Your marketing department is likely full of knowledgeable, eager and creative individuals. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be good writers too. If you’ve been relying on your in-house marketers to drive production for your content marketing strategy, there is a possibility that their efforts may be counterproductive. While the implementation of a content marketing strategy can be highly effective in driving business growth, the wrong writer can send your audience the wrong message and ultimately do more harm than good.
If your in-house content production hasn’t yielded the results that you thought it would, perhaps you’ve got the wrong people writing for you. Here are the five types of writers that you should avoid to ensure that your content marketing strategy fires on all cylinders.
- The Rambler: In order to keep the attention of your audience, be concise and to the point. If your content reads like “War and Peace” you’ll lose many readers before they ever get to your call-to-action. Be wary of writers that go off topic and use overly flowery language. It might work when you’re writing fiction, but not when you’re marketing your business.
- The Thought Regurgitator: Many businesses utilize content to position themselves as thought leaders—drivers of conversation about emerging matters in their given industries. Being a thought leader lends credibility to an individual or brand. But if your writers are rehashing the same topics that have already been beaten to death by others in your field, they won’t come across as thought leaders—they’ll be seen as boring, stale and out of touch.
- The Sloth: When was the last time your company posted new content to your blog? If you’ve been waiting on new material from a contributor for any more than a week, you’re putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage. Frequently publishing new content can help your company’s SEO and help bolster your readership. You might want to consider looking elsewhere if you’ve been relying on the Sloth for content.
- The Alienator: One of the most important rules for a successful content strategy is speaking your audience’s language. If your readership expects highly technical, thorough content, you’ll alienate them with lighthearted and aloof material. Conversely, if your readers prefer a more conversational tone, you risk alienating them with more technical writing. A writer that can’t communicate with his or her audience should probably put down the pen altogether.
- The Shortsighted Strategist: A single piece of content does not exist in a vacuum. You should have a fully-integrated strategy in line with your business goals, whether for a month, a quarter or five years. If your writers aren’t willing to take the time to make each article a piece in the larger puzzle, you’ll essentially be wasting your time and energy. That includes being able to integrate content within various formats, writing in conjunction with new product launches or press releases, for instance.
Do any of these five types of writers sound familiar to you? If so, the time has come to reach out to Content Boost. We can customize and execute a comprehensive content strategy to meet your organization’s goals—and your marketing department can get back to doing what it does best.
Keith Batter, known as “The Machine” due to his ability to provide quality content on a tight deadline, earned his degree in Creative Writing from Colorado University. Keith’s interest in a multitude of topics imbues his writing with valuable insights that resonate with readers in many fields. His work experience spans industries as diverse as hospitality (Thistledown Inn Bed and Breakfast), insurance (American Income Life Insurance), sales, journalism, publishing and even a brief foray into politics as a community organizer during the 2008 presidential election. In his spare time, Keith is difficult to find. Equipped only with a guitar, notebook and a liter of water, he frequently disappears deep into the forest with his wife and dog to evade civilization and wax poetic about the nature of existence.
