6 lessons I learnt on the job as a content creator

Over the years I’ve worked on hundreds of pieces of content across different formats and I’d like to think I’ve absorbed more than a few lessons along the way. These lessons have given me the insight I needed to not just write better content, but to be a better partner and strategist during the whole creation process. Here are the 6 that I learnt on the job, and would pass on to any new content creator to help them get a jump ahead.

1. Don’t worry if you don’t have a niche — There are a lot of writers who excel in a particular genre or industry, but don’t stress about it if that’s not you. I’ve written for multiple industries and product categories over my career, which I consider to be a demonstration of my adaptability and versatility as a writer. Just be sure to set the right expectations with your stakeholders and tell them what information you need to do justice to your content. Some brands/partners might want to work with an industry expert anyway, which is fine — it’s better to lose a client than oversell your abilities. Don’t fake it till you make it when it comes to content.
2. Set expectations about your content early on — Here’s a scenario — you get a brief from a brand, work on the content and share the draft only to be met with outrage and vague, subjective statements like ‘I don’t like the style’ or ‘It’s not what I thought it would be’. Chaos ensues — which is frustrating for everyone involved. The best and easiest way to avoid this is to have a checklist of information/alignment you need, without which you will not begin work. My checklist includes: documents covering the brand voice and editorial guidelines, target audience to be addressed, key information and call to action to be featured, logos/branding to be included and metrics I’m expected to share (if the content is hosted on my platform). Aside from this I ask whether the brand has additional information to share, like specifics of the event if the piece is part of a larger promotion.
3. Budget time to get familiar with the product you’re marketing — You need to understand what you’re talking about for your content to be convincing. Book some time with the Product owner to understand details like why the product was conceived, who it’s targeted at and how it works. If possible, ask for a sample to be provided to you and spend the next few days using it. Don’t be shy about asking questions, even seemingly dumb ones — you’re the content expert, not the product expert.
4. Remember, no product is perfect and customers aren’t dumb — Hiding missing features or details that customers need (for example, needing to buy add-on accessories), is a sure-fire way to lose loyalty. So don’t be afraid of weaving this information into your content. Now you might face some push back from the Product owner and team because of this, so it’s your job to bring them around before you create your content. Help them see the big picture and understand the real role content plays in their marketing strategy — it’s not just to drive immediate sales but to build long-term brand trust and retention by enabling customers to make informed choices.
5. Turn your limitations into opportunities for growth — Sometimes the piece might require skills or expertise that you don’t directly possess. For example, maybe a video tutorial would be more impactful than an article but you don’t know anything about video creation. Or perhaps you’re not tech savvy enough to do justice to topics like AI and Cloud Computing. Though it’s commendable to put your hand up and say you’ll learn to do it, this isn’t always the right course of action. The time and effort you use to become even passable at these skills would instead be better served doing something else — managing a third-party expert. By bringing in an established expert who a) already knows the ropes and b) might even have their own loyal following that they bring to the table, you’ll get reliable and high-quality content that your audience will love. But as importantly, you’ll learn vital skills like how to identify potential content partners, drive negotiations, manage budgets and payments, enforce your brand guidelines, conduct training and troubleshoot issues. You will essentially leverage your ‘limitation’ to elevate your skill set from that of a content creator to a content manager.
6. Persevere with the data and it becomes rewarding — There was a time when the idea of compiling and analyzing data would make me break out into a cold sweat; when I didn’t even know what terms like impressions and CTR meant. But I knew that if I wanted to grow as a content creator, I needed to listen to what my audience was saying and data was the key to that. So I put in the time and learnt — I Googled the basics, I booked time with my Business Analyst for study sessions, I even asked my partner to teach me how to do fractions again. Eventually my fear of numbers got overwhelmed by my fascination with what they represented — information on how people are responding to my content. I could see how many readers we had, who’s coming back, how long they are staying, what they are interested in reading, what’s being shared…And armed with this information I could scale up, pivot, adapt. It was empowering in a way I had never imagined.

So these were my top 6 tips that I picked over the course of my 14-year career as a content writer and strategist. They have served me so well over the years and I hope you find them just as useful. Please go ahead and share this article with anyone who’s an aspiring content creator, or if you just think they’ll enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

If you are on the look-out for a freelance content expert specializing in creation and strategy, please DM me on LinkedIn