You have a zillion demands on your time. That’s why you’ve hired a communications expert to handle the marketing materials you need. If you and your team weren’t so busy, you’d be writing these things yourselves.
Somewhere on your desktop is the questionnaire your expert sent you weeks ago. Now she is asking you to sit down with her for a couple of hours that you simply can’t spare.
Why can’t she just use the business synopsis you sent her?
Because nothing takes the place of having you talk about your business.
> First, the writer needs to listen to you. Listen for the big ideas that drive your approach. Listen for the assumptions that underlie the big ideas.
> Then she needs to ask follow-up questions. It’s the only way to elicit the key information you’re leaving out simply because you know your work so well.
> She may also ask you to collaborate on a creative brief. One of the best ways to capture the way you actually view your company is play a consultant’s version of 20 Questions. Except that this isn’t a game — it’s a way of unlocking powerful differentiators you may never have thought about or expressed.
What you gain
A good writer will take you beyond your insider’s perspective to help you understand how your company is viewed by people with no vested interest in it.
Your materials will avoid overused marketing-speak, the kind that today’s customer just tunes out.
Instead, your materials will reflect your company’s uniqueness and communicate urgently to your target market.
And the few hours you’ve spent answering questions — even the ones that seemed off-the-wall at the time — will prove to be well worth the effort.
©Cathy Curtis 2010
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