6 qualities our content writing company’s happiest customers share
Every good relationship is a two-way street. I could talk about why clients enjoy working with our content writing company (and you can read about that here), but I want to go deeper. If you’ve ever wondered how some B2B companies manage to hire external content writers and make it work, I want to shed light on what those organizations have in common.
Why does this matter? In 2023, the Content Marketing Institute reported 71% of marketers said content marketing became more important to their organization over the past year. Yet, 46% said one person or group in their organization is responsible for all types of content. This often creates the need to outsource to a content writing company at some point.
Outsourcing is easier said than done. It can feel like an expensive mistake rather than an investment if the content writing company doesn't understand your brand, audience or the messages you need to communicate – in a way that sounds like your business.
You can only control so much in a two-way engagement with any vendor, but here are a few key elements on the client side that make for a successful partnership:
Being in alignment on the value of original content
Having a clear brand to work with
Providing your B2B writer with a content strategy
Offering direction, but trusting the content writing company to do their work
Focusing on the relationship (not just the content)
Committing for the long haul
Let’s dig into these qualities and some examples.
Our happiest customers share these 6 qualities
Quality 1: Alignment on the value of original content
I recently wrote about all of the changes going on lately with Google and why original content matters for today’s B2B marketers. But if you’ve ever tried to have ChatGPT write a blog post for you, you likely already understand why original content is the better choice.
Our content writing company’s happiest customers want high-quality, original content that’s rich in subject matter expertise. They don’t want the same content that countless other businesses in their industry are publishing, courtesy of the latest generative AI tool. (Yes, AI has a place in the content creation process – just not for writing final drafts. Outlining articles is one example).
This alignment on values around content is critical to making relationships work. If your company wants original content, but you’re working with a writer who relies heavily on generative AI, that’s a misalignment of values. And vice versa – if you’re seeking AI-written content, but your writer refuses to use ChatGPT, you’re going to run into issues.
Take our client SMART Technologies, for example. This edtech brand was looking for ebook writing services to produce two long-form guides based on original subject matter expert research. The team was looking to work with a content writing company that could support with the heavy lifting involved with interviews and writing.
“It was easy to see that there was alignment with the way we view content,” says Katie Novak, Team Lead, Global Content & Communications at SMART Technologies.
The lesson here? Before hiring any B2B content marketing agency, find out what their values are and make sure you’re aligned.
Quality 2: Clear brand for a content writing company to work from
One of the biggest issues clients cite with outsourced content or blog writing services is the concern that the writer won’t nail their brand voice. The best way to avoid this issue is by having a brand playbook to give your writer to work from.
You don’t need a lesson on why branding matters. But the truth is, when you’re under pressure to publish a certain volume of content in a specific timeframe, it can be tempting to cut corners and ask a writer to produce content without any brand guidelines to work from.
Please resist that temptation! Creating content that’s not backed up by branding will be far less effective and far more time consuming in the end when it doesn’t capture your brand voice (because no voice was ever defined).
Our happiest customers provide us with clear brand guidelines that outline their company’s target audiences, brand voice, key messages, editorial style guide and more. It’s on us to study this information and weave it into every piece of content we create – but our clients set us up for success from the start when they provide these guidelines.
Quality 3: Defined content strategy to work from
A content writing company should be able to act as your strategic partner and not only write content for you, but also come up with topic ideas. However, these kinds of content or blog writing services are typically a bigger investment than outsourcing the writing alone.
What’s a happy medium? Providing your blog or case study writer with your content strategy, including pillars and topics, and having them write the content based on your ideas. This way, you still get the writing taken off your plate, but you also keep costs down.
You may choose to provide keywords too, or ask your writer to do keyword research based on the content topics you’ve defined. Some of our clients do the former, while others opt for the latter.
Take our client TouchBistro, for instance. TouchBistro hired us in 2020 to create blog content. We’ve been working with this hospitality tech brand ever since, and our relationship has expanded over the years to include customer stories and research reports. TouchBistro’s solid content strategy and robust content brief template have been central to the process. With this foundation, we can hit the ground running.
“The best part of the process is that I have very little editing to do on my end,” says Katherine Pendrill, Content Marketing Manager at TouchBistro. “[Content is] one less thing for our team to worry about. Our content calendar can still be full without it taking extra hours out of our day.”
Quality 4: Winning combination of direction and trust
You can see that direction, in the form of brand guidelines and a content strategy, is essential to a productive relationship with a content writing company. But you’re also busy and you don’t have time to hold anyone’s hand. Our clients don’t have time for that, either. They trust us to get the job done.
How do you strike the right balance of providing direction and trusting a writer to do their work? It’s especially tricky when a relationship is brand new.
I recommend setting clear expectations upfront. This should start in your discovery call. Have an open conversation and gauge the responses you’re receiving from the content agency or writer. If they’re vague or standoffish, this is a red flag. If they treat deadlines like suggestions, run in the other direction!
The best way to set yourself up to be as hands-off as possible with your content writing company is to create detailed processes (content briefs being one key piece of the puzzle). If it’s clear what you expect of your vendor or writer, the onus is now on them to deliver. That’s how they can earn your trust.
Quality 5: Relationship-based approach
When you purchase blog or ebook writing services, it’s more than just a transaction. Yes, you’re paying an agency or writer for an output (content) and to help you achieve your goals, but at the core of the engagement is a relationship.
When you think of the internal colleagues and external partners you work with, you can probably immediately identify which ones you have the best relationships with. You can also probably identify those who are unpleasant to work with.
Human beings spend a substantial amount of our waking hours at work. Fostering good relationships with the colleagues and vendors we work with only makes sense. We’ve been fortunate to have great relationships with the vast majority of our clients – because they value relationships, too.
Relationships become even more important when you bring a content writer in to work with your customers, like our client Emily Amos, Founder of Uplift Content, did.
It was essential for Uplift Content to work with a writer who could listen to feedback from both customers and Uplift’s internal editors, then implement the suggestions.
“Afton was friendly, professional and always on top of things,” Emily says. “Plus, she was easy to work with and I knew she would be a good culture fit.” The feeling is mutual! We’re proud to say we’ve been working with Uplift since 2019.
Quality 6: Long-term view
You have choices when it comes to hiring a blog or case study writer – and you should always test the waters before making a long-term commitment. However, it’s wise to keep a long-term view overall.
Interviewing and onboarding content agencies or writers takes time and effort. You don’t want to be going through this process every few months. Your time is best spent by finding a quality partner to work with and maintaining that relationship for at least a year, if not longer.
The longer you work with an agency or writer, the better they’ll understand your brand, audience and goals. This kind of intimate knowledge translates into high-quality content that helps you hit the targets you’re aiming for. It’s also a useful approach considering that success with organic content marketing takes time to achieve.
Our happiest customers are in it for the long term, and many marketers have brought us on after they’ve left one company and started at another. This way, they can focus on getting up to speed in their new role while we take care of content creation.
Looking for a content writing company?
To recap, our happiest customers believe in the value of original content, and have a clear brand and content strategy for our writers to work from. They know how to balance providing direction and trusting our team, and like us, they take a relationship-first approach to their work. They also approach content marketing and content partnerships with a long-term view.
If this sounds like you, and you’re looking for support with long-form B2B content writing, we’d be happy to discuss how our team can help. Schedule a discovery call and we’ll be in touch shortly!
