Inbound marketing will only work if you have great content. And a lot of times, content comes in the form of written (typed?) word. It's absolutely crucial that you hire the best writers to make sure inbound marketing is a success for your company.
Here's a guest video from Shannon Fiack, Editor in Chief at PACIFIC Digital Agency, who gives her advice on how to hire a marketing copywriter.
Want to read instead of watch? Here's the transcript for you below. (But you will miss out on hearing about Shannon's sport of choice.)
Lance
If you’re serious about your company getting involved with inbound marketing, you may be thinking about hiring a dedicated writer just to produce the content for your inbound marketing. And if that's the case, we have some great stuff for you today. We have invited Shannon Fiack, who is the Editor In Chief at PACIFIC Digital Agency, to talk to us a little bit about what she looks for in hiring a writer. I think the tips are going to be really helpful for you.
Shannon
Everyone thinks they’re a writer and a social media expert. If they have an Instagram account or they have a personal blog, they’ll consider themselves qualified for your job.
So right off the bat, if you’re hiring a copywriter or social media coordinator, you need to convey that some expertise is needed. I would immediately say, "We need an excellent grasp of grammar"–something that conveys that you need very, very solid skills. And you also need to convey that, while it’s fun, there is a certain amount of responsibility required with word count or the type of writing. For example: online and offline materials, ads, or something that, if you describe the type of writing you need, hopefully you’ll get a better sense of the level of sophistication versus someone who just writes for a personal blog with no structure to it.
I would always ask them about the latest book they’ve read or online publication just to see if they read. It could be comics, but if you're a writer than you’re a reader. Just get a sense of their answer. I would also ask them their favorite style of writing because if you need someone who's writing technical white papers and they like to write magazine-style sports articles, then you’ve got the wrong person.
We always ask for not only writing samples, but also homework. So if someone makes it past the phone interview, we then do an in-person interview. And if they pass that, then we give them homework. We give them a sample pulled from the real world and have them write just to see if they can do it. That has weeded out more people then I can tell you. It’s really helpful as a manager to give homework.
I would also ask and be very straightforward with this type of question: “Do you think you can sit down and write and edit for eight hours per day?” Even if they say yes and then they end up not being able to do it, at least you set the expectation from the very beginning.
Have any questions for Shannon? Or, want to share some additional tips about hiring a writer? Comment below.
