Finding a tech copywriter who’ll fill that “communication void” in your organization and who’ll know how to take the CTO’s 400 slide presentation about your products and services, boiling it down into a few slogans and paragraphs is practically impossible if you’re looking for a quick win.
BUT if you’re willing to play the long game, are aware of your needs and content requirements, know how to compensate for a job well done AND have the patience to teach someone about your products, you’re just about ready to work with a tech copywriter! They’ll most likely be nerdy, and have a passionate mind that loves to build stories – Just like you love to build software.
Step 1 – The Job Offer
With great software products should come perfectly described job offers.
Do you want to upsell current products? Or maybe you’re penetrating a new market and nobody in that segment is aware of the product or technology solutions you provide? Maybe you’re concentrating on a framework that’ll replace a legacy solution that everyone’s been whining about for the last few years.
That’s a strategic approach that you might not want to share during recruitment… but it’ll be exactly what your future tech copywriter will want to know.
“Will I be selling software?”;
“Am I supposed to translate case studies into short, internet-friendly stories?”;
“Is performance marketing a key area where copywriting is lacking at the moment?”.
These are only a few questions that will be thrown at you by a copywriter who’ll be genuinely interested in working with you and your products and respect your time.
You’re looking for a tech copywriter, but the less you explain your requirements, business and products in job offers, the less likely it is that you’ll find the right match. Swipe left… sorry.
Step 2 – Tech copywriter background (and experience in the field)
Describing success stories about digital products, explaining in an engaging way why a native app is a better solution than a hybrid option, without going into a rant about technical details is tough. Especially for a copywriter without a technical background and/or knowledge about your industry.
When searching for a tech copywriter be sure to evaluate their portfolio, case studies, examples of content that they’ve created. Maybe ask why that person chose that client, what was intriguing, what caused problems? Those are the types of questions you’ll hear from us if you choose to brief us on your project.
Step 3 – Their experience with your Audience. B2B, B2B2C, R2D2?
Does your company have a more B2B or B2C product? Or maybe B2B2C or B2B2B? Do you have a Business Model Canvas, a Product Roadmap or buyer personas, written in plain English (not a link to GitHub)?
Of course, these tools aren’t mandatory BUT having them will (literally) save you endless hours on onboarding processes, explaining who your target audience is, what they want/ need from your products.
At the end of the day, your business has to speak your clients’ language – through your copywriter(s). An experienced tech copywriter will be aware of the differences between B2C and B2B marketing, and what follows – what tone of voice is required, know the appropriate nomenclature and jargon if need be. They know that there are 10 types of people in this world.
Those that understand binary & those that don’t.
Ha, see what I did there?
Step 4 – Briefing – that’s on you
Even if you hire the most expensive copywriter, with a perfect technological background, and leave them with a short, vague email that makes requests like “for the CTA, just dazzle me!”, you’ll probably get technologically-correct content – but it’s likely going to be generic and won’t get the job done.
Why you might ask? Because you didn’t specify what you want.
Be open to feedback on your most likely less-than-perfect “about the company” mind-map from 2017. We’ve seen a lot of these and they tend to be deal-breakers because we need you to explain what you were really trying to explain.
Think of a brief as a user story, which tells us what you want the end-user to do. We want to build great stories – but those consist of building blocks which, at the very core, you provide in a (best short) brief.