Be Your Own SME
For most writing assignments, especially as a freelancer, you’ll be paired with a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to impart all the necessary information about your assigned topic. You should always take full advantage of these Experts and learn as much as you can from every interaction. Ask questions, take copious notes, and collect as much data as you can while you have access to these sources.
At the same time, however, you’ll want to develop your own knowledge base independently, to build a better, more personal understanding of the Subject Matter.
Research makes you a more valuable partner for your client, and a more valuable employee for your company.
A Little Expertise Goes a Long Way
I can’t count the number of times when my own research enabled me to offer my client (or manager) a higher-impact message, improved phrasing, a new set of keywords, or a factual clarification.
Here’s a short list of the content topics I’ve mastered over the years, as a writer, practitioner, and/or teacher:
Water safety and rescue
Early American history
Advertising specialties
Web offset printing
Modern Hebrew
The Stations of the Cross and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Electronic prepress
Seismic data interpretation
Printed circuit board manufacturing
Bank certificates of deposit
Dye sublimation
Business computing
Press sheet imposition
Private school enrollment
Consumer lending
Data analytics
Macroeconomic trends
I did not expect to replace the SMEs in any of these fields. Instead, I supported them with my own knowledge, so I could understand their views well enough to write and edit content on their behalf. Lots of SMEs are surprisingly anxious about writing, so drafting their content might preserve their sanity as well as their time.
Knowledge Adds to Versatility
My fluency in these and other topics enabled me to write engaging and informative articles, brochures, and web pages; develop and produce videos; create and present PowerPoint decks to an audience of industry insiders; give press interviews on the topic; design curricula for business conferences; and teach others to do all the above.
That last part, the teaching, turned out to be a blessing and a curse. I was always really good at teaching and mentoring. I was proud of my team’s accomplishments, and I encouraged the best among them to take full credit for their new skills and expertise. I prodded some of them into the spotlight, and advanced their careers as much as I was able. I’m super-proud of their success, but I do regret that I relegated myself to a supporting role in the background. (This topic deserves another blog post, which I promise to write soon.)
Who Ya Gonna Call? Ghost Writers!
Sometimes I wrote under my own name, sometimes under the name of an SME or executive who needed to build a stronger personal brand. That ability to take on someone else’s persona and voice as a ghost writer is a valuable skill for freelancers. For employees, maybe not so much, as you might not get the recognition you deserve for your excellent work. But do it, anyway, because the resulting content can become high-performing assets for the company, and you can always find a way to claim some credit after the fact.
Bottom line: Take the time, do the research, and become an Expert in your own right. Then share your expertise generously, to benefit your client or your employer. At the same time, don’t hesitate to own your success. You can even brag, ever-so-politely.
If you’re still hesitating, shoot me an email. I’ll help you with your next pitch letter or self-evaluation for the annual employee review.
