If you’re a marketing or communications leader in a complex, high-stakes environment, you’ve likely seen this scenario play out:
A content asset comes in. It’s close, but needs some adjustments. Maybe the tone feels off. Maybe the language doesn’t reflect how your experts actually talk about the subject. Maybe the message is too simplistic (or too technical) for your audience.
You have an idea of what needs to happen to get the asset over the finish line. But first, there are other people to consult: the internal experts who contributed to the asset, the team members involved in content production, possibly even members of the legal or compliance team. Some or all of these stakeholders need to give feedback—and the way they do it can determine whether you hit your deadlines, send a clear, sharp message, or even publish the content at all.
Feedback is necessary and even imperative, especially when creating expert-led content. But in many organizations, the feedback stage is where content projects lose momentum. Without a streamlined feedback process and good “feedback habits,” content can get derailed easily. Deadlines get pushed, people get frustrated, and the great ideas at the heart of the content don’t make it into the world.
This guide is here to help you break that cycle. Because when feedback is clear and actionable, the content process is smoother, and the content itself is ultimately stronger. Here’s how to make that happen.
Get Aligned, and Stay Aligned
Alignment is critical to the success of any business initiative, and creating content is no exception.
As soon as a content project kicks off, it’s crucial to get everyone involved on the same page about what is needed in terms of feedback. That includes who should review the content, what kind of feedback is most useful, and how decisions will be made if there are conflicting opinions. Fostering agreement up front helps make the feedback process smooth and efficient from the start.
Ideally, a content team should initiate and lead this conversation with the marketing or communications leader, who will then share the takeaways with additional stakeholders.
Set expectations with the 80/20 principle
It’s important to understand what constitutes “normal” feedback. Content production is a creative, collaborative process, and that means some feedback is expected. Revisions are often necessary to refine the tone, clarify the message, or add context.
A little back-and-forth is a healthy sign that everyone’s invested in getting the content right. But it’s also crucial to recognize when feedback signals misalignment rather than refinement.
That’s where the 80/20 principle comes in.
If you’re requesting edits to 20% or less of each content asset, that’s a good sign. It indicates that the content team is capturing your goals, message, and tone effectively. Ideally, that percentage will even reduce over time. At Every Little Word, most of our long-term clients make changes to 10% or less of each content asset.
On the other hand, if you’re regularly rewriting large sections or leaving feedback throughout the entire document, it may be time to recalibrate. A good content team will monitor for signs of misalignment and proactively reach out to initiate a conversation and help get things back on track.
Good, Consistent Feedback Leads to Better Content
When a piece of content needs some tweaks, it can be tempting to jump in and handle the rewrites yourself. Many reviewers do that, especially when a deadline is looming. But in most cases, there’s a more efficient (and more valuable) option:
Leave feedback that explains what feels off, why it feels off, and what you’re looking for instead.
That kind of feedback not only moves the content asset forward but also helps the content team to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter, voice, standards, and expectations—and that leads to better content over time.
At Every Little Word, we regularly:
- Document client preferences
- Adjust client style guidelines
- Incorporate client input into future content briefs
Of course, last-minute rewrites sometimes happen. When a piece is going out the door and changes need to be made quickly, marketing or communication leaders may need to finalize it themselves. It’s still worth sharing the final version with the content team. Even if they don’t need to take action, having visibility into what changed can help them align more closely with what you’re looking for next time.
Using Different Feedback Methods
There are three main ways to provide feedback: editing, suggesting, and commenting. At Every Little Word, we highly recommend our clients collaborate with us in Google Docs. We like Google Docs because it’s easy to engage with the content in real-time and ensure that everyone is working on the latest revision. That said, these feedback methods can also be applied when using other word processing programs like Microsoft Word.
Editing mode
Reviewers can open the content document and make direct changes to the text. But there is a downside to editing content directly: Google doesn’t automatically highlight in-line changes, meaning it’s not immediately obvious what—or how much—they’ve changed.
Suggesting mode
This mode highlights every suggested edit, just like redlining in Microsoft Word. When editing a document in Suggesting mode, Google Docs highlights the changes and enables others to easily review, edit, accept, or reject suggestions.
Comments
Using the comment tool to leave feedback allows reviewers to convey their ideas while leaving the wordsmithing to the content team. But the feedback must be specific. Statements like these are sufficiently clear: “Please add this link,” or “Change this word to that word throughout,” or “Focus this section on X instead of Y.”
Pro tip: Keep feedback in the source document
One person flags a change in Slack, another drops a note in email, someone else comments in the document. Sound familiar? When feedback comes in through too many channels, it’s easy for some of it to fall through the cracks. Leaving feedback directly in the source document keeps it clear, centralized, and easy to incorporate. It ensures:
- All reviewers can see each other’s input
- The content team has one single source of truth
- Every suggestion is seen and considered
If there are broader strategic concerns, that’s when a quick email or call makes sense. But as much as possible, aim to keep asset-level edits in the document where they belong.
