When to Hire an Outside Writer for Your Accounting Firm

For many accounting firms, content development (specifically writing) is something they all want to be doing more of, but just can’t seem to get to. Marketing departments don’t have enough capacity and many shareholders don’t like to write or just don’t have the time. Some firms have found a workaround for this by having their younger staff members do some writing.

Why hire an outside writer? 

Freelance writers can be a great resource for accounting firms. Most accountants entered the field because they love numbers, not words. While accountants can write, most of their training revolves around technical communication rather than marketing- and prospect-driven communications. Here are a few additional benefits an outside writer can bring you.

• Speed and efficiency—A good writer can interview you and conduct some basic research on your topic and produce a well-written piece in less than half the time you can.
• Quality—When it comes to prose and crafting a story that people will want to read, writers have a gift. The right writer will help tell your story or make your points way better than you would alone. They will also pay attention to grammar and provide a creative eye for detail in your prose.
• Perspective—You know your business like the back of your hand, but sometimes that can hurt you. As experts in our respective fields, we tend to make assumptions about what we are writing. An outside writer will question things that don’t immediately make sense—often the same things a prospect or client might not get either.

When to hire someone? 

Very few accounting firms are in a position to hire a full-time writer. They just don’t have enough volume. Fortunately, most writers work on a freelance basis. There are a few key scenarios where hiring an outside writer might be a good fit:

• Website or collateral development—If you firm is rebranding or doing a brand refresh, this is a great time to hire an outside writer. Depending on the size of your firm, this is a large task that can be very time-consuming.

You (or your shareholders) are missing deadlines—Whether it’s a blog or some other written project, if you are consistently missing deadlines you should consider bringing in an outside writer. The content will only work for you if you publish it.

• Want to repurpose content from an event—Holding a big all-day or half-day conference? Consider hiring a writer to come to the event and attend your sessions so they can create written content for post-event promotion.
• You don’t have strong writers or editors in marketing—Writing, editing and proofing are three distinct skills. While interrelated, not everyone is good at all three or even one of them. Some marketers have this skill while others don’t. It doesn’t mean they aren’t good at what they do if they don’t. If this is a skill you don’t have in-house you need to consider outsourcing it.

The key to outsourcing writing is knowing what you need. Proposal writing is very different from blog writing, which is very different from writing marketing copy. Add in the complexity of technical accounting regulations and alerts and you have a really mixed bag of needs. Most writers tend to excel at one style of writing. Some are great at turning technical content into easily communicated terms, while others are great at creating punchy marketing copy.

Have questions about outside writers? Ping us. We curate and write content for accounting firms.