Sociology, the Backbone of Marketing

Why writers are essential to any business wanting to play the SEO game.

Photo by sarah b on Unsplash

Just the other day, I was in an interview that made me realize how little people know about the basics of marketing in regard to SEO and how it was developed. I always go into an interview as if they are going to hire me. Professional, motivated, and straight-forward. Everything was going great until I got rhetoric that likes to creep up on you every so often at an interview. While the interviewer liked my writing style, he mentioned that he wasn’t sure where I would fit into the company in regard to marketing.

Everyone at some part of their careers has experienced this type of interview. They are interested in meeting you, the talent, but curious and unsure about actually bringing a technical writer on board. Almost as if they were star struck and suddenly the star dust faded. Wondering if a circle could fit into a square hole if they brought you in for a meeting. Let’s say, you are a great fit, but it’s the hiring company that should change from being a square to a circle. It’s all about having the right perspective. Content may not be the most important part of optimization, but it is the most valuable. With the coming millennial generation altruism, transparency, and relativity is everything to them in regard to a company’s voice and image.

From the Island of Misfit Toys

Most companies don’t realize they need you because you are misunderstood. People who don’t understand marketing and are interviewing you may view you as Hermey the Elf from the Island of Misfit Toys. Where does a copywriter fit exactly? For instance, I’ve been let go from temp writing gigs because I over delivered. I have a strong SEO background so when someone tells me to write with SEO detailing, I am going to turn out the best SEO copy. But sometimes companies are not doing any analytics for their services or products so there is no SEO database to work with. I’ve had to spend time pulling sources together to produce the best SEO content. Over time, I’ve learned that when some people literally say they want “SEO copy” they really mean:

Throw something together that sounds SEO-ish so we can hurry up and get this on the website.