A monthly report from
FPS President Vince DiPaolo

May 2003

Managing Freelance Writers

Hiring an outside writer or firm to handle the challenging writing work associated with client communications is often a very wise business decision. For many marketing managers, outsourcing can be more effective than doing it yourself or assigning the writing to a junior staff member or a product manager without the necessary writing skills or experience.

If you’ve hired an experienced writing professional, congratulations. Now all you have to do is make your assignments—a brief e-mail should do the trick—and wait for the polished finished product to come rolling in. Right?

Well, not exactly. While hiring a writing pro can substantially reduce the time you spend on newsletters, trade publication articles and Web-site content development—and help you focus on other core duties—you still need to spend a certain amount of time giving writers direction and support. Otherwise, the time you spend on directing rewrites will have you questioning your outsourcing decision.

Here are some tips on how to support outside writers and ensure that these relationships produce desirable results:

Looking for hot topics to drive traffic to your Web site and help you gather e-mail addresses and other information from business clients and prospects?
Click here to see the first of monthly suggestions from Financial Publishing Services.

1. Thoroughly communicate the messages you want to convey. Writers aren’t mind readers. If you don’t communicate the specific messages you want conveyed to your clients, you probably won’t see those messages in the writer’s copy. Take time with the writer up front to review your goals for the copy. Twenty minutes invested at the beginning of the creative process will likely save you much more time at the back end managing rewrites.

3. Be available for consultation—and make sure your institution’s experts are making themselves available. The most difficult and time-consuming part of the writer’s job is gathering information. Three weeks might seem like a long time to develop an article for your newsletter. However, if it takes two weeks for you or one of your experts to return a writer’s phone call, the chances of copy being submitted on schedule are slim.

Which of these statements best describes your company’s position on collecting customer e-mail addresses?

We are not interested in collecting e-mail addresses for marketing.

We are interested in collecting e-mail addresses but aren’t sure how best to proceed.

We have a substantial e-mail database and
use it for marketing.

None of the above.

Your outside writer will appreciate having you as an internal champion, someone who will keep the pressure on designated sources to complete interviews in a timely fashion.

4. Clearly establish reasonable project deadlines. Let your writer know up front when you will need first-draft copy and when copy needs to be finalized. If you are working with an outside firm that produces and distributes your publication or other materials, be clear at the beginning of the process when you will need the finished product delivered. In particular, note any trade shows for which you need the materials and their dates.

And be reasonable. Don’t expect a writer or outside firm to develop copy for a newsletter in one week—or produce a newsletter from scratch in one month. Discuss reasonable time frames with providers up front. 

5. Do advance scheduling to help the writer plan ahead for your assignments. Share your plans for the coming year so the writer can build your projects into his or her work schedule.

6. Offer clear, constructive criticism on draft copy. Don’t just say, “I hate this copy.” Be specific about how you would like to see copy rewritten. That could mean providing examples of the style or tone you want or suggesting additional information to include in a second draft. After you go through the writing and review process a couple times with a new writer, the process will start getting easier.

7. Make your outside writer feel like a team member rather than a vendor. You can start by congratulating the writer when work is well received internally. For example, if your boss congratulates you on a quality publication, forward that e-mail to the writer. Also, consider inviting your writer to events such as customer “expos” that can further educate them about your products and marketing messages.

8. Benefit from the writer’s experience. Be open to suggestions from your writer. Just as with other vendors, a professional writer can offer you a valuable perspective on the approaches and best practices that other marketers in your industry are employing. <

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