Hello There!!!!
Are you a writer or willing to be a professional writer? Or are you in a search for a specific kind of writer who could assist you to build your content required? Here, I have tried to share my knowledge to segregate different kinds of writings for different kinds of specializations. You can find according to your requirements for both the above-mentioned cases.
I would suggest not to hurry in any of the above scenarios. Why do you ask? Because it is important to know about the various types of writers available in the media industry, before handpicking them for your company.
However, it is important to know about the types of writers out there. In the end, every one of them is well equipped with the knowledge to create the content needed for any specialized requirement.
This can be explained with an example related to the most popular game in the world called ‘Soccer’. If you look broadly, there are eleven players in the field, at any given time for a team. All of them have to kick the ball with their foot, with the exception of the goalkeeper, who can both kick the ball with his/her leg and as well as catch the ball with hands within a specified zone. But the rest 10 players, everyone, is going to run across the field and try to kick the ball into the opposition’s goal. If you focus and look a little closer, we can see that every player has a specific role, that they need to perform. Some of them need to defend, while some of them need to attack, and every one of them has a specific area or zone, beyond which they will not go.
In the same way, in the world of Media, there are various topics or contents, for which specific set of writers are needed to cover most of those topics.
Let’s get started.
Brand Journalist:
The brand journalist is a writer who is skilled at narrating Journalism-style story and are known to write for Magazines and Newspapers. The main aim and goal for such writers are to create or design their content in such a manner, which can catch the attention of the audience. They also explore and dig through a subject, in every possible angle, until they identify what could interest the human audience the most.
They are a perfect match for ‘Content Marketing’, as they have mastered the art of creating Headlines, effortlessly, which could be used to define and give meaning to a company’s brand and narrate its usefulness to the public. Hence Brand Journalists use their skillset based on journalism, in order to adapt stories according to your company’s Brand Personality and messages.
SEO Copywriter/generalist:
SEO copywriters know how to integrate target keywords and phrases into the web content, in order to maximize the ‘Search Benefits’ and also to avoid penalties. Some of them can also perform Keyword research, as per the requirement of the project. Hence SEO copywriters come handy when you want to increase your company’s Website Ranking, in order to get more traffic and hence more views.
Generalist copywriters, on the other hand, are also known as ‘Jack-of-all-trades’. They are mostly valued for creating short awareness but high volume content, which requires less amount of expertise. As the availability of such writers is much higher than the other types, you can be them or less if compared with other writers like subject matter experts.
Digital/UX Writer:
These writers are fairly adept in creating core pages for websites, and also help the team with the creation of error messages and transactional messages. Hence Digital writers are mostly hired for the role of creating interactive environments for various websites and applications, which involves Screens, buttons, links and all other types of action items, that a user can use to fulfill their needs or achieve their goals.
Conversion rate optimization/Lead generation writer:
The above kind of writers is very much focused on a particular action, that they need to execute. Their talent often overlaps with Digital/UX writer, with the key difference of their ‘FOCUS’, which could be either used for creating sales or generating leads.
As they are very focused on a particular aspect, they tend to carry strong knowledge of data, analytics, or psychology, which helps them write or create content, more effectively. The major area in which this type of writer can flourish is ‘Web Banner Ads’, Landing pages, ‘Calls to Action’, and ‘Sales Letters’.
Subject Matter Expert:
The above type of writer needs no explanation as to its self-explanatory, i.e. they are the ‘Experts’ on their fields, and have immense knowledge about them and the industry for whom they are going to write, and hence can write with authority.
True Subject matter experts are very rare and hence are difficult to find if compared with generalists. Due to their rarity, they are one of the highest-paid writers if compared with generalists. They use their vast pool of knowledge in defining ideas that can shape the contents even more effectively and hence can help the company or the project, in achieving its goal in a very short span of time and without compromising on the quality of the content. Therefore, they are worth the price they seek. The areas which require their expertise are E-books, whitepapers, Detailed How-to content and so on. They also help you save some time in briefing and also hiring more experts who are suitable for your company’s project.
Influencer:
This type of writer brings with them their in-built audience. Whether their content is posted on your company’s webpage or their own, your influencer displays the content is created in front of different types of people, which your company may not even think of.
Using influencers in creating content for your company, is a good way to add credibility to your content, as well as influencer’s credibility to create a halo effect around your brand.
Due to the level of fame of an influencer, they can easily help your brand get more awareness across other brands and hence get your company earned placements with publishers.
Hence always use an influencer when you need their fame and in-built content amplification abilities.
Social Media writer:
Social media writers have the expertise on weaving content in such a manner, that creates some noise in the social network and you can see the effect and the conversation threads that are being created after they post their content.
Social media writers know how and when to use polls, links, questions, hashtags and much more. Some of the best traits of social media writers are that they know the best span of time when they can post their content, for maximum impact in the social network.
Social media writer can be best utilized to get more mileage out of your content, by reprogramming it into a more consumable social content.
Advertising Copywriter:
Big story short, is what Advertising Copywriter is best at. They have the capability to create short and powerful messages, which will benefit you if your requirement is to deliver the content in less space and time.
They also can find vivid angles to a given subject, and hence creating unique content, which can be very useful in a media industry that got saturated with competition.
The major areas where you can use Advertising copywriters are Landing pages, Home Pages, Online Advertising and so on.
Technical Writer:
As the word ‘Technical’ suggests, this type of writer is highly skilled in providing sequential content, contents with instructions, which can be very helpful with respect to a particular product. Their special skill is to make complex topics easy for the target audience.
Good technical writers are methodical, efficient, fully detail-oriented. Therefore, you can hire technical writers if your requirement is to write content for ‘Guides’, FAQs, Instructions, Manuals.
Grant Writer:
Grant writers are actually storytellers, who can also mix rational and emotional thinking, in a very specific way, in order to lure and convince the target audience.
The main mission of any good grant writer is to win the proposal for their company. They have to be very precise and prompt in their delivery as most of the grant applications have steep submission deadlines.
Grant writers are also experts in understanding the company’s vision, mission, personality, and story, and then use its specific writing skills to create a proposal, that will be bound to achieve success. One single misstep made by Grant writer can really hurt the company’s chances of winning the proposal.
This was the list of the 10 most common types of writers floating around in the Media and Content marketing world. Please use the knowledge provided in this blog, in order to effectively hire writers for your company or to be an effective writer by your own choice of a writing career. This post will help you to understand and identify different types of writers, what are their specialties, and for which projects they are best suited for. The last thing I would want to convey is “Choose wisely”.
See you all in my next article!!
