Does Your Boss or Client Rewrite Your Stuff?
My good buddy, Tom Ahern, is a genius. No, I mean that really.
He’s taken the lowly newsletter — the one put out by non-profits — and has built an incredibly successful consulting business telling said non-profits how to make their newsletters better (i.e. get people to write checks).
Tom also puts out his own terrific e-newsletter — and the most recent issue, “Dear Untrusted: Show This to Your Boss,” is one of his best yet.
In it he talks about a certain client who rewrites everything his staff writes.
In this particular case, the boss had rewritten his staff writer’s press release. She had written it just the way Tom had trained her and others in a workshop.
If you’re a writer, this scenario is familiar. The boss (or client) fancies himself a writer and loves to get in and muck around in your copy. (Can you feel your stomach already sinking?) Tom writes:
Praise to the boss. Answering to a board of directors, and its occasional fire-spitting rogue members, isn’t a job I’d wish on any enemy.
But here’s the thing: being executive director does NOT make you a capable writer. Occupying the top box in an org chart grants you no special powers.
On the contrary: Being executive director mounts you on a pedestal where you can SAFELY mouth ONLY lofty-leaning vagaries which take all sensititivies into account. Job #1: Offend no one.
That is not the job a writer. In fact, it’s exactly what effective writers DON’T do.
Tom then goes on to talk about the differences between “normal” writers and “effective” writers.
“Normal” writers are literate — they can read and put together sentences and paragraphs BUT their job does not depend on them writing effective (successful) communications.
“Effective” writers, on the other hand, be they non-profit, B2B, or B2C, work their asses off for one goal only: to get people to take a desired action (write a check, download that white paper, sign up for a Webinar, place that online order).
And the reason “normal” writers aren’t “effective” writers is because they lack the understanding and training to write effectively (or “make the cash registers ring,” as Bob Bly says).
Tom’s newsletter hit home for me because even though I don’t have a boss who rewrites my stuff, I have had clients over the years do so.
It usually goes like this — Client: “I showed your copy to my daughter — she’s at Harvard – who made a bunch of corrections.” (Me — Groan.)
The “offending” copy has usually been stripped of its marketing voice — leaving it to sound like something written by well, like an English major. (Trust me — I used to write hard-hitting thesis paragraphs too.)
So what’s an effective writer to do?
Tom concludes that there isn’t much you can do if a boss (or client) doesn’t want to know the truth. Which is why he advocates printing out his newsletter article and leaving it on the boss’s chair.
What do you think? Is Tom right? Have you had situations where the boss or a client has rewritten your work? How did you deal with it?
About the author: Dianna Huff
A B2B web marketing expert, Dianna helps B2B companies grow through SEO, marketing writing, and social media. A frequent speaker, Dianna has been quoted in numerous blogs, books, and articles; her client list includes large and small B2B companies across the U.S. Follow her on Twitter @diannahuff. To receive her e-course on creating great B2B marketing content, subscribe to her newsletter, The MarCom Strategist.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Diana-
One of the best blog posts I’ve read recently. I’ve been at both ends here – at the top of the org chart as an SVP marketing and at the bottom as a marketing communications consultant. I like to think that at the top, I empowered people to do what I was paying them to do. I never commented for the sake of commenting (a cousin of talking to hear yourself talk) – only to add value.
At the bottom, I feel as if I sometimes need to prepare a defense of what I have articulated. In the end, I’ve come to grips with a.) I’m not at the top of the org chart and it’s not my company and b.) I’m getting paid. So, I do my best at writing and fighting for what I think is right and then I laugh and play a round of golf.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Jeff — I agree. I write copy that I know will work. If the client takes it apart and rewrites it, there isn’t much I can do about it. But there have been times when I’ve gnashed my teeth in frustration.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Dianna, I think the biggest problem is when clients don’t understand the difference between content writing and copywriting.
When your job is on the line, like you remind people, if you don’t know what direct response marketing is, how can you possibly measure results?
Being a great content writer and a great copywriter are two entirely different roles, that are rarely capable of being filled by one individual.
Is the client always right? That all depends.
If you’re keeping them as your client, then I guess that client is in fact right.
If you have the luxury of being able to pick and choose your clients more selectively, you’ll be in a much happier place from a professional gratification standpoint.
Thanks for the great post.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I always request feedback from my clients on projects and work. Sometimes they will want me to change small things, sometimes big things. The value of being able to talk with them about it, however, is that I can present my argument of why I phrased something a certain way or used one word over another.
Even so, there will always be that client who says “Love it, love it,” then changes everything without telling you. They are probably not going to be repeat clients.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Writing is like playing the piano: easy to do badly, extremely difficult to do at a high level of mastery.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Bob– Ha! Love it.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Thank you for this post! It was like therapy for me.
I spent an entire year working for a non-profit as a member of the “marketing” team. I use the term loosely because none of the members, including myself, had a true marketing background.
My role was that of part time Web writer, revising a very archaic site that had been written by a committee several years earlier. Apparently the committee approach was common for this institution even though everyone agreed that it provided terribly incohesive communications.
I would painstakingly put together site content based on optimization techniques and visitor-friendly language, literally agonizing over word choice because of the ranking implications. And, when we would meet to review the content, I had to sit and listen to three people who admittedly knew nothing about Web marketing, tear apart my work, often taking a simple statement and turning it into a three line sentence. The team felt that my writing was not academic enough, yet our readers/visitors were people who were college dropouts. For the most part, they would often concede to my goals, but not without a huge fight which sometimes attacked my very skills. I had to regularly produce grammar rules from trusted manuals to prove my points.
Long story short – I knew deep down that what I was producing was going to increase Web traffic – which it did rather dramatically. I also knew that my writing was far more readable, regardless of its lack of academia. But, ultimately, I got tired of fighting the good fight. It was very clear to me that the battles were more about ego than skill, and those egos weren’t going anywhere. So, I left to pursue an opportunity that gave me more freedom.
Low and behold, after my first writing assignment with the new client, the then marketing manager – my colleague, not my boss – sharply criticized my writing. Apparently, he had previously written the newsletter I was hired to develop, and he was not happy about my arrival. The president and vice president both applauded my work, so I had to just keep my chin up and take the criticism for what it is worth.
The bottom line here is that writing really requires a thick skin and some real diplomacy, and while it would be nice if every boss read Ahern’s note, I suspect it would do very little good if the boss is craving the true power and authority that a piece of writing beholds.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Michelle, Thank you for this great story. I have been there and done that with regard to criticism on one’s writing and you are right: if you’re going to call yourself a writer, you have to develop a very thick skin. And, it also helps to have an arsenal of books that you can quote showing why it’s important that copy be in the first person versus third person and include a call to action.