Content Creator’s Creed Line 8

February 1, 2015 7:59 pm

This conversation was used as the source material for a corresponding blog post.

Grab the entire Content Creators Creed series (9 short episodes) on iTunes.

Transcript:

Shayla: I’m talking today with Dave Young, the founder of Shortcut Content. And, Dave, we’ve spent the last several podcasts talking about your Content Creator’s Creed and today we’d like to wrap it up with the final bullet point, which is the best way to write your story is whatever gets the job done.

Dave: Well, that’s the last line in the creed and it’s the one that should probably be shouted when you’re done. If you’re going to stand and put your hand over your heart and read the Content Creator’s Creed out loud, which I think is the best way to read it, then this line at the very end should be recited in a louder version. The best way to write your story is whatever method gets the job done. Now, I think you can rank those. I think if it’s possible, and you’ve got the chops as a writer, or you even want to develop your skills as a writer, writing it yourself is the best. And I’m not going to argue with anybody who says you really ought to be writing your own content. Yeah, you really ought to be. But if you can’t write it yourself, or you don’t have the time to do it, then how else are you going to do it? And our suggestion is, again, whatever gets the job done.

I think that Shortcut Content’s method is the next best thing. If you can’t write it yourself, you should be recorded telling the stories that you want to share. Audio is spoken word, it’s the oldest form of communication that we have. As a species, we’ve been speaking to each other since we became human and so it’s the easiest way to share story. And with the technology that we have today, the Shortcut Content method is, hey, we’re going to help you figure out what stories to tell, we’re going to record you telling the stories, then we’re going to transcribe it, rewrite it so that it’s easily read in a written version, and you can put that on your website. I think that’s next best.

And I’m always going to be the first say writing it yourself is best. But if you can’t do that, then our method, I think, is the next best.

If you can’t afford us, if you’ve got a writer in house maybe that’s been around for al ong time and knows the founders and experts well, they could do a good job, that might not even be a less expensive. It could be a more expensive method because you’ve got a writer that you have to pay. But some businesses actually have writers that do other things for them. And so if you can re-purpose that person to creating content around the stories that your founders and experts know, I think that’s a good alternative.

Again, another option is hiring an in-house brand journalist and they could pick up the ball, as long as they’re dedicated to making heroes from the leaders instead of themselves. I’ve seen it happen where you have an internal journalist and their goal is to create a name for themselves. And that’s okay if that’s what you want them to do. Again, our feeling is, let’s make heroes out of the leaders of the company, instead of the people that are helping tell the story. And we actually practice that here at Shortcut Content. I’m not sure in this series if you even said your name.

Shayla: You’re probably right.

Dave: Right, we know who I am and, Shayla, I’ll say your name. But again, because this service is about interviewing the leaders of the company and highlighting their stories and what they have to say, we turn the table. In the podcast version of what we do, we don’t expect the leader to sit down and do their own podcast. It’s much more powerful to interview them. And that’s what we’re doing here. So if you have an in-house journalist, just make sure they’re keeping the spotlight shining on the leaders of the company. That’s what the customers want to know about.

And then finally, if you have no other way to get the story out, you can outsource it to freelancers and article writers. That’s better than having no content at all, but I think only marginally. It’s better for search engines that you have article written content then not having it. I think it’s going to give you a little bit of an edge. It’s just going to be weak when it comes to the authenticity and the story-telling and the relate-ability of your leaders. So again, the best way to write your story, whatever method gets the job done. Just get it done.

Shayla: And we’re getting it done right now.

Dave: That’s right.

Shayla: If people that are listening to this, Dave, want to get the job done and they have no idea where to start, can you tell where they should go?

Dave: Well, ShortcutContent.com, we’ve got an exercise that we give away that helps you figure out what stories you need to tell and if you go through that exercise, it’s about 45 minutes, you’ll have a list of weekly blog topics that’ll last you over a year. And if you want to contact us for more information about how we can help you with that, the phone number’s on the site and we’ve got contact forms and all kinds of ways to get in touch.

Shayla: Alright, Dave. It’s been great talking to you about your creed.

Dave: Thank you, Shayla.