Some clients find it difficult to outsource their content because they don’t want to hand over the reigns to someone else. Great managers are notorious for struggling to delegate tasks without being tempted to micromanage. When it comes to ordering content, there are a few tips you will want to read through to help your writer nail your voice as quickly as possible.
Creating a Voice
Your brand probably already has a voice. If not, it is time to create a consistent tone targeted at a specific audience. Your voice needs to be cohesive with other advertising your company does, as well as merge successfully with your brand’s look, feel and direction. Your voice should add personality and perspective. You don’t want to sound light and carefree if you are a law firm. You also don’t want to sound tedious if you are a college – even if you need academically-minded content. If you’ve already been publishing content, you need bloggers for hire that can add to your existing content without taking you in a different direction.
Nailing the Voice
One of the best ways to help your writer understand your voice, is to provide specific examples of content you have published and loved. You can also provide examples of competitors or other companies with a sentence or two explaining what you like about their brand voice.
One of the most helpful things I’ve seen clients do to get a writer on the right track is come up with the title and subheads for the very first article. Seeing the wording and direction in such a specific way seems to really help me understand their direction. With future orders, a client might want to have the writer do most of the creative work – some clients even want the writer to come up with Topic Suggestions for content ideas. Nailing the voice is the first step though, and it isn’t always an easy one.
Working With Your Writer
It is well worth it to work with a writer until he or she is well versed in your needs. Most writers will have a lot of regular clients and it is fairly easy to remember individual styles and needs (especially if this is supplemented by the instructions). Keep in mind it’s important not to rush in the beginning. Content can be turned around pretty quickly, but it is imperative to communicate with your writer in order to form the kind of working relationship that benefits you both. Writers don’t want to work for a client who treats them like indispensable cogs in a content machine any more than clients want to be treated as another assignment to churn out from a full plate.
When to Move On
I really hate to think that the relationship between the writer and client might come to a premature end, but the reality is: it doesn’t always work out. I’ve had few and far examples of this in my own experience, but occasionally a writer will struggle to mesh with a brand. When you see this happening, I encourage you to be patient and allow a mutual end to the relationship. Clients will get far more from writers if they first try to communicate their disconnect. If that disconnect cannot be bridged, it may be time to move on. Please know that a writer has already spent time working on your assignment, and neither party wants to feel his or her time was wasted. It’s rare, but we all know there are other fish in the sea.
Writer Bio: Alethea M is a writer at WriterAccess, covering topics that range from marketing and design to photography and chiropractic care. She loves pulling out interesting facts from her corporate blogging research to impress friends at dinner parties.
