If your marketing department is drowning in content—yet still failing to keep up with the demand for more—you’re not alone. In a recent report by Accenture, 92% of marketers surveyed said there’s a higher volume of digital content today than there was two years ago—and 82% expect this amount will only increase over the next two years.
This isn’t great news for the 50% of survey respondents that report having trouble managing their existing content demands already. Of those facing challenges, a lack of access to skilled talent was cited as the leading reason (30%).
Being in the business ourselves, we understand all too well how difficult it is to find good writers, and what a difference they can make to the content creation process. While some writers may be great in some areas, many struggle with writing for a b2b audience. Others, on the other hand, may simply need a bit of guidance to get to where you need them to be.
If you think you might be in the latter position, take note: Training a new writer is a lengthy, time-consuming process, but it’s well worth the effort if you invest time in the right person. If you need to get more out of your existing team, here are a few tricks you may want to try:
Develop good writer radar. This isn’t exactly an easy first step, but once you work with a few writers—and have a few bad experiences—you learn to assess which writers are worth training, and which just aren’t.
Start them slow. By assigning different types of smaller projects to a writer, you can determine their strengths and weaknesses—as well as develop an understanding of their writing voice—which will help you assign projects efficiently down the road.
Communicate. This step is so essential. Even though you’re drowning in work yourself, you must take the time to explain each new project to your new writer, patiently answer their questions and give them feedback so they can learn from their mistakes.
By following these tips, you should have a solid writer on your hands that is able to churn out decent content with minimal edits in a few weeks. They may not be able to write everything perfectly, but if they can efficiently handle one or two types of content—say, your organization’s blog posts and social media posts—don’t be afraid to make them your designated blogger and social media expert.
If your writer still isn’t quite getting it, your good writer radar may need a bit of fine-tuning. If you need to cut them loose, don’t fret—there are other options available, such as hiring an external writer on retainer, to fill the void while you search for someone new.
For more tips on improving your team’s content, sign up for our e-newsletter, The Communication Breakdown, or peruse our selection of ebooks.
