TFF #11: How to Write When You Don't Know the Industry
Hi friend,
When talking to potential clients, there’s one question that I always squirm at.
(Okay, there’s usually more than one. But this is a big one.)
It’s this: Do you have experience writing in [subject area]?
For [subject area], think engineering, healthcare, data science, etc.
While I understand where it’s coming from (after all, these are highly technical and unique sectors), the question is misleading—because I know it’s not the question that the client wants answered.
What they really want to know is: can you write competently for our industry?
And the answer to that is always: yes!
In this edition of The Fearless Five, I’ll walk through the process I use to write in new subject areas—even ones where I have zero prior experience.
1. Know the target audience.
When hiring a copy or content writer, clients will often look for someone who “knows the industry.”
Usually, they mean someone who understands a combination of the following:
Common terminology and jargon
Major players in the space
All the major events happening each year
Connections with professionals in the space
Yes, these things can certainly be helpful. But they’re actually not all that helpful in generating engaging and valuable content.
If they were, the leaders in these companies would be able to do it themselves.
Instead of trying to “know the industry”—which admittedly takes months and even years—good content and copywriters focus on getting to know the client’s target audience.
We do that by asking the following questions:
What is the business result (or the value) that the client offers them?
What are the biggest challenges they want to overcome in their work?
How does their work fit into the overall business model?
What are they measured on/what are their KPIs?
Those questions are more relevant when marketing to businesses. But B2C copywriters will ask very similar questions:
What is the personal improvement the product offers them?
What challenges in their lives do they want to overcome?
What larger ecosystems do they participate in (e.g. family, school, work, church)?
What are the markers of a “great life”?
The good news: it usually takes one or two conversations with someone who understands and interacts with customers (usually a salesperson or customer service rep) to start understanding these dynamics.
By getting a grasp of the target audience first, you’ll be well on your way to creating a quality piece of content that provides real value.
Besides, you can always add the jargon in later.
2. Look to the competition.
You don’t want to reinvent the wheel. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
Thankfully, in the internet age, nearly all of your major competitors have already put out their best content for you to review.
So if you want an idea of the kinds of content that engage and convert, look to the competition.
Now, beware a couple major issues:
Don’t outright copy the competition. Use them to gather context and gain inspiration.
Be aware of your client’s differentiators and replace them with your own
Identify the underlying structure of their content, not the word-for-word arguments they make
You may be wondering: what if my client doesn’t have any direct competitors?
The likelihood that you’re working with a true first mover is slim. Odds are, you just haven’t done enough research.
But if you are in that rare position, I’d recommend two things:
Look to companies similar to the client but that operate in different sectors
Look to topic and keyword competitors on Google rather than direct business competitors
Basically, you want to find someone out there who’s doing something similar to your client and gather insight from what they’re doing.
This not only helps you write the content, but it can be a good tool in confirming (or challenging) the client’s overall marketing strategy.
3. Talk to subject matter experts.
Your client knows way more about their business and industry than you or I do.
That’s why the best content and copywriters let that expertise do the work for them.
One of the most powerful tools that I use to generate content in subject areas where I don’t have much experience is the SME interview.
This is where I sit down and talk to the “brain trust” in a particular company. I try to get as much information out of them as I possibly can—both to go into the content, and to provide me with important context as I write it.
Sometimes, these are free-flowing conversations that I just record.
Other times, they are more structured interviews.
But the end result is the same: I gather the expertise and structure it into a compelling story, making sure the underlying value prop is front and center.
Here are some tips that I’ve found particularly helpful in conducting these interviews:
Do your homework. Research the topic a little so you can ask smart questions. Write out a list of questions ahead of time; even if you don’t ask them all, it’s good to have something to fall back on.
Focus on the story. Always ask yourself “why would the audience/customer care about this topic?” See if you can get the SME to explain the WHY behind the topic.
Listen and adjust. Remember, you’re not the expert. Let them take the conversation where they think is important—because they know what they’re talking about.
Once you gather this built-in expertise, you’ve got everything you need to create expert, valuable content.
4. Expose your work early and often.
In my experience, there are two types of clients.
The ones who offer feedback no matter whether you ask for it (and they often do so without much tact).
And then there are the ones who offer no feedback.
Both of these are bad scenarios.
Too much feedback can gum up the works so much that you don’t get anything done and shipped. But too little feedback means there’s no QA on the work.
And if you’re writing in a new industry, you absolutely need QA on your work.
That’s why it’s important to solicit feedback at every stage of the creation process.
For example, I’ll often send a content outline to a new client, just to make sure we’re all on the same page before spending too much time on the first draft.
By gathering feedback early and often, you can avoid rookie mistakes and get up to speed faster.
5. Learn and adjust as you go.
You’re not going to become an expert in a new industry overnight.
So release any unrealistic expectations you may have.
It can take years to feel like you’ve really “got it.” So be patient with the process and keep moving along.
When you start to feel out of your depth again, lean back on the four previous tips for support.
Eventually, you’ll wake up one morning and realize you’ve become somewhat of an expert in this industry.
At that point, you can decide whether you want to niche down into that area, or if you want to continue expanding into another field.
I’m not an expert, but…
…these practices have proven helpful to me as I’ve built FEARLESS Content Group from the ground up.
I hope they do the same for you, wherever you are in your career.
If something in particular stuck out to you, why not share with your network?
Until next time,
Timothy