8 Best Practices for Providing Useful Feedback
Now that we’ve covered why feedback matters and the different methods of giving feedback, what does giving useful feedback actually look like? Here are some how-tos based on our experience giving, receiving, and implementing feedback from 100+ organizations. If you’re a marketing or communication leader, feel free to share this section with subject matter experts, stakeholders, and anyone else involved in content production.
1. Be specific
Vague feedback doesn’t provide the content team with any real direction; it only causes confusion and prolongs the editing phase. Specific feedback, on the other hand, leaves no room for doubt about the requested changes. Here are a few examples:
❌ Vague feedback: “I don’t like this.”
✅ Specific feedback: “Please rewrite this sentence with a positive spin.”
❌ Vague feedback: “Not on brand.”
✅ Specific feedback: “Please avoid exclamation points in our content.”
❌ Vague feedback: “Fix this.”
✅ Specific feedback: “Please capitalize this product name.”
❌ Vague feedback: “This isn’t quite right.”
✅ Specific feedback: “Let’s reframe this section to highlight the outcome, not the process.”
2. Explain why
If you know the content isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, tell your content team why you’re not fully satisfied. For instance, you might say, “Could you make sure this article is under 1,000 words? Our audience has a short attention span.” Once the content team knows that an audience prefers shorter articles, they can adhere to this preference going forward.
3. Share examples
While it’s essential to convey what you dislike, content teams also want to know what you do like. Often, the best way to communicate what you like is to provide examples. Share an article with a tone of voice similar to what you want or a LinkedIn creator whose style resonates with you. Content teams can draw inspiration from what inspires you while still creating content that is wholly unique.
4. Work smart
Imagine you’re providing feedback on an article about your company’s core values. The core values are formatted inconsistently across your existing brand assets—a discrepancy you’re working on internally to resolve. The article uses sentence case (e.g., Extreme accountability, attention to detail) because that’s how the core values were formatted in the materials the content team was given, but you need them to use title case (e.g., Extreme Accountability, Attention to Detail). Instead of calling out every single error, comment on only the first instance, like this: “Please use title case throughout.”
5. Share helpful resources
While reviewing a content asset, you might think of something that could strengthen it—like a report your team recently published, new survey data, or a relevant article that adds credibility. That kind of input can be incredibly valuable, but only if the content team can find it.
If the resource wasn’t part of the original brief, include a link or clear directions on where to locate it (and make sure it’s accessible!). A quick link can save multiple rounds of back-and-forth conversation in the comments.
6. Consolidate feedback
When multiple reviewers are involved in the feedback process, it’s a best practice to consolidate feedback for the content team as much as possible. At Every Little Word, we encourage clients to designate a Content Champion, the individual responsible for making the final call on what feedback ultimately goes back to the content team. (Often, that person is the marketing or communications leader.)
As part of this role, make an effort to resolve conflicting opinions off-line—not in comment threads—and avoid adding last-minute reviewers who are unfamiliar with the goals of the content.
7. Remain respectful
Keep in mind that when you provide feedback, you’re communicating with real, hardworking people who want to create exceptional content that meets your needs. Communication in both directions should always be clear, professional, and respectful.
8. Give thorough feedback early
Don’t make the mistake of skimming the initial draft only to circle back with major changes right before publication. You risk creating a bottleneck that delays content from being published, and with an external partner, you could even end up paying for revisions that would have previously been in-scope.
Instead, plan ahead. Your content team should be able to tell you when to expect draft content; block time on your calendar to review it thoroughly. Providing complete, thoughtful feedback during the first round saves everyone time, prevents last-minute scrambles, and helps the content move forward on schedule.
Great Content Is a Team Effort
Feedback shouldn’t feel like conflict. It should feel like collaboration. When it’s part of a thoughtful, well-led process, it becomes one of the most valuable parts of content creation.
A strong content team won’t just ask you to “review and approve.” They’ll set expectations from the start. They’ll guide the process, establish feedback systems that actually work, and help everyone involved understand how and when to engage.
They’ll notice when feedback patterns point to a deeper issue and proactively schedule a realignment call. They’ll take your comments seriously—not to execute a one-time fix but to help improve every content asset that follows.
In time, you’ll likely notice that the content is hitting the mark sooner, and that there is less feedback to provide. That’s not to say the feedback process will disappear—and it shouldn’t.
There should always be room for thoughtful conversations about how to make content stronger. But when your content process is collaborative and strategic, every round of feedback becomes easier, and every piece becomes better.
Need a content partner who can turn your team’s expertise into polished content assets?
At Every Little Word, we’re far more than writers. We’re strategists, planners, critical thinkers, and problem-solvers. Our fully systematized feedback process makes it easy for clients to contribute their insights and keeps content moving forward.
Let’s talk about what it would look like to work together. Book a Discovery Call today.
