By Teresa Leno
To create high-quality content for your organization, consider working with an internal or external subject matter expert (SME). Often, SMEs may need more technical writing skills but can quickly relay information about your organization’s services or products and the problems it solves. Hiring an industry-specific copywriter or marketing agency can benefit your organization by writing content for your SME. Both will combine your SME’s knowledge with a sophisticated writing skillset to make your content technical, understandable, and interesting to your target market. Here’s what either can bring to your organization as you weigh your options:
Option 1: An industry-specific copywriter
When hiring an external copywriter, your writer should have an extensive background in writing for your industry. Here’s what your copywriter should be accustomed to before you hire them:
- Working with internal SMEs such as product managers
- Working with executive-level team members
- Understanding your ideal client
- Knowledge of your competitors
- An understanding of your product(s) and the problems it solves
- Ways to use the content they produce for you.
Once a topic is determined, the copywriter should meet with your SME to go over any details and questions they may have. Having the writer record their conversations with your SME for later reference is also a good idea. As the copywriter curates more articles, they should gain more in-depth knowledge of your services or products. It never hurts to have the copywriter demo your product, read case studies, watch recorded webinars, and more.
Option 2: An industry-specific marketing agency
Another option is hiring an industry-specific marketing agency. This option is typically more hands-off as they manage most of your writing. Like working with a copywriter, the more writing you outsource to a marketing agency, the more familiar they will become with your company, services, and products. Look for a marketing agency with experience in your industry since they can produce more relevant and high-quality content. Here’s what you should consider before hiring a marketing agency to write your content:
- Other clients in your industry
- Conflicts of interest- do they have a policy?
- Will the same person be writing for consistency?
- Will SMEs be interviewed?
Also, all of the same requirements as an industry-specific copywriter.
Which option is best?
In determining which option is best for your organization, you need to ask more questions first. For example, is there a contract period they require, how will the writer or agency fit into your overall marketing plan, and how quickly will the content be returned to you for review? Also, who owns the content once paid for? Will the content be recycled and reused with their other clients in your same industry?
Using high-quality content written by either a copywriter or agency for your company’s blog and social media channels is vital to attracting new clients and maintaining the attention of your existing customers. Ideally, your relationship with either should benefit your organization for years. The key to producing quality content by interviewing SMEs is to have a plan in place to help ensure your content strategy is successful.
Teresa Leno worked as a financial advisor and experienced firsthand the importance of financial education to help clients make more informed decisions before a crisis. Through her experience, Fresh Finance was started as a financial content marketing solution to help advisors validate their expertise through sharing content.
