Writing is a funny thing. It doesn’t matter what kind you do—whether you’re crafting corporate web content or a personal blog about cooking Cajun cuisine—it’s hard not to get attached to it. The thing is, distancing yourself from your writing is possibly one of the most important skills you can learn if it’s part of your job—particularly in the B2B space.
After all, while it may be a much-anticipated creative outlet—a bullet on your job description that you actually look forward to—when you write for a company, that piece of work isn’t yours. It doesn’t matter if you’re a subject matter expert drafting a guest blog post or a marketing coordinator writing a stellar event invite—in either case, you’re writing for your organization. That means you’re putting on your “corporate writer” hat and adopting a voice, style and approach that will allow your company to communicate effectively with its clients. You’re subject to the edits, revisions and feedback of your marketing team—scrutiny that’s almost always required to produce content that’s in line with a greater corporate vision.
This is next to impossible to accept if you’ve poured your heart and soul into a piece of work. When it comes to corporate writing, you simply can’t fall in love with a specific line or anecdote. That doesn’t mean you can’t let your personality shine through—just understand that the piece that’s published may bear only passing resemblance to the one you started with. And that’s okay. Because there will always a new Cajun dish to blog about.
