Enhance Your Content by Adding Content-Focused Professionals to Your Team!
When running your own business, there are a lot of moving parts to take into consideration. One of these important moving parts that feeds into multiple other streams of business is your content.
Your content is essentially your voice; it promotes your brand, relays pertinent information, and gives your audience a sense of what you’re all about. However, building this voice - and knowing exactly how to portray the message you’re trying to get across - can be a challenge..
If you’ve been struggling with building your brand and creating exceptional content for your website, it may be time to hire a content writer or content marketing specialist.
Tip #1: Identify what type of content is in need of assistance.
The first step in hiring any new content creative is identifying what exactly you need help with. Content writers and content marketing professionals specialize in many different areas of interest, so it is important to make sure you are hiring someone with expertise in the areas you need.
After discovering what type of content you’d like to enhance, you can begin your search for someone who can fulfill those duties. Some common examples of content “types” include:
Blogs
Ebooks
Listicles
Case Studies
Newsletters
Landing pages
Email sequences
Web pages
Social posts
Brochures
Spotlight articles
Infographics
Video
Audio
Longform Content
White papers
How-To Guides
Templates
Tip #2: Ask for samples from your potential hires.
Once you know exactly what you’re looking for, you can begin your search. But, even if someone has the right qualifications, how can you know for sure that they’ll be able to fully encompass your brand?
Whether you’re hiring a freelancer or content and copywriting agency, you will want to see samples of their previous work.
A great way to see if someone’s experience with content creation will be a good fit for your needs is simply to ask for some samples. Content writers or content marketing specialists will have a portfolio or examples they can provide of work they’ve completed in the past.
Samples will give you a great idea of what a potential hire could bring to your company, and they could very well be a deciding factor between candidates.
Tip #3: Know your call to action (CTA) inside and out.
Another great resource for finding the right content professional is knowing, wholeheartedly, the call to action of your business.
What is the driving factor of what you do? What, ultimately, is your content trying to achieve? Having a concrete answer to these questions will help you get a better understanding of what type of content professional you should be looking for.
When you have a strong grasp for your call to action, it will be easier to acknowledge who will be best in helping get that CTA across to your audience.
Tip #4: Keep in mind that when it comes to content, authenticity is key.
Readers like something they can relate to. When finding the right content writer or content marketing specialist, it is important to make sure your candidates have a clear understanding of how to incorporate an authentic voice.
Remember, when marketing to your target audience, they don’t want to feel as if you’re trying to “sell” - they want to feel as if you’re trying to “solve.” After all, it is rarely ever the product or service that your audience is buying - it’s the transformation.
How will your product/service transform the life of your target audience? How will it solve their problems? Make sure this is something your candidates know how to incorporate into their work. As stated by StoryBrand, “People do not like sophisticated voices or natural voices – they like authentic voices.”
Tip #5: Consider these questions when reviewing content.
So, you have your top candidates, you’ve asked for samples, you know exactly what you’re looking for, and you’re excitedly ready to review your potential new hires. But making that final decision can be tricky, especially if you have a large pool of experts with admirable work experience.
When reviewing the content samples of your candidates, what exactly should you be looking for? What can set someone apart? Is this candidate better than someone internally on your team that can take copywriting courses and improve their skills? Below are some questions you should ask yourself when reviewing content, in order to determine which content writer/content marketing specialist will be best:
Does their voice sound seamless or forced?
You want someone who can relate to your target audience and seamlessly incorporate your call to action into their content creation. If the voice seems forced, it may not be a good fit.
Will your readers be able to clearly understand the point they’re trying to make? Or, do they get in the way of proving their own point?
Again, authenticity is key when creating content - your readers should be able to clearly define your overall controlling idea, and they shouldn’t have to work in order to find the point you’re trying to get across.
If a reader can’t clearly identify the point of the content, they simply won’t stick around to try and find it.
Is their voice sustainable? Can it be carried through multiple pieces of content?
You don’t want content that sounds redundant, and your audience won’t want to read it. When reviewing content, make sure the voice is not only authentic, but also sustainable.
Does the voice sound confident? Or desperate?
Remember, you don’t want to come across as trying to sell, you want to come across as trying to solve.
If the voice within content sounds desperate, as opposed to confident, your readers won’t react or take the action in which your content is prompting.
Are any elements of story incorporated into the content?
At the end of the day, people don’t want to look at more advertisements - we see enough of that on a daily basis as it is.
If content feels more like a story, something entertaining that the audience can relate to - rather than a chore, an instruction, another daily nuisance - they will be much more likely to take the action you’re hoping they’ll take.
Overall, as long as content feels genuine, pleasant, and collected, you should have success with your new content writer/content marketing specialist. Best of luck!
Over the past decade, Liz has worked as a copywriter and digital marketing executive for a multitude of companies from startups to and mid-sized businesses to working as the VP of marketing for award-winning, platinum-selling artists. Leveraging an understanding of the nuance of language in marketing, Liz founded Amplihigher, a content marketing and copywriting agency, designed to connect consumers to companies in a way that results in next-level brand expansion.
Liz Slyman
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