Are you responsible for content creation in a large organisation and have you decided to outsource (part of it)? If so, you will be giving feedback on other people’s texts on a regular basis. How do you do that as efficiently as possible? What should you look out for when giving feedback on content creation? As a content marketing agency, we are on the receiving side and are happy to give you some practical tips from our practice experience!

Well begun is half done: give a clear briefing

Everything starts with a good briefing. If you already indicate in detail where you want to go with a specific blog post or white paper, which CTA it should have, which target group it should be written for and what the tone of voice is, there is a much better chance that the content will head in the right direction and require less (fundamental) feedback later.

So, after your briefing, you receive your first piece of text and it’s time to give feedback. What do you need to keep in mind at that stage?

Different reviewers? Get stuck in!

Several of the issues discussed below obviously also apply to smaller organisations. But specific to larger companies, is that there are often several people providing feedback on the texts: the marketing manager, specialists from a certain department, the legal department, among others.

When there are several reviewers, it is important that one person is the ‘owner’ of the feedback. He or she checks all feedback points before the text with the feedback goes back to the copywriter or agency that provided the text. This person checks that there are no internal contradictions and resolves any issues straight away. A copywriter cannot do much with conversations between colleagues as feedback, especially where there is no final consensus. Ultimately, what does the copywriter need to change?

Limit the number of reviewers

Following on from the previous point: try to limit the number of reviewers to two or at most three people. Otherwise, you will soon end up with inconsistencies. Or blog posts that become far too long and go in all directions because everyone wants to have their hobbyhorses make the edit.

Provide all substantive feedback straight away in the first round of feedback

Also key: all the reviewers should be involved in the first feedback round. This means that there should be no new people joining a second feedback round. This ensures that all factual and substantive feedback is given immediately in that first round. A second feedback round is only meant to check whether the feedback has been processed properly and to polish up the text.

Be as specific as possible with your feedback

Be specific and detailed and give your feedback as much as possible in the form of practical suggestions for improvement. General comments such as ‘Could you make this read a bit more smoothly’, are harder for an editor to figure out exactly what adjustments need to be made. It is therefore more likely that the rewritten version will still not quite be what you are looking for.

Feel free to make your own suggestions for changes in your own words; the copywriter can always word it more fluently afterwards. If it does not concern the entire article, you should always indicate which part of the text your feedback refers to.

Some examples of quite broad feedback and how it can be more specific:

Don’t feedback with:

Refer more to our products and web pages.

Do suggest:

Refer to product x and product y, and add these links:

Don’t feedback with:

Write with a more serious tone.

Do suggest:

Avoid puns.

Don’t be afraid to give extensive feedback

Pass on any feedback you think of to the copywriter, even though it may seem like a lot. You might think: ‘I’ll quickly adjust this myself before publishing the article,’ but that means that the editor won’t be able to take those comments into account on subsequent assignments. Especially when you are working with a new copywriter or agency, it is important to get to know each other better and to invest in a long-term relationship. That way, in the future, your texts will increasingly match what you are looking for.

Reserve time in your diary

In addition: take your time and block time in your work diary to review texts. Don’t be tempted to do this task between emails and meetings or ‘when you have nothing to do,’ because you will likely keep putting it off.

Last but not least: keep it upbeat!

As mentioned, feel free to give any feedback you want, but try to phrase it in a positive way. This way, you will build a good relationship with your agency or copywriter, and when the working relationship is pleasant, they will be happy to go that extra mile for you.