Lingerie, eCigarettes, Coffee & Cash Machines: What’s the link?

No, it’s not the ingredients for a great night out or the title of a long-lost Ian Dury album. This seemingly disparate list is actually just a selection of some of the topics I have written about in the last few months. I could have included Cloud Computing, Live events, Apprenticeship schemes - and bespoke hats to name just a few others.

So what’s my point? I’m not listing these things to brag about the diversity of the projects I get to work on, I am simply using them to illustrate that you don’t have to be an expert on a particular subject to draft a persuasive marketing communication about it. I certainly would not profess to have anything more than a superficial level of knowledge in most of these areas, (with the exception of live events). I think you’d agree that it would be pretty odd if I did have a career path that somehow managed to encompass all of these things.

If you’re writing a marketing communication piece for your business, you will - I hope - have an in-depth understanding of your topic, but should you decide to outsource your copywriting, you don’t necessarily have to search out and engage a writer who is an industry expert.

With a thorough briefing, a good writer should be able to create marketing and sales focused content around virtually any subject. Whatever the business sector and selected medium, your communication will have clearly defined objectives – most likely, to inform, promote or sell. The techniques for weaving these key messages into copy and driving the reader towards the outcome you want will be the same whatever the product or service in question. Of course, a certain level of understanding will need to be acquired by the writer at the briefing stage. It will be the writer’s responsibility to ask the right questions and ensure they have all the information they need to undertake the project. A written brief will be helpful for reference, but in my own experience, I don’t think there is really any substitute for including a face to face meeting as part of the briefing process – even if it takes place virtually, via Skype.

If your communication is directed at an audience with limited knowledge of the subject, I would argue that using a ‘non expert’ writer can actually be an advantage. Typically, the end-user you are communicating with will be far more interested in the benefits your product or service will bring, than they will be in the detail of how it works. Coming fresh to a topic with no preconceptions, a writer will bring a different perspective, asking questions which as an authority on your subject you may easily overlook – but which to your audience may be fundamental.