Feedback isn’t like cheese.

Not the most straightforward sentence, but stay with me.

Cheese on most things, for most people (sorry, lactose intolerant peeps), works best when added liberally.

Pizza. Toast. Macaroni. Lasagna.

Grab fistfuls of the stuff and watch that stuff bubble and melt.

But for your content feedback, less is best.

A copywriter will use the brief that is supplied, add in some research to zone in on the target and mix it with some writing techniques designed to swivel heads and insert ideas.

Then, it will be edited by the writer. This involves a fresh take. Looking at it with the same eyes will give it a tidy, but things will be missed.

It’s always surprising when you go back to a piece of content you have written the previous day. When you’ve just finished writing it, you feel pretty satisfied (or relieved, it depends on the context).

But come back the next day and you’ll look at what’s on the page and you’ll want to wield an axe through the entire thing.

Anyway, fast forward to sending it back to the client.

Changes are good. The client will know the target audience better, as well as the related products or services being discussed. So it makes sense that edits will be required.

But if it is then seen by a horde of others?

Especially those who are not versed in marketing?

It means that the changes that come back to the writer will mean diluting the entire piece.

It’s like adding more and more water to a drink. In the end, you can keep pouring until the glass is full, but it will be bland, insipid and ultimately, forgetful.

The flow is important.

The key messages, even more so.

But both will be lost if the changes are coming from more than 2-3 people.

The copywriter will incorporate those changes. After all, the customer is always right.

But the end product will not get the desired result.

The writer will push back to a degree if the content looks set to be compromised-  but feedback should be reserved to those who are part of the project and the bottom line?

Trust the experts.

For this particular pizza, cut the cheese.