Had a client tell me my white papers were 'too perfect' and it broke my brain for a week

I was putting out these polished 10-page white papers with fancy graphics and perfect grammar. One VP of marketing at a SaaS company said they felt like reading a textbook, not talking to a human. She told me she wanted 'a real person's notes, not a press release'. I changed my whole approach to include more raw data, real quotes from developers, and left in some of the messiness. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you completely rethink your content style?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.angela18d ago

Gotta say I see this differently. Polished content builds trust in a lot of B2B spaces, especially when you're selling to people who need hard proof before they make a big decision. My clients in finance and legal fields actually push back if my work looks too informal or messy, they think it's sloppy. So that VP's feedback might be right for her company but it wouldn't fly everywhere.

hugobarnes18d ago

Hang on, their clients push back if content isn't polished? That's wild to me.