If there’s one thing that marketing agencies and entrepreneurs understand, it’s the importance of a unified vision. From conveying your own brand to setting and meeting client expectations, successful business relationships require cohesion. What some neglect to realize is that this task is as important to carry out internally as it is externally.
Team members put a tremendous amount of faith in their leaders to keep them informed, motivated, and on track. Working with an online content provider is no exception. To get the best work possible from your team, invest some energy in providing them with the tools and support they need.
Think Things Through
Like any product or service concept, the development of work flow requires refinement. But revealing goals or plans before they’ve been fully fleshed out can lead to a messy, underbaked approach that leaves staff chilly. A prolonged and highly-visible state of trial and error gives employees the feeling that they are following careless direction.
This loss of faith impedes morale and lowers the overall quality of performance. By taking the time to develop ideas about what you would like to see from your staff, and how to go about executing these goals, you do them a great service.
For copywriters, this means that they can confidently proceed in their work and provide you with the most relevant content possible–the first time around. It tells them that you care about their time, and feeling appreciated always inspires.
Communicate Clearly
Once you’ve decided what the intention of a project will be and how you’d like to carry it out, conveying this information to those concerned is key. The more detail you can provide, the better.
With regard to generating content, hiring a cheap article writing service and throwing some general guidelines in their direction may technically get the job done–but it will never be the same as treating them as extensions of your team, and communicating with them as such.
By fostering an environment where questions are readily answered, those working for you will feel confident seeking clarity when they need it. Being available and responsive goes a long way in this regard.
Be Consistent
Team members sense and respond to inconsistency. It creates mistrust, and chips away at their confidence in your agency, product, or brand. Worse, they pass along this instability to those they serve. If employees cannot understand or appreciate your vision, they cannot successfully convey it.
By knowing what you want and communicating clearly, most need for later revision is eliminated. However, in the event that a different approach is necessary, make it a priority to express this as candidly as possible and as quickly as possible. Allowing your staff to expend effort on an ill-fated project causes resentment and can eventually result in half-hearted work.
While it involves a greater investment of time to get your workers started off on the right foot (and keeping them on it!), everyone will be better satisfied in the end.
Helena L is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
