the medical field. And they’ll do a great job. But do you really need to hire someone who has that experience, or can you hire someone whose knowledge base is a little broader and not as detailed? By choosing a writer who’s a generalist, you get not only good content for the niche you’re focused on now, but someone who can write on a lot of other topics for you in the future. In short, you could build a long-term relationship with a writer or team of writers you know you can rely on to handle whatever content needs you have as your company evolves.
Where Does Knowledge Come From?
Today, it comes from memes and Photoshopped pictures on the internet. Well, maybe not in all cases. Seriously, in many cases knowledge comes from doing something and having experience with it. That’s the value of a niche writer, because they have generally been there and done that. But knowledge also comes from learning about something, even if you don’t have first hand experience with it. Sure, reading about brain surgery wouldn’t mean you should be operating on someone, but for most types of content tasks it’s possible to gain knowledge from reading that will be more than enough to write good quality content in that area or industry.
Generalists Are Generally Good Researchers
Hiring a generalist — whether for writing or other tasks — is something a lot of startups and other companies are doing today. They see the value of versatility, and how they can get an employee who can do it all (or at least most of it). Because of the power of the internet and how much credible information can be found there, a generalist writer with good research skills can find nearly anything they’re looking for. So many of the information they need to write quality content is literally at their fingertips, and that benefits them and the people who hire them, too.
Hiring a writer, whether it’s for a one-off project or a long-term gig, is an important consideration. The content they produce is part of the face you show to customers. You want it to be something that people will remember for all the right reasons. With the right generalist writer and researcher, you can have great content, peace of mind, and the versatility that can help move your company forward.
Michelle B writes web content, articles, blog posts, product descriptions, and more, and has created thousands of pieces of content for companies all over the world. She holds an associate’s degree in business management and a bachelor’s degree in legal administration.
