4 questions to ask before your tech company starts looking for a content writer

Your tech company has decided that it needs to invest in content marketing. Maybe you’ve got an editorial calendar and a full content team already. Maybe you’ve got nothing, but you know that content marketing is the best, least expensive form of marketing your company can invest in, and you’re panicking, thinking “oh god, we should have started blogging yesterday.” In any case, you need content writers, and you need them now.

You’re about to head over to LinkedIn to post an opening, but I’m going to stop you right there. Do you know what you’re looking for? Do you know who you’re looking for? As a tech firm, you’ve got pretty specific content needs, and there is a sea of freelance writers out there. Once you post that you’re looking for a writer, a ton of them will respond.

It shouldn’t be overwhelming to find content writers. Before you do anything at all, ask yourself these questions to make sure you drill down and hire the copywriter who is right for your company. In fact, after answering these questions, you may not need to take out an ad at all, because you’ll know exactly who you’re looking for, and you’ll be able to find them yourself. No LinkedIn post needed.

Here are the questions you’ll want to ask:

1. What’s the tone of your existing content?
2. What’s your existing marketing team like?
3. Who is your audience?
4. How much onboarding are you willing to do?

Let’s get into it.

1. What’s the tone of your existing content?

A company’s blog usually has a particular tone. Some tech companies’ blogs are super-informal, almost like personal blogs. Some read like news releases. Some are reports about new features. Some are slick operations that read like long-form magazine journalism. How does yours read?

Look for content writers whose work matches the tone you want for your website and check out their portfolios for samples of their writing. (While you can find these on Contently or Skyword, or even on LinkedIn, a Google search will turn up individual freelancers’ sites and portfolios as well.)

If you want an informal blog, look for pieces with a conversational tone, and maybe hit up bloggers who have been blogging personally. Interested in a press release ambiance? Look for someone with a background in PR. If you want a blog that feels more like a trade magazine, find a writer with a journalism background. In fact, you may even want to hit up the writers of your favorite trade magazine. Chances are, those writers also work as content and copywriters in your industry.

2. What is your existing marketing team like? 

Your marketing team may be a one person operation. (Or even a no-person operation, if you’re the founder of a start-up.) Or you might be the head of a well-oiled content marketing machine, just looking to fill out your stable of writers.

If you’ve got a small operation and need someone to handle all the content marketing, you’ll need someone who has the availability to write a lot. You may expect your freelancer to find images for blog posts, handle SEO, schedule social media posts, take on copywriting duties, and help with content strategy. If that sounds like what you’re looking for, be up-front about what you’re looking for. That’s a lot of work, and freelancers will want to know what they’re applying for before — not after — they’re contracted to work with you.

If you’re looking to slot a new writer into a pre-existing team, think about the culture of your team. What sort of writer do you want to join your existing freelancers on your marketing department’s Slack? Do you want someone who has worked successfully with a team before, or are you going for a certain type of personality?

How do you verify any of this? LinkedIn. Look for writers with the experience you want, but also see if they have testimonials. Those testimonials will help you evaluate the writer: do they communicate well? Do they meet deadlines? Play well with others? You can also get an idea of a writer’s personality from their social media presence — check Twitter to see if their personality matches your company culture.

You’ll also want to look at content writers’ specialities, of course.

3. Who are you selling to? 

If you’ve got a marketing team, chances are they’ve already built customer personas — a fictional person who embodies your ideal customer. Even if you don’t have personae created, chances are you know who you’re selling to.

Your ideal customer will help you choose your ideal writer. If you’re selling to extremely technical people, like developers, you’ll need someone who speaks their language. If you’re selling to attorneys, you want a writer with a firm grounding in the law. Not only will this help your writer understand your subject material and the pain points of your clients, it will also make your content relatable to your clients.

4. How much onboarding are you willing to do? 

There are a lot of great content writers out there, but not all of them understand technology, and while some of them can be brought up to speed quickly, there is likely to be a learning curve for every writer.

It will be somewhat less steep for someone who has been writing about tech for a long time, or for someone who has worked in tech themselves. Or you may want to hire a writer who has worked in your field. A writer who was a teacher will understand the pain points addressed by your edtech, for example. A writer who worked as a sales rep will understand why the features of your CRM are vital to sales teams. A writer who worked in a doctor’s office will get why your healthtech is so important.

That said, you may end up having to pay a little more for a writer with a lot of experience in a particular industry.

Still looking for a writer? 

I’m a tech writer with journalism experience. I’ve written about edtech in higher ed, and I’ve taught using technology at the college level. I’ve written about development, business processes, and blockchain — and in my personal life — I’m a writer who has been hanging around with developers for most of my adult  life. So, if you’re looking for someone who can translate tech to English, or for someone to write about educational technology, I might be your ideal writer.

If that’s what you’re looking for, contact me and let’s talk about your company’s content.

(And if I’m not, that’s cool. You have some ideas of where to start looking for content writers now.)