You’ve left the starting line in the marketing race, but halfway through you’ve begun to realize that you are lacking new and creative ideas.  You’re losing steam and can’t even begin to see the finish line.  Perhaps it is time to pass the baton to a content writer.

Hiring a content writer to create quality content for your blog, social media content, or website is a smart investment in order to enhance your marketing efforts.  But there are a few steps to take to ensure that you are getting the most for your money.

Establish Expectations

Establishing expectations for your writers will alleviate a lot of frustrations on your part by helping the writer understand exactly what message you are trying to convey.  When you begin working with a content writer, there are a few questions to ask yourself.

1. What am I trying to achieve?  Who is my audience?
2. What type of writing do I need?  A blog post?  Social media content?  A newsletter?  A  brochure?
3. What tone are you looking for?  Do you want your content to be professional and technical? Informal and friendly?
4. What point of view should the writer take?  1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd person approach?

Being clear about your expectations and needs in writing is an important part of the process.  It allows the writer to review your requests as needed.  It also gives you a point of reference if you should need to ask for edits.

Fresh Topics

You are able to steer the conversations with your readers with the topics you wish to cover.  You can guide your writer by creating a list of topics that steer you towards your goals.  This is a great way to produce fresh, quality content.  Your writer is just that – a writer.  You are the expert in your business.

Creating a list of topics is easy to do as you complete your day-to-day tasks.  As you go through your day, make notes of the compliments that your employees receive, the unique stories that make you happy to go to work each day.  What questions do you hear on a regular basis from your customers?  Are there problems your customers are facing that you have answers to?

Allowing your writer a glimpse into the ’story’ of your business helps to enhance the quality of writing you receive.  Share the details.  Tell the stories.  Share your knowledge.

Editing Etiquette

You’ve tried your best to lay it all out for the writer you are working with, but the content is just not what you were expecting.  Rather than providing a whole new set of instructions, which would require the writer to create a whole new piece, discuss what areas you like and what just aren’t up to snuff.  Remind the writer of the initial expectations and ask if they would like any clarification.  This may best be done by a phone call rather than an e-mail, to make sure the writer has the ability to get all questions answered.

A quality writer is invested in their final product.  Their goal is to please you and continue to work with you to achieve your goals.  Writers also thrive on feedback.  If you have edits or a review of their work, produce it in a timely fashion so that they know how to improve when working on future projects for you.

You’re in this race for the long haul, so utilize your newly-produced content to make sure your efforts go the distance.  The written content you receive can be used in a variety of ways, from social media prompts, e-mail campaigns, and blog links.  Share the information with your readers and create reasons for your customers to connect.  Create a conversation around the content, allowing others to comment and share this great resource.  Engage your followers, and they will spread the word with you.