Many marketing teams think that buying content is a trial-and-error process.
While this may be partly true, companies can quickly raise the quality of content they receive by communicating a more coherent content strategy to writers.
After all, content writers aren’t mind readers, and they appreciate well-defined parameters for projects.
To back up your sales and marketing efforts with the most effective content, you have to be sure that writers understand what your strategy is. Three of the most important elements in any company’s strategy are its brand, goals and audience.
- Your brand. Is your company edgy and open to courting a little debate? Is it classic and revered? Is it about comfort and familiarity or flash and daring? Every call for content should include a paragraph that defines your company’s brand identity. This will establish an ideal starting point for content writers.
- Your goals. Writers will produce better content when they’re clear on your sales and marketing goals. What’s the purpose of the campaign the content will support? What’s the “call to action” for the content? To watch a video? To request contact by a sales rep? To sign up for an email newsletter? When content writers know if they should educate, entertain or sell to prospective clients, they can craft their material accordingly.
- Your audience. Before freelance content writers begin projects, they need to understand who they’re writing for. Established buyer personas, or in-depth profiles of real customers’ preferences, skills and behavior, can help writers create more effectively targeted content. Armed with these personas (like an SEO Account Manager at the “trial” or “purchase” stage of the customer journey), writers can customize content that will resonate with readers and support your sales goals.
About the author
Tracey S is a former trade editor (editorial director, Customer Interaction Solutions magazine) turned freelance business content writer. She has written material (both bylined articles and ghost-written material or staff editorial) for a wide variety of clients, including those offering content in business software, telecommunications services and equipment, manufacturing and industrial design, aerospace, 3D printing and additive manufacturing, materials science, smart grid/smart city initiatives and green energy. Her background is in marketing, which dovetails nicely with content creation, search engine optimization and sales/marketing enablement.
