I recently edited an article submitted to a publication I work for that had great potential to be extremely relevant to the publication’s audience. Trouble is, the writers had not considered who they were writing for.

In addition, the piece was full of blanket statements, presented as fact, with not a shred of evidence to pack them up. And this from the research department of the company in question.

This, you see, is the trouble with taking your writing in-house – while you might have many great subject matter experts within your organisation, that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to write for a different audiences, and they assume that what’s obvious to them, combined with their impressive credentials, will be compelling enough for readers to simply believe what they say.

I’m afraid that’s not how it works. And expertise in a topic doesn’t always translate well to the page if you’re not au fait with how content – whether in the traditional media or on your company’s own platforms – works.

You have to be able put yourself in the shoes of the reader and write for their needs. This is the most important thing. It’s a kind of empathy, and it requires that you assume nothing about what your audience knows.

You have to be able to back up your assertions with evidence. You have to show them – you can’t just tell them. They don’t know you from a bar of soap – why should they believe you?

Of course, there are some thought leaders who write their own content, but they are few and far between. Hiring a content writer to package your thoughts in a way that makes them both digestible and credible is how you solve that problem. It will take your content from grating to great.