How Clear Communication Turns Tight Deadlines Into Smooth Success
Avocado Consulting needed extra support to finalize a series of whitepapers while balancing client demands. With clear direction from their team, I stepped in to refine the drafts, strengthen research, and align the content with their broader digital presence.
- Clear goals and structured communication from Avocado’s team enabled rapid onboarding and efficient collaboration
- Whitepapers were elevated through tighter language, added research, and improved flow—while staying true to Avocado’s intent and audience
- The project moved from draft to publication-ready, including website copy, in just about a week thanks to upfront clarity and focused execution
Success breeds success.
This was the starting point for my collaboration with Avocado Consulting, one of Australia’s leading IT consultancies.
The company’s series of industry-specific whitepapers was well under way as it experienced increased requests for project tenders and client-related work.
For the communications and marketing team, the two competed for resources. With publication deadlines approaching, they turned to me as a long-time, outside collaborator.
At the time, the whitepaper insights were strong, drafts well underway, and positive impact for clients and companies clear.
In this context, my role was twofold: sharpen the whitepapers themselves, and ensure they fit within Avocado’s broader online universe of insights and content.
The challenge? Do it all in a short timeframe—without sacrificing quality.
Clarity from the start
Like for many content- and research-intensive projects, the final mile for Avocados whitepapers looked like it would take time complete.
Tightening language, polishing structure, adding research, data points and extra analysis, and preparing accompanying website copy would take them past the expected launch dates.
My experience from similar projects is that can be a bit like being airdropped into unknown territory. Getting your bearings and understanding your surroundings is crucial to be able to get the optimal results.
In this context, I would say that three particular things helped me. One, I knew the company from previous work. Two, I have a good grasp of technology-related companies and content. Three, and most importantly, I benefitted massively from Avocado’s clear communication and expectations.
The Avocado marketing and communications team, led by Amy Kitson, came prepared with well-defined goals for the whitepapers and associated website landing pages.
A quick Q&A meeting enables us to quickly establish what sections required smoothing, where research could further complement the existing arguments and points, and how the digital copy should guide a reader from interest to download.
Crafting the whitepapers
The drafts already contained strong ideas and good content. In this context, my job was to add extra consistency, detail, and flow.
That meant balancing clarity with depth, smoothing transitions, and ensuring the documents spoke directly to their intended audience.
“When I hand over to Marc, I know I get the result and quality I need. His ability to quickly understand our requirements makes a huge difference, and his edits elevate our whitepapers while staying true to our intent. He combines a sharp eye for accuracy with the experience of a trusted sounding board – someone I rely on to carry things through when I don’t have the capacity.”
— Amy Kitson, Avocado Consulting
Learning from results in record time
Because of the upfront clarity and structured collaboration, the entire project moved quickly.
We were able to take multiple whitepapers from draft to polished final versions and prepare matching website copy all within a compressed timeline, clocking in at just around a week from end-to-end on edits and research.
” Picking up a project midway is no easy feat, but Marc gets grounded quickly, provides timely feedback, and keeps communication open so I always know exactly what he will deliver, when, and how. The turnaround time was impressive, the process felt smooth and collaborative throughout, and with Marc’s support we stayed us aligned and on schedule.”
— Amy Kitson, Avocado Consulting
For me, this project reinforced a simple truth: speed relies on clarity in communication about all aspects of a project from the start. For companies and freelancers alike, here are a few takeaways:
- Define the scope early – Be explicit about what’s needed, including tone, updates, and, as importantly, what is beyond the scope of the project.
- Know your goals – Be clear in what you are looking to accomplish.
- Agree on milestones and touchpoints – Helps reduce stress and scope creep, even in short projects.
- Focus on clarity before polish – If you have time, iterate and focus first on content. Get the structure and flow right first, then refine the language.
- Stay in conversation – A quick chat can resolve in minutes what might otherwise take days of back-and-forth emails.