Any article, blog, or whitepaper that I write is full of facts. When I meet with my clients to discuss what the piece will be about, we discuss some of the facts that back up the main points. When I turn in an outline, it’s usually verbose – because it also contains the facts that I want to be sure are correct.
We think of facts as objective, and, if they truly are facts, then they are objective. But they may or may not be relevant. Usually we discuss critical facts in sourcing discussions and, if there’s a little something here or there that I’m not sure I understand, then I’ll do some research on my own (to save my client’s time).
So the resulting piece will be a mix of facts from the client, facts from research, and then, yes, simply stuff that I know off the top of my head.
But, occasionally, I’ll get a project where I need to do more substantial research – reading research papers, learning about this technology or that, and, while I find it interesting, I’ve found that it can sometimes be problematic.
Most of the clients I work for are in business. They have a specific set of products, underlying technology, and competence, along with messaging that supports all of that. Making up an example, if I were writing a piece about, say, winter tires, I might go online and learn all about special rubber compounds and the magic of siping (little slits in the rubber for traction).
But let’s say that the client has a special new approach that revolutionizes snow tires with a new compound that doesn’t need as much siping. If I get all of my information from the interwebs, then I’m going to write not about the thing that the client makes, but about the thing that the client is competing with. And you can imagine that the initial outline review won’t go well.
I’ve therefore realized that it’s critical that we identify that specific set of facts that is relevant to the client. Said that way, it sounds obvious. But I’ve also found that companies tend to see the world through their own eyes, and not everyone does that. In fact, that’s usually the purpose of what we’re writing: to bring that view to outsiders.
But I start out as an outsider. So, before I can fully represent the client, I have to put on the client’s magic glasses so that I can see their world the way they see it. That often means that internet research isn’t the best way to get facts. The client is the best source of those critical facts. It may take us a little more time to get those facts arranged for use, but we’ll save lots of time in the review cycles, and we’ll have a completed piece done much more quickly.