Your brand's voice is unique. How can you ensure external writers capture it effectively?

When we work with external writers, the brief is crucial. we shouldn't just throw a topic at them and hope for the best. It’s important that we provide a detailed brief. This brief always includes a selection of content samples from our website or past campaigns. These samples allow writers to see our brand voice in action, including the tone we take and the vocabulary we prefer. I don't just tell writers what to write, I tell them who they're writing for. Detailed audience profiles are provided, outlining the target reader's background and interests. By writing from the reader's perspective, we can build a bridge of connection. After the first draft is ready, a meeting is scheduled to discuss feedback.

Creating detailed voice guidelines is crucial for helping external writers capture your brand's essence. These guidelines should outline your brand's personality traits, language preferences, and the emotional response you aim to evoke in your audience. Include examples of words and phrases that resonate with your brand, as well as those to avoid. This comprehensive document will serve as a valuable reference, enabling writers to understand and embody the nuances of your brand's communication style. By establishing clear voice guidelines, you ensure consistency and authenticity across all content, enhancing your brand's identity and connection with the audience.

To find the right voice you have to get to the "truth" of the brand. This is different than the FACTS of the brand, which is what you find on a lot of creative briefs. The truth, which I'm defining as a human insight that reveals something meaninful about the brand or project you're working on, can lead you directly to the proper tone and cadence. Finding the right voice is about communicating something meaningful, solving a problem, answering a critical question, and doing it in a way that captures the essence of your client's brand.

Have a brand voice guide for your firm. It's an easy-to-share PPT/ Doc listing everything that makes you "YOU." That way, whenever a new member is onboarded, they have a ready-reckoner with these details setting them up for success. Highly recommend CopyPosse's BVG challenge (I think it's called the Posse Eye)

One of the biggest issues clients cite with outsourced content is the concern that the writer won’t nail their brand voice. The best way to avoid this is by having a brand playbook to give your writer to work from. 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. So, provide clear guidelines that outline your target audiences, brand voice, key messages, editorial style guide and more.

Virtual Brand Ambassador: Develop a dynamic digital avatar or AI-powered conversational interface that encapsulates your brand's essence. This "Virtual Brand Ambassador" serves as an interactive touchpoint for content creators, offering real-time guidance and feedback that aligns with your brand's unique voice and values. By providing an immersive, dialogue-based experience, this tool enables writers to internalize your brand's communication style more effectively, resulting in consistently on-brand content across all platforms.

From my point of view, Selecting the right writers is crucial for maintaining your brand's voice. Seek individuals with a proven ability to adapt to different brand voices. Request writing samples and have them complete a test piece to assess their fit. Choose writers who are both skilled and willing to immerse themselves in your brand's world, ensuring they can consistently match your tone and style.

Look at their portfolio and if you think they have strong potential, send them a lower-stakes paid assignment. Don't waste time with unpaid assessments that aren't practical -- if you're looking for outside writing help, you have a bandwidth problem and you should test your writers with something you might actually publish/distribute.

Values alignment needs to come into play here. For instance, 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. 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.

I always believe in getting on a call with external writers to explain the point of view of the brand. Send them apt examples of previously published content. Give them adequate time to read the blogs, understand the tone, and discuss the target audience. Next, it is essential to inform some main pointers to make their job easier. A master document containing brand voice guidelines can prove beneficial in such cases. Above all, you should onboard writers who are comfortable creating content that adheres to your domain and enjoy writing apt content.

I always prefer having consistent briefs with the writers whenever there is any requirement because every write-up would be different. So, it's essential to convey the purpose and idea of the writing, aligning with the brand identity and goals.

As part of our onboarding strategy, we create a branding toolbox. We learn about the unique aspects of a brand. As an example, we had a client who created curated audiences for their clients. These audiences at their essence are a list of names with predefined data. The word list had a negative connotation that cheapened their brand image. So we never used the word "list" in our language as it pertained to our client's product. We used the words curated audience as the deliverable. To write well on behalf of a client, your writer needs to understand the tone of the person they are writing for, who their audience is, and the values behind the brand. It can take time to fully learn a brand's voice. Take time to collaborate & communicate.

Detail and comprehensive brief is the key. Explain to the external writers everything you need for the content, and encourage them to ask what they are confused. Show them some sample writings that represent our brand. As a content writer, I always try my best to speak the voice of my clients, not my own.

Briefs are essential - sorry to burst anyone's bubble who feels they are not! 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. I promise you that doing this work upfront will mean less work for you in the end, when your writer has the information they need to take the content and run with it.

Regular feedback is vital for external writers to refine their work to match your brand's voice. Provide constructive criticism and pinpoint specific areas where the content aligns or deviates from your brand's tone. Positive reinforcement for work that meets your standards encourages writers to continue in the right direction. Additionally, feedback should be a two-way street; be open to suggestions from writers that could enhance your brand's voice. This collaborative approach ensures continual improvement and consistency in your brand's communication.

A feedback loop starts with setting clear expectations upfront. This should begin 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. Open communication is going to be critical for this to be a successful relationship.

Implementing a review process for consistency checks is crucial for maintaining your brand's voice across all content. Have someone familiar with your brand's voice review the content before publication to ensure alignment with your voice guidelines and make necessary adjustments. This step safeguards against diluting your brand's unique personality and helps maintain a consistent experience for your audience.

Investing in ongoing education for your external writers is crucial for maintaining your brand's voice. Provide resources, workshops, or webinars to help writers stay updated on your brand's evolving narrative and industry trends. Encouraging a culture of continuous learning keeps writers engaged and committed to producing content that aligns with your brand's values and resonates with your audience. This investment not only enhances the quality of content but also fosters loyalty and a deeper understanding of your brand among your writers.

You have choices when it comes to hiring a 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.

Uy que difícil! No se si alguien pueda captar al 100% la voz de tu marca personal pero si alguien lo hiciera por mi tendría que conocerme, conocer mi historia, mis valores, en fin conocer a fondo la esencia de mi marca personal y por supuesto compartir espacios de reflexión!