Business owners and marketers often have plenty of responsibilities to deal with, so when it comes to creating content for advertising they usually need a helping hand of a professional writer. His or her typical tasks usually include writing expert articles, content for web pages, blog posts, press releases, emails, social media promos, and more. Producing high-quality, relevant content is an important part of your entire marketing strategy, so make sure to take your time and choose the right specialist for your project.
Factors to Consider
To build an effective communication with your clients, your writer should have specific skills and a certain work attitude. The following guidelines will help you select a reliable expert:
Knowledge of the Niche
It takes a while for a writer to understand a new topic. In addition, your audience will easily figure out that your writer paraphrases content rather than creates it from scratch. Such a fake authority can affect your brand negatively. Therefore, look for an author whose specialty is close to yours.
Candidate’s Productivity
Get a free strategy session
Some positions require constant writing, for instance, blogging and posting on social media. However, there may be urgent tasks such as updating a landing page or producing a promotional email. You may be disappointed if your specialist spends too much time on each piece of writing. You also do not want to hire a writer who is not responsive to urgent challenges.
Grammar and Style
One of the best ideas is communicating with a candidate using a chat. Of course, you may conduct a Skype interview, but since you are looking for a writer, why not to talk to him or her via chat? Pay close attention to grammar, writing style, and logic.
Plagiarism Issue
This seems obvious, but do not hesitate to ask what software a writer uses to check the text for unintentional plagiarism. If he or she cannot name any, this is an alarming sign. In addition, remember to run one of the sample pieces of text written by a candidate through a plagiarism detection software.
Understanding the Audience
At the end, your content should be engaging and helpful for a particular group of people. So, a professional writer always takes the target audience into account. While some writers compose technical documents perfectly, they may not be able to produce an easy-to-read Friday catch-up for a corporate blog, for example.
Naturally, you may fail to find a perfect match. In such a case, check if a chosen candidate is a fast learner and feels enthusiastic about your project. In some niches, especially narrow ones, it makes sense to teach a writer the basics and assign an expert who will consult him or her to ensure that the produced content is accurate.
Depending on a kind of project you are working on, you may require a different type of writer to join your team. Let’s discuss the main kinds of writers who may help you promote your business.
Copywriter
Copywriters often create marketing content. They write to encourage the readers to perform some kind of action. For example, to comment a blog post, sign up for email updates, contact a sales manager, etc.
Typically, copywriters produce white papers, case studies, advertisements, emails, and blog posts. Sometimes, it is required to have some technical knowledge, but usually, copywriters have journalistic, marketing, or linguistic background.
Technical Writer
Technical writers are specialists who explain complex technical concepts in a way the target audience would understand. In other words, technical writers do not need to persuade their readers; rather, they provide insights and help people use the described product. Instructional skills are a must for this kind of professionals.
The samples of work may include instructions, guidelines, manuals, legal forms, technical specifications, API documents, ebooks, etc. The vital part is that these specialists write about technical subjects. They address “How?” questions.
Technical Copywriter
These specialists write copies to promote technical products. They may explain how to use them, but primarily, their goal is to sell. Usually, technical copywriters have to avoid complex technical details, so their copies often seem simplified as compared to those produced by technical writers.
If you work in the IT niche, you may need an IT copywriter, who will produce a persuasive piece of writing. He or she will explain why to purchase your products or services.
SEO Writer
SEO writers prepare content that meets the requirements of search engines. Thus, people can find a particular webpage with ease, and businesses get more traffic to their websites. Such writers should have research and analytical skills, know the SEO basics, be creative, and have a large vocabulary. However, they do not have to be tech-savvies.
Such writers often help SEO experts do keyword research using different tools and interact with digital marketers. It is important that your SEO writer understands what a conversion-oriented copy is and how to produce one in a reasonable amount of time.
Creative Writer
Creative writers prepare pieces of content to educate and entertain. They aim to help people enjoy the reading. The skills that you should look for are imagination, writing talent, desire to write, and patience. This kind of writing often requires more time than technical writing. In other words, this is not about writing and publishing quickly.
Typically, this kind of writers produces editorial articles, stories, novels, screenplays, and promotional materials. They are often more flexible when it comes to writing as compared to copywriters and technical writers.
Final Comments
If you search for a writer for your online project, you should identify your goals first and understand whether you want to sell or explain something to your clients.
We hope that the aforementioned guidelines will help you find the right specialist able to assist your marketer, your development team, or other specialists with solving any tasks related to writing content. Meanwhile, Promodo team can recommend reliable writers to deal with SEO writing and content marketing.
About the Authors
Promodo team
Marketing department
Leave a Reply