Why Content Marketers Need a Good Editor

Recently, Joe Pulizzi wrote a post in his Junta42 Content Marketing blog called “10 Reasons Your Content Marketing is Killing You.” Number 9 was editing. As Joe said, “Editing may be the most underrated piece of the content marketing process. Sometimes we as brands don’t understand that the first draft of a piece of content is called a good start. Enter the editor. Get one or hire one.”

Given the sizable amount of poorly written content, many content marketers may not be aware of the value an editor adds to your content-marketing efforts.

A good editor will read through a piece of content a number of times looking at it from various angles and will play several important roles:  

1. A sounding board. At the highest level, a good editor will look at the ideas you present, question them, challenge them, and even play devil’s advocate to make sure you’ve thought them through. For example, I recently edited a series of three white papers—all expounding on different aspects of a single theme. As I reviewed the content, it quickly became apparent that each paper did not make a coherent argument, nor did the series as a whole. Once I interviewed the author to determine the argument he was trying to make, it became apparent that certain sections did not make sense in the paper in which they appeared—they made more sense in another paper or section. Other sections did not support the argument at all. A good editor will question everything you’ve written to make sure that everything that appears on the page makes sense.
2. A voice of logic.  Not only must a good piece of content make an argument, the argument must flow logically. A good editor will look at every paragraph to determine whether it advances the argument, whether it’s in the proper location, and whether the transitions between paragraphs make the reason the paragraph appears in the paper apparent to the reader.
3. An advocate for the reader. The other day, my husband and I were booking airline tickets on the Delta website. At one point during the booking process, they asked, “Are any of the passengers above fourteen years or younger.” Because there was no context to explain why they were asking the question, it took us both several minutes to figure out what they were talking about. If one of your readers has to puzzle over something for several minutes, you can be sure that they’ll simply stop reading. Why does this happen? Often the person writing the content will understand it so well that they don’t know what other people don’t understand and will leave out important details and explanations. A good editor will look at content from the perspective of a reader who is not an expert in the particular content area and determine what sections of copy are likely to confuse people.  
4. A parer-down of words. When I was first starting out, I once asked an editor the secret to good writing. He said, “Cut your copy in half.” I recently edited a piece that was about 4,000 words long—and such major surgery was just what the doctor ordered. By the time I removed all the asides and other extraneous text, the copy was half as long and twice as strong. Extra words get in the way of the reader’s clear understanding of ideas.
5. An enforcer of consistency. Marketers that want to reinforce their brand need to describe it in consistent terms. For example, a supplier of workforce management software always talks about how its solutions improve productivity (not efficiency) and minimize (not reduce) risk. Not only must the messaging be consistent, you need to use consistent grammar conventions and spelling to avoid confusing readers. This is the job of an editor.
6. A preventer of embarrassment. How many times have you seen a typo trumpeted on the back page of Consumer Reports? Talk about embarrassing. Even if your typo doesn’t make it to Consumer Reports, you certainly don’t want a typo in your white paper headline.

When you create content, you need a good editor to keep your paper intelligent sounding, logical, consistent—and to avoid embarrassing typos.

What’s your view of the role of an editor?

Comments

[beth ellyn rosenthal]

Brilliant and well-put. I am amazed at the lack of editing in most content. To me English is their second language!!!!! I attended an expensive social media workshop and the power point presentations were laced with misspellings and poor English. My cringing got in the way of my learning! If anyone other than family is reading your writing, hire an editor!!!! ((hugs)) from a grouchy grammarian

[Cheryl Goldberg]

Beth,
I love your line: "English is their second language." So true. Cheryl

[Margaret Henderson]

Good editing, like good design, means the work is noticed. If it is badly done (or not done at all) then the poor quality of the piece gets in the way. I am an editor, so you are preaching to the choir here, but I tell people (and family), you can have all the great ideas you want, but if you can't communicate them effectively, no one will ever know!

[Account Deleted]

Regarding point #4 I once read that the key to good writing is to pretend that you are paying for every word. That seemed to make a lot of sense