Why choose Catbird Content?
For organizations that make experiences, the words are BFDs.
Every part of a user experience (UX), whether it’s software or in physical space, uses content. Words are how people know where to go. They’re how people know what to do next. It’s what they recognize when they come back the next time. In regulated industries, the language requires even more scrutiny to avoid steep fines and deep legal trouble.
There are some people who think “but we can all write (or AI can write for us), so why would we pay for it?”
And then there are people who know “Sure, I can stack bricks. But I’ll hire a mason to build a house I want to live in.” (Thanks to Scott Kubie for the bricklayer analogy.)
This second group knows to hire UX content experts like Catbird Content. They know that AI can’t provide the judgment to negotiate new situations by itself. They know that they need to consider not only the words, but the decisions that make up the system of words, for example, choosing to optimize for scanning or skimming, or the use of plosives.
Content designers aren’t just dusting the content, they’re improving business outcomes.
So how and who do you hire? That’s where Catbird Content comes in.
External vs. in-house
Should you hire an employee to design UX content for your company? Quite possibly: In-house content designers can own the projects, the impacts, and the outcomes, betting their career success on the business and their product success. It provides stability for the company, and grows an investment in that employee’s skills as that talent grows.
But maybe you don’t have the budget for a new hire right now. Or perhaps you have a unique, short-term need (like meeting new regulations, or a short-term experiment), and you don’t know that there will be enough work for them in 6 months.
Or perhaps you don’t know that you can support a content designer as an employee, helping them happily grow their careers.
Maybe you already have in-house content designers, and they’re already overstretched.
Or perhaps you have a new project that’s so experimental, it could fail spectacularly. For somebody in-house, that might delay their next promotion by years. For a freelancer or agency, it still pays the bills and can be used as evidence of experimentation and innovation.
There are good times to use every kind of talent tool in your toolbox. Catbird Content was born out of my (Torrey Podmajersky’s) experiences in big tech and startups. Inside these companies, I had the opportunity to work as and with in-house, agency, vendor, temp, and contractor talent.
If you are looking for your first in-house content designers, we can help with that. We provide hiring consulting services, including building the business case for headcount, job descriptions, portfolio review, interview support, and mentoring.
Agency vs. Freelance
The way we see it, the differences are security and simplicity.
There’s fantastic freelance talent out there with great business practices and high quality output. When you hire a freelancer, you might be hiring (in your mind) temp-to-hire, and get a “taste” of what it’s like before you commit to each other in an employee relationship. You might be hiring somebody you love working with already. Way to go! We’re cheering you on!
But that’s one person, and lots of things can happen with that one person. They can have terrible things or wonderful things happen to them, suddenly and without warning. For example, if they suddenly inherit $3B with the condition that they never work again, they suddenly aren’t available to meet your needs. You’re at square one.
(This unrealistic example brought to you by not wishing natural or personal disasters on anybody, much less our favorite freelancers.)
With an agency, you have a relationship with a bigger entity. More people are available to step in, because the agency is working to meet its obligations beyond the capacity of one person. Catbird Content has my small team plus a network of sub-contractors (we love freelancers!) we vet and organize. If one person can’t make it — even if that person is me (Torrey)! — somebody else will be ready to step in with a minimum of fuss.
With any good agency, you get the security and ease of working with an organizational commitment that goes above and beyond a personal commitment.
With a great agency, the network of talent can call in ad-hoc skillsets, advice, business support, and benefit from the camaraderie of fellow-travelers.
Catbird Content strives to be a great agency.
Work with Catbird Content
If you need your user experience to convert users into paying customers, to meet their needs, to increase engagement or adoption, to reduce your costs or liability, or to be more recognizable among your competitors, give us a call.
I can be so confident in the work we do because my work and the teams I’ve led at major companies and startups have made and saved hundreds of millions of dollars across multiple verticals: advertising, customer engagement, platform, education, gaming, consumer marketplace, privacy, and more.
Also: I wrote the book. I speak and teach in various institutions, and Strategic Writing for UX is used as a textbook in many more. My students have gone on to UX content careers at Google, Microsoft, CrowdStrike, Cisco, and more. My workshops are highly rated and fill up fast.
Whether you want us to do the work, or hire, train, or mentor your team to do the work, reach us by email, phone, website form, or set up a meeting. I’m happy to talk with you about what you need, and whether we might be right for you.
