We all instinctively know whether a piece of content is written from the heart or simply to order. There is an authenticity to great writing that cannot be faked. So, if you’re working with freelance writers, make sure they have access to your Subject Matter Experts.
If you were asked for a company portrait, you might think carefully about the clothes you choose for the shoot, take a bit of time on hair and makeup or have a view about which was your best side.
But you wouldn’t substitute a photograph of a different person and insist on that being used instead. But copywriters are often asked to produce a piece of content with minimal input from the company in whose name it is being written. That’s no less crazy.
Can I write something from scratch entirely on my own? Of course. I once did a series of blogs for a CRM vendor in which I was given a series of target audiences and simply asked to ‘write something interesting’. It was a success – the CTR’s were ‘way above average’.
However, I never consider assignments such as these to be my best work. The views in those blogs were mine alone. They didn’t reflect the particular views of the company concerned (although I was at pains to ensure that the two were aligned). They didn’t refer to anecdotes about customer interactions I didn’t have. They didn’t include insights that weren’t being written about elsewhere. How could they?
The ghost in the machine
In my PR days, I would often ghost-write articles for clients. Because these articles were accredited to a particular individual – and would enhance their industry standing, their personal brand and even their job prospects – we had Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs)queuing up to participate. However, these experts relied on their PR colleagues to give them the external exposure they craved; and the PR team needed their expertise in order to generate the column inches on which they were measured. So, there was a real mutuality of both respect and interest at play.
My experience suggests that this mutuality is somewhat missing from B2B marketing, although this is far from being universally true. Perhaps, because these experts’ contributions are often anonymised in e-Books or position papers, they are viewed as an imposition rather than an opportunity. Or maybe it’s the fact that marketers often defer to their sales leads and are reluctant to ‘bother them’ with requests for a briefing which may distract them from their sales mission.
Cold Feet
It is my firm belief that the reticence that many B2B clients have when it comes to putting a writer in front of their SMEs is based on a misassumption; and is a serious barrier to the success of any content-based marketing strategy.
Firstly, I haven’t met an expert that doesn’t love talking about what they do and expressing their views about the industry in which they have invested years of their professional lives; so, marketers should have no fears on that score (as long as their copywriters are knowledgeable and well briefed).
The second point goes to the issue of authenticity: whether it’s a turn of phrase, an opinion, an anecdote or a customer example, the expert will bring something to the conversation that is unique to that individual and that organisation. That distinctiveness is at the heart of great content; and it cannot be manufactured.
We all have a shared responsibility to put the distinctive character of our organisation or client at the heart of everything we produce.
That means having the courage to enlist the help of those experts that can contribute to the process – and the patience to explain to them the value of doing so.
This is an extract from “The Write Stuff: Six things every B2B marketer should know about content creation”. This provides muggles (i.e., non-copywriters) with practical tips that will improve their understanding of what great content looks like – and uplift their ability to contribute positively to its creation.
To find out how Just Global can help you ensure that great writing is at the heart of your campaigns, get in touch at: [email protected]