Content, content everywhere. Content here and content there. You know you need content for your business – it’s essential to getting your message out. Whether it’s for your blog, your social media channels, your website, or something else, someone has to produce it all. There are copywriters and content writers for hire, but if you aren’t quite sure where to start and who does what, you’ll need a strategy.
Mastering Your Strategy
Sure you can blindly post on social media, post a random blog occasionally, or mail out a marketing piece when you remember, but are you really doing your business any good by giving these important tasks such underwhelming attention? Let’s meet the first C.
Meet the Content Strategist
A content strategist is like an interior designer. They take all your crazy ideas and haphazard decor and bring it to fruition. They help you see the end goal, creating the overall vision, so there’s a plan for all that content. But they aren’t just there to help you and your business, they help the reader and customer, too. They make sure that every piece of content is meaningful and has a purpose. Content with no place to go is a waste of money. By securing a content strategist, you’re ensuring that your content is valuable to your business and your readers, sent out at the right time, and used for the right purposes. By hiring this professional, you can spend your efforts – and the money you’ll save – elsewhere.
Deciding if You Need One
If you’re unsure if you need a content strategist, you probably do. Businesses that would benefit from a content strategist are ones that are unsure what content they need, where or when to share it, are unorganized with their content planning methods, have outdated material, need a website overhaul, or are trying to figure out how to tie it all together. If any of that sounds familiar, it’s time to call in the strategist, but there are helpful blogs to guide you if you’d rather go it alone.
Telling a Story
Sometimes, the world needs a good story. The same can be said for your content. Connecting with your customers is vital for your business. There’s a time for going after the sale and a time for making your customers feel like they are understood and valued by your company. This brings us to the second C.
Meet the Content Writer
The content writers are the creative wordsmiths you turn to for building your brand. They tell a story with their words and use them to build a relationship with your readers. They provide thoughtful content that establishes you as a leader in your industry or educational material that drives readers to your blog. They explain without making your reader feel any less intelligent, and they care about keeping your customers loyal more than they do about the sale.
When to Hire Them
You want a content writer when you want a connection to the customer. They write blog posts, eBooks, editorials, articles, white papers, and social media posts meant to generate conversation. If you want engagement on a post or article, have a content writer do the job.
Making the Sale
Now, when it’s time to make a sale, you need a special kind of writer. A writer that is persuasive and makes the customer want to take action. They create a desire and urgency within the reader to need it now, whatever ‘it’ is. They know that as a business, you need customers to buy. Meet our final C.
Meet the Copywriter
A copywriter knows how to entice the reader to become a customer. They know how to not only make the sale, but use words that will make the sale better. Your profit depends on the copywriter, and just like you need a good storyteller for content, you need a good salesperson to write copy. Copywriters don’t just understand other people, they are good at writing to other people. When a copywriter does their job well, your customer will still feel the connection you’ve built through the content writer.
When to Hire One
You want a copywriter when motivating action is your goal. Copywriters write things like ads, website landing pages, sales pages, marketing materials, and social media posts meant to generate interest in buying your product. They might also write product descriptions, emails, or technical documents, but the ultimate goal is always to sell something, be it an idea, product, or something else.
The Final Word
Your business can benefit from having each of these professionals on your payroll. You will save time and money while they help you plan your strategy, connect to your potential customers, and then make a sale. That’s why at WriterAccess, we help connect your business to quality writers who know how to make words matter.
Angela B. is a creative, well-rounded freelancer with over 10 years of experience in both writing and editing. She has driven content for hospitals, non-profits, counseling centers, publishing companies, and businesses. Angela has guest blogged about the freelancing life on the popular blog The Work at Home Woman, written for local magazines, and has a book available on Amazon. After receiving her Bachelor’s of Education from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, Angela taught 2nd graders for eight years. In 2008, she then pursued her dream of writing and began working as the editor of Cy-Fair Magazine.
